Campaigners against proposed Roman Catholic school in Peterborough to hold public meeting

A public meeting has been organised by opponents of a proposed Roman Catholic school in Hampton Water.
Alastair LichtenAlastair Lichten
Alastair Lichten

The No More Faith Schools campaign has set up the meeting for Thursday, November 28 from 6pm to 7.30pm at the Peterborough Quaker Meeting House in 21 Thorpe Road.

The free event is open to everyone with the organisers claiming they will be answering a number of questions in relation to the proposed school.

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Campaign co-ordinator Alastair Lichten said: “Opening a new discriminatory faith school in Hampton Water would harm equality, social cohesion and children and teachers’ freedom of religion and belief.

“It’s particularly unfair that this school is set to open at the expense of an inclusive, secular alternative. The Catholic church’s attempts to recruit the next generation of believers can’t be a good enough reason to exclude families who don’t share its beliefs from their local school.”

The new school, if approved, would be run by the Diocese of East Anglia which has insisted that it would have a wide mix of children of all faiths.

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Helen Bates, the diocese’s assistant director for schools, has previously said: “On average, about a third of pupils in our schools are not Catholic.”

The Government gave the go-ahead for the new school in April, but now it is up to the council to decide whether to give it final approval.

If built, it would be the first brand-new, purpose-built Catholic school in the diocese for decades.

The Hampton Academies Trust, which runs a number of primary and secondary schools in the area of the proposed new Catholic school, has also voiced its objections to it.

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It is expected that when the new school – if approved – is full it could have up to 90 places in each year group. It is also expected to have a nursery.

No date has yet been set for when the school could open.

Further details on the meeting can be viewed at: https://www.nomorefaithschools.org/events/2019/11/hampton-water-public-meeting-new-proposed-faith-school.

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