Catholic schools in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, there are many 'local authority maintained' (i.e. state funded) Roman Catholic schools. These are theoretically open to pupils of all faiths or none, although if the school is over-subscribed priority will be given to Roman Catholic children.

History

During the Reformation, Catholic schools were created on the European continent for the training of children of Catholic families from Britain. During the 18th century, colleges for the training of priests were created in Scotland, such as in Scalan and Lismore Seminary. After the Re-establishment of the English hierarchy and the Scottish hierarchy new schools were created. After the Education Act 1918 in Scotland and the Education Act 1944 in England and Wales, state-funded Catholic schools were built.^[1]^[2] Nevertheless, today there has been some controversy over Roman Catholic schools. Some Labour backbenchers would like to see them closed along with all other faith-based schools, and this was the official policy of the Scottish Green Party at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election. Some local authorities — such as in Lanarkshire — have chosen to build so-called "shared campuses" where a Roman Catholic and non-denominational school share grounds, a building, and facilities such as canteen, sport halls etc., but lessons are taught separately. This policy has had mixed success — although supporters say it reduces the risk of "us and them" sectarianism, some shared campuses have suffered disruptions on opening.^[3] At one stage the Scottish Catholic Church even considered legal action against North Lanarkshire Council to stop another "shared campus" being built.^[4]

The Catholic Education Service provides the central co-ordination under the Bishops' Conference for Catholic schools in England and Wales.

In Northern Ireland, Roman Catholic schools are state-funded and organised and run by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS).^[5]

Scotland

After the Education Act 1918, many state-funded Scottish Catholic schools were started. Nevertheless, there exist Catholic independent schools such as St Aloysius' College, Glasgow, Fernhill School, Rutherglen, and Kilgraston School. During the Scottish Reformation, while there were no Catholic seminaries in England and Wales, there was a number of Scottish seminaries before the restoration of the Scottish Catholic hierarchy. Notable Scottish Catholic schools today include: