Clegg may send son to the London Oratory

BY ED WEST
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT leader Nick Clegg is considering sending his son to a leading Catholic school despite his party’s opposition to faith schools.
The Deputy Prime Minister, an agnostic who has spoken out against faith schools in the past, last week toured the London Oratory in Fulham, one of the best-performing state schools in the capital.
Mr Clegg, whose wife Miriam is a Spanish Catholic, is said to be “very keen” for his nine-year-old son to attend the school, even though there are many others closer to their home in Putney, across the river.
It is likely to be an embarrassment to his party, which campaigned against the right of church schools to base applications on church, which many argue would effectively mean they were no longer faith schools.
It also has the potential to repeat the embarrassment of Labour Ministers choosing distant but successful schools over local ones. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair controversially sent his sons to the Oratory, despite living eight miles away in Islington, north London. Labour cabinet minister Harriet Harman also sent her son to the Oratory, though she lives in south-east London. One of the chief critics of Blair and Harman, the left-wing MP Diane Abbott, later sent her son to a £10,000-a-year private school.
The Cleggs’ nearest Catholic school, John Paul II in Wimbledon, is described as “satisfactory” by Ofsted, while the London Oratory is “outstanding”. A high percentage of John Paul II’s students are from poor areas and for many English is a second language.
In 2009, 94.5 per cent of Oratory pupils attained five or more GCSEs, at Grade C or above, including English and maths. This compared with 50 per cent at John Paul II and a national average of 46.7 per cent.
London Oratory headmaster David McFadden said his school would be a “natural choice” for the couple, who were “happy with what they saw”. The Cleggs’ three sons attend Catholic primary schools.
The Liberal Democrat manifesto at the election vowed to “ensure that all faith schools develop an inclusive admissions policy and end unfair discrimination on grounds of faith when recruiting staff”, and “policies to reduce radically all forms of selection”.
A spokesman for the Deputy Prime Minister said: “Miriam and Nick have always refused to turn the issue of their children’s education into a political football.
“They are considering a number of schools for their eldest son but no decision has been made.” Mr Clegg is an agnostic but has said in interviews that he has “enormous respect” for religious people. He once said: “I’m married to a Catholic and am committed to bringing up my children as Catholics.”