Lord Lexden has taken action to help parents with children at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, one of the most successful schools in London.
The Catholic diocese of Westminster, which has overall responsibility for the school, has for some time been determined to deny parents their proper role on its governing body. Their representatives have been replaced by people who lack their close and special connection with the school.
Lord Lexden is a patron of the Vaughan Parents Action Group which has mounted a vigorous campaign to stop this erosion of parental rights. He raised the issue in the House of Lords on June 14. Shortly afterwards the Government announced its intention to make it a clear legal requirement that parent governors should be parents with children at the school. Only if that is not possible will other parents-who do not have children currently at the school-be considered.
Responding to Lord Lexden's initiative, the Vaughan Parents Action Group said, 'the diocese has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep Vaughan parents off the governing body. We welcome this intervention as a breakthrough for parents' rights'.
Read more on the Catholic Herald website.