A ROMAN CATHOLIC primary school in Blackburn is set to become a Church of England academy later this year. The RC diocese of Salford wants to hand over responsibility for Sacred Heart Primary School, which has 200 pupils, because there are too few Roman Catholic pupils to fulfil its trust deed.

The diocese of Blackburn has agreed to take Sacred Heart school, where pupils are mainly of Asian heritage, into its recently formed academy trust Cidari Education Ltd. Blackburn has agreed to rent the school site from the RC diocese on a 125-year supplemental lease.

The move is currently being considered by the Department for Education and the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove. If the plan goes ahead, it will be the first ever complete change of denominational designation, although in rare cases joint C of E and RC schools have become wholly Anglican.

The deputy director of education for Blackburn diocese, Fred Kershaw, said that, when it became Anglican, Sacred Heart would be renamed. So far, Cidari Education includes only one school, although three more C of E schools are expected to join by September.

The trust deeds of Roman Catholic schools usually specify that they are primarily for the education of RC children. C of E trust deeds relate to the religious nature ofthe school rather than the denominational allegiance of pupils.