This new year marked a new path in my professional life. I took a position as Assistant Head of a school which, for the first time in my career, was not a Catholic one. It is a temporary placement; I want to remain on the right side of the Tiber. However, my hiatus has given me cause to reflect on the value of our Catholic schools.

There is a belief held by some that these schools have become part of the “woke” system, replacing Catholic values with “British” ones. It is true that, due to over-reaching governments, Catholic schools are being compelled to stretch the boundaries of what “loving thy neighbour” and “being made in the image of God” mean in order to allow for a permissive attitude towards what is sin and what is not sin. I remember instances of not being happy with the content of a year 7 PSHE lesson and taking my class to the chapel to pray the rosary instead. But aside from this, Catholic schools, in my view, remain very much Catholic.