Bristol choir school to open a free school

BRISTOL Cathedral Choir School, a maintained academy, has secured funding to open an associated primary school under the Government's free-school programme ( News, 7 March 2012). The Schools Minister, Lord Nash, has signed a funding agreement for the Cathedral Primary School, which is scheduled to open in September. The school will be located for its first year or two at Abbey House, a building within the choir-school campus in College Square, Bristol. Neil Blundell, the choir-school principal, is executive principal of the new school. He said that a permanent location for the school would now be sought.

Media museum will not close, MPs say

The MP for Bradford West, George Galloway, said on Monday that he had received "a categorical assurance" from the Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey, "that the media museum in Bradford will not close". The threatened closure of the museum has been criticised by the Bishop of Bradford, the Rt Revd Nick Baines, among others (News, 14 June).

Go for full disestablishment, says Welsh Assembly committee

THE Government should consider allowing the Church in Wales (CiW) to become fully disestablished, the Welsh Assembly's constitutional and legislative-affairs committee has said. Its chairman, David Melding, said that the drafting of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill had "shone a light on a significant issue regarding how the Church in Wales operates as a disestablished body and its position in the legal system". Full disestablishment, which would require an Act of Parliament, "would release the Church from a conundrum it has grappled with under the 'vestiges of establishment' for almost a century".

Minister praises church housing projects

CHURCHES are doing "vital work" to help the homeless, the Housing Minister, Mark Prisk, said last week. Speaking at the "Mobilising the Church" conference in Bradford, organised by Housing Justice, Mr Prisk said: "Churches do vital work in responding to the needs in their communities, and homeless rough-sleepers are amongst the most vulnerable." He also defended the so-called "bedroom tax": "It makes no sense that there are one million spare bedrooms in social housing, while there are more than two million people on housing waiting-lists, and a quarter of a million families living in seriously overcrowded accommodation."

BBC appointment at Bishop Grosseteste

BISHOP Grosseteste University in Lincoln has announced that Roger Mosey, the BBC's new editorial director, has been chosen to chair its University Council. In 1980, Mr Mosey started his career at the BBC as a reporter with BBC Radio Lincolnshire. He said: "I feel a very close affinity for the city of Lincoln, having begun my BBC career just a short walk from the university campus."