New Vaughan Admission Policy Favours the Rich
Blogged by James Preece on 10th May 2011
The new regime at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School are being remarkably secretive about the effects of their shiny new admissions policy. Proud parents are not usually so coy with the baby photos.
The "Clerk to Governors" acting under "advice from the Acting Headmaster and Chairman of Governors" refused to provide the information I needed and I was only able to obtain detailed information about the distribution of pupil distances at the school by making a freedom of information request to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Even then, it's not straight forward. For this years intake (the first one under the new admissions policy) they have provided only 'as the crow flies' figures while for last years intake (2010) they have provided only 'safest, shortest walking route' figures.
Both the school and the borough are very keen to point out that these distances are not comparable. Somebody might live two miles away as the crow flies, but it might be a three mile walk to get there. Naturally I asked for comparable figures but I'm still waiting on that one, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea are claiming not to know how far away some boys at the Vaughan School live.
In the meantime, I offer the following non-comparable facts for your consideration:
Under the old, 2010 admission policy:
32% of boys lived within three miles walk of the school.
15 boys lived within two miles walk of the school.Under the new, 2011 admission policy:
73% of boys live within a three mile crow flight of the school.
59 boys live within a two mile crow flight of the schoolNote: These figures do not include boys who entered under music scholarships or special educational needs as the rules surrounding those two methods of entry have not changed.
I find it hard to belive that a simple change in measuring technique can account for such a huge increase in the number of boys living in close proximity to the school. Crows or no crows, it is clear that a huge shift has taken place.
Under the old admissions policy points were awarded for involvement in parish life including everything from running a prayer group or being on the parish council to having a child in the scout group. Ordinary families were rewarded for dedication and service to the Church.
Under the new admissions policy you can run a prayer group, join the parish council, clean the church, arrange flowers, sing in the choir, help raise money for a new roof, visit the sick and housebound and help feed the homeless and the school will say hmm, big deal. Where do you live? Families are now rewarded only for being able to afford a house in Kensington. That will set you back about £1.3 million by the way.
In other words, the new admissions policy favours the rich.
If any supporters of the new policy want to get in to an argument about the flight paths of an unladen African Swallow in the West Kensington area... please don't.
I have spent many hours trying to attain the information I need to make a scrupulously fair comparison. Don't whine to me about the lack of comparable figures, kindly direct your complaints to the governing body of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial school and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea who have both refused to supply them.
Reader Comments
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Oliver said...
Excellent work here!
The agenda should now start to become clear - even to the likes of Daily Thompson and his readers, who no doubt will continue to insist, regardless of this evidence, that the new admissions policy has been put in place by "left-wing" ideologues.
The truth, of course, is rather simpler. The new governors (and their backers in the episcopate) want the school to be more posh and less "Catholic ghetto". (Substitute "Taliban Catholic" or any other offensive term for practising Catholics Austen Ivereigh can think of.)
The new governors have now go their way, and poor, practising Catholics who don't live near to the school are now being marginalised in favour of well-heeled, non-practising Catholics who do. Religion loses, money wins, and it's as simple as that.
So can we please drop this nonsense about the new governors at the Vaughan wanting to turn the school into a bog-standard comprehensive?
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Sarah said...
Excellent post James, thank you for your hard work and dedication to upholding the inalienable right of parents to be the primary educators and protectors of their children.
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Jonathan said...
Very informative, thanks James.
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epsilon said...
Excellent research, James. Many thanks for your dedicated work for The Church. The irony of course is that if you were living in London outside the 3 mile zone up to now, and you wanted to get your son into the Vaughan, he probably would have been pipped to the post by a boy whose parents were extra ordinary ministers:(
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St John Smythe said...
The Cardinal Vaughan is an excellent school. Thoroughly Catholic, with dedicated and motivated teachers, achieving superb academic results without compromising on the pupils' spiritual formation. This is to be lauded, supported and continued.
Regarding admissions policy, though, is it really right that one Catholic boy should be favoured over another simply because the parents of the first "run a prayer group, join the parish council, clean the church, arrange flowers, sing in the choir, help raise money for a new roof, visit the sick and housebound and help feed the homeless"? Why does that mean that he is more entitled to, or deserving of, a Catholic education, on which the salvation of his soul, as well as his life prospects in this world, depend so much?
The "the inalienable right of parents to be the primary educators and protectors of their children" remain under either scenario - the parents can take their children to Mass, teach them the Faith, make sure they do their homework, etc. As far as I can see, those rights do not mean that their children should automatically get first preference over other Catholic children in being admitted to a school.
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James said...
Is it really right that one Catholic boy should be favoured over another simply because the parents of the first can afford a home in Kensington?
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St John Smythe said...
With respect, that doesn't answer the question of why a boy should be favoured simply because his parents are involved in lots of parish activities. Many good Catholic parents, especially those with several children, simply wouldn't have the time. And in any case, why should the virtues or vices of the parents be visited on the sons?
Further, these are some far-from-nice areas within the catchment area of the Cardinal Vaughan. Shepherd's Bush, anyone? It's not just for the uber-rich people in Holland Park.
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Sarah said...
You raise an interesting point about measuring Cathlicity. If parish activity and the number of rotas ones name appears on is the measure then that counts me out, I'm too busy bringing up my children in the faith.
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Sarah said...
"a Catholic education, on which the salvation of his soul, as well as his life prospects in this world, depend so much?"
I wouldn't rely on a "Catholic education" for the salvation of my childrens' souls! Parents have a duty to educate their children in the Catholic faith and this is not a duty that can be sub-contracted or delegated.
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St John Smythe said...
I agree that parents should not rely solely on the school to ensure the salvation of their children's souls. Of course parents have a duty to pass on the Faith.
However, when parents send their children to a school they are, in some sense, "sub-contracting" or delegating their teaching responsibility. At school, the teacher stands in loco parentis. Therefore, as a matter of common sense, the Catholic education which the child receives (the high quality of which is widely acknowledged to be one of the key attributes of the Cardinal Vaughan school) has, or should have, a significant bearing on the child's formation, vocation and, ultimately, salvation.
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Policraticus said...
"... a Catholic education, on which the salvation of his soul, ... depend so much?"
you've got to be kidding! talk about over egging it!....Catholic schools nowadays are factories of lapsation ....and as Bishop Conry stated in a Catholic Herald interview last year "you can't talk to young people about salvation"!
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Nicolas Bellord said...
I would have thought that one of the most important aims of a Catholic school is to produce well-educated Catholics who know their faith and are faithful to the Church. We seem to be rather short of such people at this time - many of our leaders both clerical and lay seem to me to be somewhat second rate and generally so unsure of themselves as to cripple evangelisation.
Is it not also true that if a school is to produce first-rate Catholics it is absolutely essential to have the support of parents who are equally committed to the faith? It therefore follows that the school has to inquire into the commitment of the parents when selecting the children. Yes it may seem unfair to children from homes where the faith is not practised or only weakly but that unfairness does not arise from the selection process but from the fact that there are insufficient "Catholic" schools that offer a really good Catholic education. And whose fault is that?
Roll on the day when there are sufficient Catholic schools offering first class Catholic education so that a greater number of children can benefit from them but first we have to produce the next generation of committed Catholic teachers and parents.
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Richard said...
May I rock the boat a little?
It is not obvious to me whether the Vaughan should serve Catholics, of whatever degree of commitment, in its immediate locality; or Catholics of proven commitment from a wider area.
I'm sure that two sorts of family were very happy with the status quo ante: seriously committed Catholics who want a serious Catholic education; and seriously pushy Catholics who want to get into a good school anywhere in London.
It is not clear to me that the wishes of these families should trump those of families in the neighbourhood of the Vaughan.
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pattif said...
The right of parents to educate their children in accordance with their religious beliefs and to express a meaningful preference for the school their child attends is enshrined in Church teaching and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Meaningful (as opposed to purely theoretical) expression of parental preference is incompatible with a system that requires children to attend the school nearest their home; in such a system, the people with least choice are the people least able to move, i.e. those in social housing, who end up being offered the school places no one else wants.
If the Diocese devoted more of its time and energy to encouraging its other schools to emulate the Vaughan, the many hundreds of applicants who fail to obtain a place at the School each year would be a lot happier.
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Salisbury John said...
personnel is policy so when it comes to measuring the degree of Catholicity of any institution, it can only be measured fully by the degree of commitment to the Faith of staff and users but certainly the staff....
It's clear the Vaughan was a good example of where personnel makes policy embellished as it was by children of practising Catholic homes....a perfect combination to avoid the "bleaching" of Catholic identity of which John Paul II accused Catholic institutions many years ago
Only time will tell as to how strong the stench of "domestos" emanates from the Vaughan
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monica said...
The diocesan changes to the Vaughan's admissions policy have resulted in a year on year reduction in the number of places offered to children who are eligible for Free School Meals.
The London Oratory school also seems to have found that selecting on the basis of catchment disadvantages those who are less well off.Damian Thompson's blog reports that Westminster diocese is now threatening to report the London Oratory to Schools' Adjudicator.
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Policraticus said...
worth reminding ourselves of the wisdom of the past when bishops acted like true shepherds
"Whilst we willingly and readily pay tribute to the high-mindedness of the majority of the school-teachers of this country, and whilst we acknowledge with deep appreciation their contribution towards the welfare of our children and the common good, we feel it necessary to insist that the teacher is primarily ‘in place of the parent’ (in loco parentis) and not a civil servant doing the work of the State."
English and Welsh Bishops Pastoral Letter on Sex Education 1944
http://catholicismpure.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/pastoral-of-english-and-welsh-bishops-on-sex-education-1944/
Now that the present Bishops Conference has effectively accommodated equality legislation by NOT insisting on the doctrine of marriage and family being taught as objective truth in schools lest it gives rise to so called unjust discrimination (Bishop Malcolm McMahon, the chairman of the Catholic Education Service, said that he had no objection to homosexuals in civil partnerships working in Catholic schools.)Lifesite Jan 18 2010....
.... Catholic parents especially the validly married ones need to wake up and smell the coffee and ethically de-tox their kids at the end of every school day
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Cunctator said...
For some years now there have been complaints tha applicants from nearby Catholic parishes in North Kensington and White City have found it very difficult to secure admission to The Vaughan. It is noticeable that the current pupils do not reflect the ethnic mix of Catholic parishes in West London.
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pattif said...
"For some years now there have been complaints that applicants from nearby Catholic parishes in North Kensington and White City have found it very difficult to secure admission to The Vaughan."
For some years now such complaints have been reported anecdotally to the School by the Diocesan Director of Education; oddly enough, such complaints have rarely figured in the responses to the statutory consultation on admission arrangements that every admission authority is required to carry out whenever changes are made to the arrangements.
"It is noticeable that the current pupils do not reflect the ethnic mix of Catholic parishes in West London."
Likewise noticeable is the extent to which the current pupil population has become less reflective of both the ethnic and the economic mix of West London, since the decision of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales to collude with the last government in the removal of the right of Catholic schools to interview applicants.
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monica said...
Cunctator: A statistic from the most recent headmaster's report: "49% of our pupils come from minority ethnic groups and this far exceeds the national average of 21%. The pupils in the School speak 44 different languages." This figure, while impressive on its own, compares very favourably with the data from other oversubscribed Catholic schools in West London.
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