"A Catholic school is not an isolated enterprise, living and functioning in a world of its own, concerned only about its own well-being", emphasised the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham, Chairman, the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales, in London on Tuesday 31 March, as reported by Peter Jennings in Independent Catholic News

"Like the Catholic Church, it is not only knitted into our wider society but it also has a sense of mission to that wider society. So here there is no place for narrowly defined leadership," said the Archbishop of Birmingham, at the start of his lecture, 'Leading a Catholic School', given at the Commonwealth Club.

"In a Catholic school, the true development of the person, pupils and staff, takes precedence over all other things. We insist that it is more important than the public recognition of the success of the school; than the demands of political pressure; than the requirements of the economy, significant though these things are.

"From the first moment that any person sets foot in a Catholic school he or she ought to have the impression of entering a new environment, one that has its own unique characteristics."

Archbishop Nichols was addressing a distinguished audience of academics,school governors and head teachers, at the 'Visions for Leadership' Conference, organised by the Catholic Education Service of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.