This September a new generation of Catholic teachers will be trained through three groundbreaking new schemes across the country.

Led by the Formatio partnership of dioceses, Catholic multi-academy trusts (CMATs) and the four Catholic universities in England, 80 trainees start soon in what will be the first Initial Teacher Training (ITT) scheme specifically geared towards teaching in Catholic schools. 

The Diocese of Westminster Academy Trust (DOWAT) identified pupils from the trust’s secondary schools interested in teaching, and gave them weekly lesson support experience. Working with St Mary’s University, DOWAT is delivering the CMAT ITT Direct programme for Formatio’s South East Regional Hub, with trainees to be based within the trust’s schools. 

The trainees, many of whom are former Catholic school pupils, will additionally be shown how to participate in activities like collective worship and chaplaincy, as prospective teachers in Catholic education.  

Pat Murden, Chief Executive Officer of DOWAT and a founder member of the Catholic Academy Trust Training Collaborative (CATtColl), said: “This came out of the Department for Education’s market review of ITTs, which represented an opportunity to think differently and act at scale. We’re developing a career path that starts at ITT and goes on to early career teacher, to master teacher, middle leader then senior leader.

“Our aim is to address teacher shortages, especially in Religious Education, to develop workforces reflecting the communities our schools serve, and provide a model that any other Catholic MAT can copy.”

Similar ITT schemes have also been set up with the Catholic universities by Emmaus Catholic Academy Trust, in the Diocese of Salford, and Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, within the Formatio regional hub structure.

The Formatio partnership supports the Catholic Education Service and diocesan schools commissions working with the four Catholic universities and CMATs in implementing strategies for school leadership and governance, as commissioned by the Bishops in 2017. 

CATtColl is the national network of Catholic multi-academy trusts (CMATs), representing 44 CMAT CEOs from all English dioceses, more than 600 schools, 250,000 students, 20,000 staff, and is the largest network of academies in the country. It delivers continuing professional development in collaboration with the four Catholic universities on behalf of Formatio.

Find out more about Formatio

Friday 24 January will be the launch day for schools to mark the year of Jubilee in 2025, the Catholic Education Service Chairman has said. 

The Rt. Rev. Marcus Stock, Bishop of Leeds and CES Chairman, has written to diocesan schools commissions informing them of the date Catholic schools and colleges can come together and celebrate the launch of the Jubilee next year. 

There will be an opportunity to make a Jubilee Pledge, for the common good, to advance justice and harmony, and an invitation for schools and colleges to refresh and renew their mission statements.

In his letter Bishop Marcus writes: “The theme of Jubilee 2025 is Hope, the hope that comes from knowing we are loved by God, the hope we can bring to those in most need, and the hope we can bring to our common home, the earth. 

“There will be opportunities for the whole school community to experience the joy of sharing their faith in prayer and worship, and take action together as pilgrims of hope “in service to God’s kingdom of love, justice and peace.”

He also refers in the letter to a forthcoming framework for schools to celebrate the Jubilee year alongside any related diocesan plans. 

The framework is being produced by the CES, CAFOD, and Caritas Social Action Network with support from Cymfed, and will enable the Catholic education sector to mark together the Holy Year as a significant and memorable moment in the lives of children and young people. 

Read Jubilee Year 2025: Pilgrims of Hope – a letter from the CES Chairman, the Rt. Rev. Marcus Stock

More than 150 students and teachers of Catholic schools from across the country gathered to hear how Catholic Social Teaching has been put into practice in education. 

The 2 July event took place at the Church of the Holy Apostles Parish Hall, Pimlico, and also saw the launch of a community organising handbook, published by charity Citizens UK and featuring the schools’ work. 

Welcoming speeches were made by the His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster; Raymond Friel, Chief Executive of Caritas Social Action Network; and Anita Motha, Chief Executive of Catholic youth charity Million Minutes.

Students at Cardinal Newman Catholic School, Hove, in the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, explained how they successfully campaigned against a Coptic Christian pupil being deported to South Sudan. After their efforts appeared in a local newspaper and television news bulletins, lawyers offered support and the Home Office reversed its decision. 

The students also secured a pilot project of school-based mental health counselling for Year 9s across Brighton and Hove, after approaching the local council. 

Gráinne Byrd, Director of Faith and Ethos at Cardinal Newman, said: “A recurring motif in Cardinal Newman Catholic School’s involvement with Citizens UK is the repeated call to be ‘light in the darkness’. Working together collaboratively, we have challenged decision makers to be that light.” 

St Thomas More Catholic High School students, in North Shields, Hexham and Newcastle Diocese, discovered that Arriva buses, unlike other bus companies in areas nearby, were charging them adult fares.    

They participated in transport consultations, also persuading the then-Mayor of the North of Tyne Combined Authority to support the campaign. They dressed in their parents’ work clothes, sang songs and marched peacefully, meeting with Arriva, and ultimately a £1 fare was announced for all under-22s in the region. 

Wimbledon College, in the Archdiocese of Southwark, identified mental health as an important issue that emerged during Merton Citizens assembly meetings with schools and churches. They organised a mental health summit with local decision-makers, eventually securing more NHS youth mental health funding in their area, trained mental health ambassadors, and ‘be well hubs’ across south London. 

St Bonaventure’s Catholic Secondary School, Forest Gate, in the Diocese of Brentwood, had long been served by inadequately-timed and overcrowded bus services. A group of Year 8 students hosted a meeting for bus companies and Transport for London (TfL) representatives, and timetables were swiftly improved.  

After some of their peers had been fined, students also raised the issue of training for drivers and a bus company regarding regulations around travel with lost or damaged travel cards, with positive results.   

At St Antony’s Catholic Primary School, also in Forest Gate and the Diocese of Brentwood, pupils decided to campaign on the issue of low pay. They wrote a song, and performed it in front of management from London City Airport, a major employer in the area, persuading them to become an accredited Living Wage employer.The school was then able to successfully influence other big local employers to do likewise, such as Tate and Lyle Sugars, Newham Council, and ExCeL London. 

St Clare’s Catholic Primary School, Handsworth, in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, worked together with across the city to develop a five-step plan to help tackle discrimination and appreciate each other’s differences. They are now working on a video to share their work with others and to support Year 6 and Year 7 transition. 

Cardinal Nichols said: “This work, from my point of view, really does have to spring from our faith.

"Human dignity does not depend on any human authority, it is innate, it comes first because each person is made in the image and likeness of God.”

Download Called To Action: Catholic Social Teaching and Community Organising in Schools and Colleges

The Formatio partnership supports dioceses, Catholic universities, Catholic Multi Academy Trusts (CMATs) and the CES in implementing strategies for Catholic school leadership and governance, as commissioned by the Bishops in 2017.  

Its strategic priorities are teacher recruitment, particularly in Religious Education, as well as developing Catholic leadership and the training of multi-academy trust (MAT) staff. Formatio is made up of four regional hubs comprising the dioceses, CMATs and the four Catholic universities.

Mike Shorten (pictured) is Chief Executive Officer of Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, which oversees 35 schools in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. He is a founding member of Formatio, joining as a trustee when it was first established.

At the time he was headteacher of Carmel College, in Darlington, where in 1999 he set up the Carmel Teacher Training Partnership (CTTP), an Initial Teacher Training provider which has worked with Leeds Trinity and St Mary’s universities for PGCE provision.

‘Growing our own’

He said: “We felt we couldn't keep on complaining about how there weren't enough teachers unless we did something about it, we needed to grow our own.”

Keeping in touch with sixth form students through their degree is important, Mike said, as well as giving them jobs and internships in between university semesters.

“So rather than stacking shelves at Tesco's they could be coming in and working with Key Stage 3 children and getting a real taste of it, but this needs to be funded,” he said.

“The RE teachers of the next five years are currently in Catholic schools, everyone knows they're not coming from anywhere else, so they're a captive audience.

“As a sector we should be systematically promoting the role of being an RE teacher in the subject, and thinking about what that looks like with careers programs for 13- and 14-year-olds, A level and GCSE RE students.

“We also need to make it more appealing for them to think of teaching as a career either immediately after a degree or maybe later in life as a career changer. There's got to be a different view of teaching always being for people as a vocation for life, in the current climate it's very unusual for people to have a single career throughout their life.”

Developing new leadership

Through Formatio Mike also set up the National Catholic Leadership Programme. This initiative, for the formation and recruitment of headteachers, was piloted by the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle and has since been rolled out to others.

Bishop Hogarth offers staff development opportunities to move around within its network of schools, for instance by offering secondments to senior leaders for a month, term or year, and with in-house leadership training that includes Catholic Social Teaching, ethics and character development.

Mike explained how one of the benefits of being in a trust was the support of new headteachers. New headteachers are supported through the Ofsted process by experienced staff, in person while the inspection team is at the school — reducing the barriers to leadership and encouraging deputies to become headteachers.

Non-Catholic CMAT staff in senior non-reserved posts such as in HR, IT or finance, are also trained in running a large organisation from a Catholic perspective.

Opportunities for students and staff

The CMAT system offers opportunities beyond what can be provided by a standalone school buying in local authority support, Mike said. He gave the example of Bishop Hogarth schools’ debating societies, where students don’t just compete with their classmates, but against other schools across the CMAT.

“There's nothing better than developing that strength of character, that confidence and resilience to be able to argue your point with somebody, it can be life-changing.

“And we can do that with sport, music, and for pupil premium children, opportunities they wouldn't have had otherwise.”

Similarly, he is also passionate about the continuity of curriculum possible in a CMAT system. He said different primary schools teaching languages like French, Spanish or German would ultimately feed into a secondary where pupils then start from scratch with a new curriculum.

“You start with four-year-olds and teach the same language curriculum right through to age 11, they join secondary school and it just carries on.

“Having continuity of curriculum, for geography, history, for science and maths, where it flows through, that’s just common sense, with potentially stunning outcomes.”

A bright future

It’s not just through Formatio that Mike has made connections with Catholic universities, but also around the world.

Ten undergraduates from a Catholic university in Australia have recently been teaching in Bishop Hogarth schools as part of a work placement scheme.

He said: “In future some of them can say ‘you know what, we want to come back and teach in your schools’, all of them are Catholic, and suddenly we've got a new pipeline. Some of them want to be RE teachers , therefore coming through and feeding into our system.”

Ultimately, with nearly half of Catholic schools now academies, Mike sees the CMAT system as a permanent fixture in the education sector, and one having a future bright with potential.

“There are exciting times to come, I am confident it will protect Catholic education, where will it lead us? That depends on if we are brave enough to take the chances when the opportunities arise.”

Find out more about Formatio

A consultation with Leeds Trinity University staff and students has led to the UK’s first Catholic mission strategy being produced.

This has been welcomed by staff, students and governors at Leeds Trinity, which is one of four Catholic universities in England. 

Consultation and open psychologically safe listening revealed that some staff and students did not fully understand the Catholic nature of the university and how it can be expressed in a competitive higher education marketplace. 

The inspiring story of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion and CES, who opened the university in 1966 to widen access to education and skills for marginalised groups in society, was the catalyst for a renewed understanding of why the Catholic mission of the university can and should continue to be articulated. 

The story of The Most Venerable Elizabeth Prout also inspired the Leeds Trinity community to see themselves in the story of the foundress of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion order — and as part of the continuation of her mission to provide education for all.

Dr Ann Marie Mealey (pictured), the university’s Director of Catholic Mission, said: “The founding vision of transformation of lives through education informed by faith still resonates on campus today, including with non-Catholics. We always need to find new ways of aligning our Catholic mission with sector demands because Catholic education has always made a significant contribution to ‘teaching from the margins of society’ with faith and love. And this is still credible in today’s world.

“I am so proud of the Leeds Trinity staff and student community. They found our foundational story and raison d’être so inspiring once it was explained to everyone that each and every person is a part of a mission to offer education as hope for a better future for everyone. Our motto of education for hope is used positively by many staff and students and is a sign of renewed engagement with who we always were since 1966.”

The university reaffirmed its mission inspired by the guidance of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion as follows:

• learn respect for self and others

• learn the meaning of an inclusive community which celebrates difference and acknowledges mutual interdependence

• develop a love of learning and appreciation of their talents

• read the signs of the times and respond to the crying needs of the world today

• share their gifts and resources in a spirit of compassion for the building of a more just world

The strategy includes an emphasis on providing skills outside of the classroom to students in ethical leadership programmes and workshops, inspired by the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. It also capitalises on the global network of Catholic higher education, of which England’s four Catholic universities are a part.

The strategic pillars of the new strategy align with Leeds Trinity’s strategic plan and demonstrate how each and every person is invited to develop their full potential. This is achieved through sustainable education; ethically informed student experience; support for Catholic multi-academy trusts; research and knowledge exchange; as well as in international and national collaborations with sister Catholic schools, colleges and universities that make up the Catholic family of education providers.

Leeds Trinity’s recent Catholic mission work has branched out into areas including Beyond The Dark Clouds, a free online lecture series and internationally-known podcast on Catholic approaches to topical issues; an annual conference on Catholic education; designing an ethical leadership programme in association with CAFOD; and hosting a mosaic of Biblical scenes by an award-winning artist at the university’s chapel.

Part of the mosaic depicted Alan Kurdi, the two-year-old boy washed up on a beach in Turkey while crossing the Mediterranean from Syria. Dr Mealey said that non-Catholic staff and students visiting the exhibition were impressed to hear of the Bishops’ approach to migration, as articulated in Love The Stranger.     

She said: “Some staff and students said they didn’t know that the Bishops engaged with the ethical challenges of our times. But being guided to learn more about the intellectual side of the Church helped those who are not Catholic to come forward and speak about our university’s Catholicism in a positive light and to understand more fully that the social teachings of the Church invite everyone to consider what is deeply human about education and human living.

“I’m so grateful to everyone for their contributions and engagement in this process and hope that our work inspires other universities to design their own strategies for hope.”

Find out more about Leeds Trinity University’s Catholic mission

Many of the 2,169 Catholic schools, colleges and academies in England and Wales employ chaplains to address the social, emotional and spiritual needs of students and staff.

However, a lack of career progression and limited pay can result in low numbers of applicants for school chaplaincy vacancies, with chaplains stretched between multiple sites, and who then move on to jobs with better prospects.

Tom Baptist is Director of Chaplaincy at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Multi-Academy Trust. In collaboration with the Diocese of Nottingham Education Service, he has highlighted and addressed this issue by establishing a career pathway from apprentice level up to a regional chaplaincy director.

Within this innovative structure a lay chaplain support staff post has been created to avoid teaching assistants taking on pastoral duties beyond their role.

This new post provides formal recognition for their work, an improved salary, and potential career progression into school chaplaincy.

The school chaplains are supported by the education structure in Nottingham Diocese, with all 84 of its state-funded Catholic schools within three multi-academy trusts (MATs).

Consistent pay and conditions are ensured by the diocesan Human Resources Director who oversees all three MATs.

Further detail is available within the presentation downloadable below, which has been kindly provided by Tom. 

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:14-15

Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.

Proverbs 4:13

The political community has a duty to honour the family, to assist it, and to ensure especially: … the freedom to profess one’s faith, to hand it on, and raise one’s children in it, with the necessary means and institutions…

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2211

Background

As a religious community we value our partnership with successive governments in England and Wales in the provision of Catholic education. Its fruit is the more than 2,100 nurseries, schools, special schools, independent schools, colleges, and universities which make the Catholic Church the second-largest provider of education in the country, and with the biggest network of academies.

Catholic schools exist to support parents as the primary educators of their children and welcome anyone who seeks a Catholic education for their child. Rapidly expanded in the 19^th century to meet the needs of the growing urban population, today Catholic schools make up 9% of the state-funded sector and are considerably more ethnically diverse than the national average. They take in more pupils from the poorest households and outperform state schools by up to seven percentage points at GCSE English, Mathematics and Religious Education.

The Catholic community provides a significant financial contribution to the government in rent-free provision of land and buildings for schools, and by contributing to capital costs saves taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.

This 177 years of partnership with the State has resulted in a legal foundation which protects the core principles of Catholic education. Amongst these are the ability to give priority in admissions to Catholic children; the right of bishops to appoint a majority of school governors; the right to reserve senior leadership posts for Catholics; and the legal right to teach, inspect and set the curriculum for Religious Education in Catholic schools.

Catholic education is popular with parents and successful in preparing pupils for life in modern Britain. However, there are campaigns to get rid of schools with a religious character, and to change the curriculum so that our schools would no longer be Catholic.

Action

The sector is successful because of the hundreds of thousands of teachers, leaders, parents and volunteers but it still requires a Government to safeguard a Catholic approach:

• The Government should support Catholic schools through policy and legislation which protects the legal foundations of this historic sector.

• The Government should work closely with the Catholic sector to use best practice and ensure that the existing Catholic approach to governance, admissions, inspections, and the curriculum continues to flourish.

• Whilst acknowledging the essential work of educational practitioners, the Government should recognise that parents are the first and primary educators of their children and ensure that this right permeates through all education policy.

What are your candidate’s views?

You may want to consider these questions when speaking to candidates seeking election.

• Do they support the creation of new Catholic schools, including new Catholic Special Schools, through the removal of the cap on faith-based admissions?

• Will they protect current admissions arrangements in Catholic schools?

• Do they recognise the importance of Catholic leaders, teachers and governors in maintaining the Catholic school ethos?

• What support will they give to raising the importance of Religious Education?

• How will they safeguard parents’ rights as the primary educators including their right to withdraw their child from Relationships and Sex education and Religious Education?

Resources

Christ at the Centre – Why the Church Provides Catholic Schools

Catholic Education in England and Wales

Catholic Schools: Partners in Formation – Celebrating 175 Years of the Catholic Education Service

The Code of Canon Law: Catholic Education

“Catholic parents also have the duty and right of choosing those means and institutions through which they can provide more suitably for the Catholic education of their children, according to local circumstances.”

^{Code of Canon Law 1983, canon 793 §1}

For further information on the election, please visit the Bishops' Conference website.