Big jump in Catholic school enrolment

CATHOLIC school enrolment has risen by 15.8 per cent over the past five years, while the number of pupils in all the nation's schools has risen by just 1.9 per cent, according to the 1967 Catholic Education Handbook.
This means at least two out of three children who are baptised Catholics are attending Catholic schools— nearly 800,000, or one in ten of all British school children.
The increase is one of more than 100,000 over five years ago, says the Handbook, which is published by the Catholic Education Council.
Part of the increase may be attributed to new school building, part to the growth of places arising from the swing to comprehensive secondary education.
And part may be due to improved statistical gathering on the part of the Catholic Education Council, which in the past has not always been able to enlist full cooperation from every Catholic school in submitting its enrolment figures.
At the same time, the number of teachers in Catholic schools has risen to the point where, on average, each is responsible for only 24.5 pupils, two fewer than five years ago.