Press Release – 28 November 2014

Today the Catholic Education Service (CES) published its annual census of Catholic schools and colleges in England and Wales. This year the response rate from Catholic schools reached 100% making this data the most accurate ever.

Paul Barber, Director of CES, said “It is a testimony to the hard work of all involved that this year’s census had a 100% return rate. This means that our data is much more reliable than many other sources of national data and provides a clear indication of the important role that Catholic schools play in the education sector. As the largest provider of secondary schools and the second largest provider of primary schools, we will continue to work to raise education standards and provide an inclusive education for all.”

The Census revealed a growth in the size of the sector with an increase of 3795 pupils educated in Catholic maintained schools and an increase of 1322 teachers working in Catholic maintained schools in England since last year. The Catholicity of pupils and teachers remained constant from previous years.

The Census also showed that Catholic schools continue to serve more diverse communities and there has been an increase in the proportion of pupils from ethnic minorities. 35.9% of pupils in Catholic maintained primary schools are from ethnic minority backgrounds (29.5% nationally) and 31.4% of pupils in Catholic maintained secondary schools are from ethnic minority backgrounds (25.3% nationally).

The proportion of pupils from deprived areas has also increased from last year. 17.9% of pupils at Catholic maintained secondary schools live in the most deprived areas (12.0% nationally). In primary schools the gap has widened considerably since 2013.  19.2% (18.4% in 2013) of pupils at Catholic maintained primary schools live in the most deprived areas (10% (13.8% in 2013) nationally).

Note to editors

The Catholic Education Service (CES) is an agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

The CES Census digests for England and for Wales and a Key Facts summary bookmark can be found on our website http://www.catholiceducation.org.uk/ces-census