· Fair school admissions need not be at the expense of school autonomy

· Catholic schools already promote social inclusion and community cohesion

· Government must provide clarity on Trust schools

We welcome much of the Select Committee report as a considered contribution to the debate about the White Paper. Many of the concerns it highlights are ones which we have raised previously. We also agree that the White Paper is at its strongest when it makes proposals about “what happens in schools” rather than when it seeks to reform structures. We are clear that, as the Committee and Ruth Kelly say, the success of the White Paper will be judged on whether it improves standards for the most disadvantaged.

In particular, we welcome the Select Committee’s acknowledgement of the importance of a diverse school system:

“We see this diversity [of school type] as a strength rather than a weakness, as long as maintained schools abide by common rules on admissions, fair access and social composition”.

This must include the option for parents to choose to send their children to a faith school.

Admissions

We entirely agree that “the goal should be to achieve the best combination of a diverse range of schools with equitable capital and revenue funding, balanced intakes and a scrupulously fair and transparent admissions process”. However, we are concerned that the model of local authority and schools commissioner monitoring which the report sets out will undermine the important role of school governors and dioceses. Greater clarity is still needed about the role of choice advisers.

The Select Committee proposes:

“that a new duty be placed on all schools to promote social inclusion and community cohesion through all of their institutional policies and procedures, including admissions.”

Evidence from Catholic schools shows that faith schools can give preference to children of one faith whilst promoting social inclusion and community cohesion: Catholic schools have a greater proportion of students from an ethnic minority background, a similar proportion of students who are eligible for free school meals, and a much lower rate of exclusions than other maintained schools. Many Catholic schools have developed strong links with their community and other local schools.

We believe that forcing local authorities to publish benchmarks for the proportion of pupils who should be eligible for free school meals in every school is no more than a distracting gimmick. Establishing valid benchmarks will be an almost impossible task for schools which have large and diverse catchment areas, are working in a federation or have particular specialisms. Resources would be better spent on measures which will raise standards, to work towards fulfilling the government’s ambition to make ‘every school a good school’. It is completely inappropriate and unacceptable for admissions authorities to be required to change their procedures on the basis of what could only be dubious statistical data from the benchmarks. Such an intervention would undermine the legal rights of Catholic schools.

Similarly, whilst it is right that local authorities should maintain a strategic overview of education in their area, this must not be at the expense of the legitimate autonomy of governing bodies to establish their own fair and transparent admissions procedures or the role which is already played by diocesan authorities. We welcome steps to make the admissions procedure clearer and more predictable for parents.

We join the Select Committee in hoping that the government will reconsider what the admissions Code of Practice should contain; we strongly urge rigorous consultation on this issue. We again express our hope that the government will strengthen the Code to prevent schools from interviewing.

Trust schools

We agree that Trust schools show the government’s policy at its most confused and contradictory; the government must urgently provide greater clarity. As we have stated before, whilst the additional freedoms which Catholic voluntary aided schools enjoy are necessary for their success, they do not guarantee it. It will be important that Trusts are able to provide a clear ethos and bring similar levels of expertise and experience to their schools as dioceses do to Catholic schools.