Danger for Catholic schools in Durham

by Jonathan Petre A MAJOR shake up of Catholic schools in County Durham, including the closure of a comprehensive school, was called for in a council report out this week.
But a Church spokesman said the closure of any secondary schools would be "dangerous" for Catholic education in the diocese. The council's report argues that the continued existence of two separate aided comprehensive schools in South Durham is no longer supportable, given the falling rolls. And it also proposes the closure of four small Catholic primary schools.
The report, by the council's Education Director, Fr Derek Sewell. says that the future of the two comprehensives — St John's school in Bishop Auckland and Carmel school in Darlington — should be reached as soon as possible.
According to the report Carmel school will be badly affected by falling rolls by the end of the 1980s. The present roll of 846 pupils will have dropped to about 500, the report says. The situation at St John's school is not much better, the report continues, and the continuation of both schools makes little sense when there is alternative provision.
Mr John Hampton, director of schools at Hexham and Newcastle's Diocesan Schools Commission, said that the report was welcome to the extent that it opened negotiations between the Church and the local education authorities.
But he expressed grave reservations about the proposals for secondary schools. "To expect us to close either Carmel school or St John's with the expectation that children will happily go to the other is not feasible," he said.
Pointing out that the distance between the two schools was about fifteen miles, Mr Hampton said he feared that a large number of Catholic pupils would be lost because they would be reluctant to travel the extra distances. "It would be very dangerous for the whole of Catholic education in Hexham and Newcastle," he said.