Catholic schools need funds and pupils

A consultative report, published by the Middlesbrough diocesan council for education which covers an area stretching from the Tees to the Humber and inland to York, said: "There is sometimes the question of whether the non-Catholic pupils are baptised.

"It is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit competent teachers who practise their faith to our schools," said the report, which added that up to £10m needed to be raised by the Catholic authorities towards funding improvements to many schools.

Extensive consultations were to be carried out before deciding an action plan for the 51 primary and ten secondary schools in the diocese, said the Very Rev Michael Bayldon, who chaired the review.

He said: "Many things have changed in the past 20 years - people are on the move, the Catholic population is falling in a number of areas, buildings are getting old and some areas do not have Catholic schooling."

The 70-page consultative report said there had been a big drop in attendance at church masses and the move for specialist schools by the government put the small Catholic secondary schools at a disadvantage.

"Transport is a key issue for a number of our schools," said the report.

While there were surplus places in several schools in the diocese, in York, there was a problem in finding places for baptised Catholic children because places were being filled with siblings of non-Catholic pupils already admitted.

St Clare's school in Middlesbrough faced having to be rebuilt because of problems with the building and extensive work was needed at primary schools at Redcar.

On rural schools, the report said: "Sustaining relatively small rural Catholic schools is vital to the life of the Church in scattered parish communities. There are issues of how we support them".

It questioned whether there should be a limit on non-Catholic pupils and whether a head must always be a committed Catholic.