Catholic Union Deputy Director James Somerville-Meikle, writes:
The return of Parliament and schools from the summer break was always going to make this a busy week for the Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan. An almighty row about “bubbly concrete” has made it a particularly difficult first week of term of teachers and ministers alike.
Despite this, I managed to find time to talk to Gillian Keegan about our “scrap the cap” campaign, which has clearly resonated with Catholics across the country. Almost 1,000 people have signed the open letter calling on her to lift the 50 percent faith-based admissions cap, which is preventing Catholic free schools from opening.
When I spoke to the Education Secretary about the campaign on Wednesday evening she said she was “seeing what we can do” to make it easier for Catholic free schools to open. Whether they were warm words designed to please or a sign that the door may be open, we will have to wait and see.
The crucial thing now is to get as many people as possible to sign our open letter calling for the cap to be lifted. We will all benefit from new Catholic schools, just so long as they are not built with RAAC concrete.