Schola Cantorum - In Paradisum

[TullyBascombe]

Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School is a state school? It's not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church?

It is a Catholic state school, as is the London Oratory School.

Forgive me, I'm from America. I thought the state religion of England was the Church of England? I wasn't aware that England supported Catholic schools. Does it support schools affiliated with other religions?

[Luckdragon]

Forgive me, I'm from America. I thought the state religion of England was the Church of England? I wasn't aware that England supported Catholic schools. Does it support schools affiliated with other religions?

English state-funded schools, commonly known as state schools, provide education to pupils between the ages of 3 and 18 without charge. Approximately 93% of English schoolchildren attend 20,000 or so such schools. Since 2008 about 75% have attained "academy status", which essentially gives them a higher budget per pupil from the Department for Education.

There are a number of categories of English state-funded schools including academy schools, community schools, faith schools, foundation schools, free schools (including 'studio schools' and University technical colleges), and a small number of state boarding schools and City Technology Colleges. About one third of English state-funded schools are faith schools; i.e. affiliated with religious groups, most often from the Church of England (approximately 2/3 of faith schools), or the Roman Catholic Church (around 3/10). There are also schools affiliated to other Christian churches; in 2011, there were 42 Jewish, 12 Muslim, 3 Sikh and 1 Hindu faith schools. These faith schools include sub-categories such as faith-academy schools, voluntary aided schools, and voluntary controlled schools: most voluntary controlled schools are faith schools.

All of these are funded through national and local taxation. A number of state-funded secondary schools are specialist schools, receiving extra funding to develop one or more subjects in which the school specialises, such as Cirencester Deer Park School which currently has 5 specialisms. State schools may request payment from parents for extracurricular activities such as swimming lessons and field trips, provided these charges are voluntary.

[Surpinto]

Forgive me, I'm from America. I thought the state religion of England was the Church of England? I wasn't aware that England supported Catholic schools. Does it support schools affiliated with other religions?

The closest equivalent in the US would be a school voucher program.....and I'm not about to get into the political controversies inherent in that discussion But suffice it to say, the UK has similar tensions on the matter despite having a very different system than we do.

[TullyBascombe]

Thank you both for answering my question.

[WolfPaul]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001414j
To be broadcast on Radio 3 this coming Wednesday. Service was recorded earlier this month