Education

The DDfE supports schools to ensure that they are successful and act in accordance within the Trust Deed of the Diocese. This involves us in offering advice and direction on a broad range of educational matters such as, Religious Education and curriculum issues, Catholic life of a school, collective worship, staffing and recruitment, governance, admissions and capital developments. In order to do this, the team work closely with our four Catholic Education Trusts, local authorities, the Department for Education and the Regional Schools Commissioner.

Catholic schools evangelise culture because they address the deepest questions about what it is to be human and live in society. They open pupils’ minds to the transcendent dimension of life and the reality of God revealed in Jesus Christ. They teach a holistic understanding of the human person and society in which all are included so that humanity can flourish. The Catholic school enables each child to develop their God-given gifts in order to engage in building a better society which is characterised by justice, truth and love.

The document Christ at the Centre cites four reasons why the Church provides Catholic schools:
• To assist in its mission of making Christ known to all people
• To assist parents, who are the primary educators of their children, in the education and religious formation of their children
• To be at the service of the local Church, the diocese, the parish and the Christian home
• To be of service to society

“Christ is the foundation of the whole educational enterprise in a Catholic school”

The Catholic School, 1977 – 34

“I ask all the educational bodies to inaugurate a season that speaks to the heart of the new generations, reconstituting knowledge and meaning, competence and responsibility, faith and life”

Pope Leo XIV Apostolic letter ‘Drawing New Maps of Hope’ October 2025