Selective Catholic schools were

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

s that existed in England until the beginning of the twenty-first century. They emerged out of successive governments' desire to create a free market in the state education system. These schools were able, primarily through selecting by interviewing prospect pupils along with their parents, to attract pupils from motivated families who were committed to the education and advancement of their children and to the schools themselves.

History

The

London Oratory School The London Oratory School, also known as "The Oratory" or "The London Oratory" to distinguish it from other schools, is a Catholic Church, Catholic Secondary school#United Kingdom, secondary school for boys aged 7–18 and girls aged 16–18 in W ...

in Fulham was one of the last to select its intake, until 2006 interviewing pupil candidates and their parents; afterwards it continued to select a small portion of its intake based on musical aptitude.. The John Fisher School in leafy Purley, Surrey, was interviewing prospect boys and their parents as recently as 2008. These schools were extremely controversial, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s, and received many complaints about social selectivity and bias towards middle-class candidates and their parents. The John Fisher School in Purley, for example, had a more complex admissions procedure than many neighbouring private schools. In 1999

the government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

banned pupil selection by interview and many of the ancillary processes these schools used to determine their intake. Some selective Roman Catholic schools introduced a points admission system that effectively permitted them to select pupils, typically with candidates who are from "fully practising Catholic families" given priority, followed by other Roman Catholics, then non-Catholics.Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School admission policy 2015
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Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School , established = , closed = , type = Comprehensive, academy , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head ...

and

The London Oratory School The London Oratory School, also known as "The Oratory" or "The London Oratory" to distinguish it from other schools, is a Catholic Church, Catholic Secondary school#United Kingdom, secondary school for boys aged 7–18 and girls aged 16–18 in W ...

are known for selecting the sons of many politicians, including all of the sons of

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

(

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

from 1997 to 2007), and his daughter in the sixth form.{{citation needed, date=August 2015

The schools today

Interviews; quizzing parents about their occupations; obtaining previous school reports - all of these processes have been outlawed by the Schools' Admissions Code. The consequence has been that whereas these schools could select some of the most able students in the past before the 11+ tests at the few remaining London grammar schools, these highly able pupils are now largely creamed off by said grammar schools.

References

Roman Catholic schools in England