Catholic schools in the UK educate more pupils from deprived areas than the national average yet outperform other schools by up to 10pc, according to a report published on Monday.

The 2012 census of Catholic schools in England and Wales, released by the Catholic Education Service (CES), revealed that 20pc of pupils at State-funded Catholic secondary schools live in the most deprived areas, compared with 17pc nationally.

The data is drawn from Government reports.

In Catholic primary schools, a third (33.5pc) of pupils are from ethnic minority backgrounds compared to 27.6 per cent nationally.

Yet the survey revealed that pupils at Catholic schools outperformed non-Catholic schools in Ofsted inspections at primary level and scored more highly in exams.

Ofsted is the State’s inspector of British schools.

At age 11, Catholic schools outperformed the national average English and Maths ability scores by 6pc, the report showed. At GCSE, Catholic schools outperformed the national average by 4.9pc.

The proportion of both the pupil and teacher population that is Catholic has risen slightly from previous years with 71pc of pupils and 55.6pc of teachers at Catholic schools stated as Catholic.

The report also showed that 74.7pc of Catholic primary schools have Ofsted grades of good or outstanding, compared to the national average of 64pc.

Bishop Malcolm McMahon OP, Chairman of the Catholic Education Service said “We are very pleased to welcome these figures which show the enormous and important contribution that Catholic education makes to the common good of our society.

“The strength of our Catholic sector is based upon the respect for the individual, as a Child of God. Our Catholic schools continue to be a reflection of the diverse communities which we serve.”