LETTER: Wrong over faith schools

Michael Harris (Letters, 9th June) calls for the closure of all faith schools, arguing that this would be good for social cohesion and foil the radicalisation of potential terrorists. He is wrong.

I can only speak about Catholic schools, having taught in three such schools over a period of 35 years. In two of them our intake was very mixed both religiously, socially and racially – indeed far more than most state schools. State schools tend to have a smaller catchment area than Catholic schools meaning that they often lack a broad scope of social and racial backgrounds, drawing their intake from a limited area.

Hence the pupils who attend state schools will often miss out on the variety that Catholic schools offer.