Catholic and Anglican Church leaders are in talks with Liverpool City Council over the possible amalgamation of three of their Christian schools.

|TOP|The talks follow proposals laid out by the Churches Joint Education Policy Committee to bring more collective worship in schools, reports Catholic newspaper The Universal.

A drop in pupil numbers in the Holy Trinity and St Francis of Assisi Catholic primary schools and the Garston Church of England Primary School could see the three merge into a single two-faith school.

Representatives of both the Catholic Archdiocese and the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool have been in discussion with governors of all three schools over two possible options for a joint Catholic and Church of England school in the area which would be located across two sites.

The first of the two proposals would see the Garston Church of England School enter into a federation with a brand new Catholic school formed out of an amalgamation of the two existing Catholic schools.

|AD|Although the federation would have a single governing body and one head teacher both schools would remain legally separate and keep their distinctive religious characters.

The federation would serve to allow the schools to share resources and expertise and possibly budgets.

The second proposal entails the creation of a completely new joint Catholic/Church of England school .

The proposals were welcomed by the Bishop of Warrington and Chairman of the Diocesan Board of Education, David Jennings, and also Fr Michael O’Dowd, Episcopal Vicar for Schools and Colleges for the Archdiocese.

In a joint statement the two men said, “Either of the proposed options presents an exciting way forward, that will help secure the long term future of Church of England and Catholic education in the Garston area.

“This will build on the good working relationships that the Garston churches already have in an area that in the past suffered from sectarian division, and we sure that this cooperation will underpin any partnership between our schools."

A decision is expected to be reached this November in time for the proposal to be into place by the start of the academic year in 2007.