Welsh Government to spend over £100 million on two new Catholic schools the church will own

The Welsh Government will spend over £100 million on two new Catholic schools that would then be handed to the church, it has been reported. Wales Humanists has expressed alarm at the news, saying that state funds should not end up as gifts to religious bodies.

In Wrexham, four existing Catholic schools are planned to be merged into a single ‘super-school’ catering to students aged 3–18. The proposed building is expected to cost £55 million, with 85% of the funding provided by the Welsh Government. Once completed, the new school buildings will be owned by the Catholic Church. In the 2021 Census there was a drop in the total number of Christians in Wrexham from 63.5?% in 2011 to 47.5% in 2021, and a corresponding increase of the same amount in the non-religious. Welsh Government’s own data from 2022 shows that there are almost double the number of non-religious than Christians under the age of 45, raising concern that the new super school will be serving a dwindling Catholic population.

Similarly, in the Vale of Glamorgan a £63 million investment is being made into a new Catholic school building. The project aims to replace the existing St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, increasing capacity. In the Council’s community impact assessment report, it states a need to ‘Ensure the Council is able to accommodate the future demand for faith based education based on current trends’, but there has been no published data showing an increased demand for increased faith school places. In the 2021 census, 48% of Vale of Glamorgan residents ticked ‘No religion’, making it the most common response in this local authority area, up from 33% in 2011. As with the Wrexham project, the new school’s buildings will be owned by the Catholic Church, despite being funded almost entirely by public money.

Humanists UK advocates for an inclusive education system where public funds are utilised to benefit all members of society equally. It is writing to both local authorities to ask them to supply their Equality Impact Assessments for the expenditure, and is asking the Welsh Government to change its policy which sees millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money gifted to religious organisations.

Humanists UK’s Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson commented:

‘We urge the Welsh Government and local authorities to reconsider such funding arrangements and to make sure public investments in education serve the broader community without advancing specific religious interests.

‘The allocation of substantial public resources to faith-based institutions, which have selective admissions and employment policies, undermines the principles of equality and inclusivity.’