More than one in five black children now attend a Catholic school. That’s according to the latest research which shows the Catholic Church to be the most ethnically diverse provider of education in the country.

With roughly 10% of schools, the Catholic Church is the second largest provider of education in the country. However, this tenth of provision now educates more than fifth of all black pupils in the country.

The figures, which are part of the annual Catholic Education Service’s Schools Census, also reveal the extent the Catholic Church is helping to integrate Eastern European migrants with British society, as almost one in five pupils from minority white backgrounds go to a Catholic school.

Across the board, Catholic schools educate 21% more pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds compared to other schools.

Statistics also show that ethnic minority pupils in Catholic secondary schools perform better at GCSE than the national average.

Paul Barber, Director of the Catholic Education Service commented: “For another year running, Catholic schools are the most ethnically diverse in the country.

“What’s more, Catholic schools are not just more diverse but disproportionally more so. The fact that a tenth of all schools educates a fifth of certain ethnic minorities is an incredible achievement.

“With Catholicism being a largely immigrant faith in England, Catholic schools have a strong track record of taking in children from a wide range of ethnic minorities and producing well-educated, open minded, citizens.

“It is very easy for secularist campaigners to claim that religious ethos schools are divisive and segregate communities but the evidence for this simply doesn’t back this up.”

Notes to editors

There are more than 2200 Catholic Schools in England and Wales.

The Catholic sector is the second largest provider of education and currently educates 852,321 pupils.

There are a total of 307,663 ethnic minority pupils in Catholic schools (36.1% of pupils).

One in seven ethnic minority pupils in England and Wales attend a Catholic school

ENDS