A campaign to protect the church status of an Anglican school in Wales has received support from the Roman Catholic Church in Wales.
Trouble began on 14 May, when Pembrokeshire County Council voted to remove Voluntary Controlled (VC) status from Ysgol Cilgerran, a Church in Wales school.
The move came as a shock to residents, not least because 97 per cent of responses to a consultation on the issue were against the plans.
The Church in Wales has criticised the move as “entirely unnecessary” and has issued a formal objection. The Church has also indicated that it if the council intends to press on with the plan, it will take legal action, arguing the council or its officers made unqualified legal assertions and misrepresentations to the public and may have discriminated against faith schooling.
The Church in Wales has now received support from Angela Keller, Wales Adviser to the Catholic Education Service.
In a letter to Pembrokeshire Council, Keller wrote in support of the position of the Church in Wales and said that the proposal "has not demonstrated that the statutory tests set out in the School Organisation Code have been met".
"There is no evidence to suggest that the removal of the school’s religious designation will be of any educational benefit as the school is already performing well and has a stable leadership profile," she said.
"The local authority has also acknowledged that the proposal, whilst incurring the cost and disruption associated with school reorganisation, will deliver no identifiable educational or financial benefit.”
Keller also accused the council of failing to give due consideration to its obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
Church in Wales schools are few in number, with the nearest alternative to Ysgol Cilgerran being 20 miles away. Removing Ysgol Cilgerran’s church status would, Keller argued, be an attack on parental choice.
Agreeing with the Church in Wales, Keller said the council’s actions were “indirect discrimination” that put families of a specific religion at a “severe disadvantage”, a potential violation of the Equality Act.
A Church in Wales spokesperson welcomed Keller’s intervention, “We welcome this latest powerful expression of support for the campaign to save Ysgol Cilgerran’s church status. The threat to Cilgerran is a threat to faith schools, to diversity, to the community, and to the children and families who have been impacted by Pembrokeshire Council’s entirely unnecessary actions.”
Responding to the claims and concerns of both Churches, Pembrokeshire Council said in a statement, “Any objections during the notice period will be collated over the summer and the report is anticipated to return to council in the autumn. The objections will be fully considered and outlined in the objection report. We are aware of the views of the diocese on the matter.”
