Faith schools

[lisson]

DS got into a faith secondary school last week on the basis that he attends a feeder primary and he goes to church once in a while. Its the best state secondary in town and its results are far better than the other comprehensives.
So, I bumped into a neighbour today whose children will be moving up to secondary in a couple of years, but they don't go to our church (or possibly any church - I am not sure about that). She was complaining about how my DC will go to a better school than hers.
I didn't know what to say. The only thing the school selects on is religion so i have no idea why the results are usually so much better. Its got nothing to do with our religion though. I left feeling guilty, as though my DCs will have an unfair advantage in life. But she wasn't angry that MY Dc are getting that advantage, only that her DC won't and I can see her point there.
What is the justification for faith schools and how do you explain why one school has better results than the next when they take from the same demographic??

[exoticfruits]

In most towns there are schools that are deemed to be better than others and they all have their feeder schools.Most of it is on house price-I can't see that that is any better. Faith schools can get worse results too!

[Whydobabiescry]

In my area the catholic comprehensive outperforms all the other secondary schools, even though its catchment is the whole city! The pupils come from all areas rich, poor in between etc. the only things that it can be put down to IMO are

1. Better teachers - extremely unlikely
2. Better parental support - possibly
3. Stricter and more disciplined environment - quite likely.

[lisson]

@ exoticfruits "Faith schools can get worse results too!"

Exactly! But this morning I was on the back foot having to explain why my DCs are getting to go to the best comp in the area when others cannot.

Its not the first time either. the time before was when my taxi driver said the same thing i.e. its not fair. His son is the same age as my DS and goes to the best primary school in the area, far better than my Dcs primary.

Both times the parents have said that its not fair, faith schools should be abolished so that their DC have a level playing field.

Sometimes, i do (rather timidly) ask why the parents at the other secondaries don't pressure the schools into improving??

[lisson]

In general, is there any truth that faith schools perform better in teaching academic subjects? I can't see why your religious beliefs have any bearing on your ability to do maths or English.
Maybe they don't generally do better and its just the way things worked out in my town??

[CecilyP]

Do they have the same demographics? Are the percentages of children at the different KS2 levels on entry the same? Is the level of FSM the same? It could be a better school, or it could be that more aspirational parents, seeing the faith secondary gets better results, now opt for the faith primary schools which will then guarantee their child a place.

[lisson]

Well they are drawn from the same town. The faith school takes children from the whole town including the million pound + houses and the council estate. It's a catholic school so it gets children from Eastern Europe whose mother tongue isn't English but fewer Muslim children.
Honestly, I can see no reason why the faith school does better except maybe the headteacher is better, but that's just the luck of the draw because I doubt her faith has much to do with her professional achievements.

What are other towns like? If you think of the best secondary in your town, is it a faith school or what do you need to do to get your children into it?

[lisson]

(I just saw my neighbour again and she blanked me!) normally we get on well but she's clearly upset.

[CecilyP]

I am confused now; if there are a few muslim children in the school, why can't your neighbour's child go there?

[umiaisha]

Cecily P - DD goes to a CofE school and got in as her dad is a practising muslim. Faith schools normally take those who are actively participating in another religion before those who do not participate in any.

[umiaisha]

hmmmm, not sure participating was the best word!

[Sympathique]

lisson: "Both times the parents have said that its not fair, faith schools should be abolished so that their DC have a level playing field."

Nonsense. Life is not fair, end of story. They presumably knew that this would be happening - or did they secretly hope that your DC would get turned down? How nice of them if so! I expect they'll get over it, but it's not your fault anyway. Very upsetting for you but try not to take it to heart. Maybe they were in denial about the secondary school.

[OhDearConfused]

Any school that selects by a criteria that can be manipulated (eg going to church for a number of years) will tend to have more DCs of the more motivated parents. Seeker (often a poster on threads like this) refers to an example of juggling. Select on a child (or parent's) ability to juggle and you will get motivated / aspirational parents.

Faith schools work like that too.

[lisson]

my neighbour is white british maybe Christian/ maybe not (I've never enquired). The muslim children don't go to the catholic school because they come very low on the entrance criteria i.e. below all the catholic children at the feeder schools and all the other catholic children and then all the the other church going other Christians.

Its not that her children can't go to the better performing school, its just that without being a catholic she'll never get to the top of the (long) waiting list. The school is very over-subscribed.

I know there are a couple of muslim children in the school (out of a school roll of a 1000+) but I don't know how they came to get there. I've never really thought about it TBH.

[lisson]

Discipline is very tight at the secondary. Children are expected to behave and there is zero tolerance to disruptive behaviour and things like term time holidays. Even uniform wearing is strictly enforced because the point is that the rules are not there to be bent or questioned. Children know that they go to the school to learn and there's no room for any other priority.

I guess this is why the results are good. But it doesn't explain why the other local schools cannot do the same thing and get good results too.

[Theas18]

I think the work ethic is different in a faith school on the whole. It's a " positive choice" school not a default setting and so, on the whole the kids want to be there and will conform to rules that may well be pretty strictly enforced.

I'm sure parental support is greater too, again they've chosen the school because this is the education they want for their child.

[muminlondon]

Good luck with the school. In general (not always) there's evidence to suggest faith schools take fewer pupils on free school meals - there was a Guardian article on this last year. Admission policies will vary but Catholic schools generally prioritise in this sort of way:

1. Baptised looked after Catholics.
   
2. Practising Catholics.
   
3. Baptised Catholics.
   
4. Non-Catholic looked after children.
   
5. Those practising other faiths.
   
6. Others.
   

This is why it can mean in some towns Muslim (or e.g. Eastern Orthodox) chikdren are prioritised over poor white children living on council estates which can cause divisions.

Some schools have a 50% allocation for community places but they are mainly CofE. In practice most families wouldn't be interested in a faith school that was not of their faith, but if there was a shortage of places they might.

[Dromedary]

I think that it is unfair to select on the basis of church attendance etc. These are state funded schools, yet they exclude many of the childen who live near to them, who therefore have to travel out of their area to other, maybe less good schools. I would guess that results tend to be better because it is middle class parents who will do anything they can to get a good education for their child who play the system to get in. Those middle class parents will also supply educational activities, lots of books, help with homework, etc. Only a very small minority of people are regular church attenders, and most churches are dominated by the elderly. I would guess that most church schools have few children in them who are worshipping Christians, although no doubt some. I also don't think that faith schools are a good idea even if populated by the genuinely religious, because of the effects of religious segregation - see Northern Ireland.
So I sympathise with your neighbours. It would be better if the middle class children were more evenly spread around schools. I don't blame the parents for playing the system we are given, though.

[CecilyP]

I guess this is why the results are good.

You don't really have to guess. From 2011, GCSE results have been mapped against children's levels on entry to their secondary school. There haven't been many surprises.

[lisson]

where, CecilyP? Are they one the education.gov performance pages? Will have a look now, compare all the secondaries in town and tell you if there is any particular difference in intake levels of attainment.

[lisson]

tiggytape - that all makes sense (but I won't try it the next time a local parent complains to me about the unfairness of my child getting into the faith school whilst their's go to one of the other schools!)

[rootypig]

There is no justification for faith schools and the answer to your question about results is covert selection / underlying selection (ie what other posters have said about motivated parents):

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9124337/Faith-schools-using-covert-selection-to-reject-the-poor.html

[lisson]

so what happens to those children tiggytape? the ones who can't get into the local catholic comp and don't fall into the catchment for the next nearest 2 or 3?

and yes, when I think of it you have hit the nail on the head: the word for what I encountered today is resentment.

The thing that i don't understand is that if parents are unhappy with their child's school, then why don't they get together to pressure to do something about improving the school?