ok, this MUST have been discussed before, but... can someone please explain how a state-funded school can select according to the god-fearing-ness (or otherwise) of a child's parents???

[Tutter]

we all pay the taxes that keep em going

so, why should it matter whether a parent visits a building with a spire once a week, and sings songs therein?

our local primary school asks the question "do you go to church? if not, why do you want your children to attend this school?" (paraphrased)

[seeker]

One word answer. Thatcher.

[LIZS]

Some are part funded by C of E or Roman Catholic church or other body and are able to control their own LEA funding and admissions criteria (which still have to be declared and fairly applied).

[DANCESwithLordPottingtonSmythe]

If they are C of E schools then they also receive funding from the church. That's why.

HOWEVER I think it's an absolute farkin' disgrace that these schools can and do apply these policies, particuarly in areas where they are the only option available. Makes me VERY angry

[pooka]

I have no idea, and I don't believe that church schools have a place in the state education system.

[seeker]

And don't start me on the God-bothering that goes on in supposedly non-Faith schools........!

[Tutter]

does 'voluntary aided' mean that a school is part funded by the church?

[mrz]

yes

[LIZS]

VA means it has other sources of funding , which could be ,and is most often, religious yes.

[Tutter]

ah

we are pretty much decided on the independent sector but the local c of e primary has been recommended

but this really gets my goat

it's a pretty rural area and would be the only state option

[LIZS]

Explained here

[mrz]

25.3% of all state primary schools in England are Church of England schools - that's 4,470 schools.

There are three kinds of Church of England school in partnership with local authorities (LAs):

• voluntary aided: the school is owned by the church, a majority of the governors are appointed by the Church, the teachers are appointed and employed by the governing body, the cost of repairs and capital projects is raised by the governing body with 90% grant from the DfES, the governing body is the admissions authority;
  
• voluntary controlled: the school is owned by the Church, the Church appoints governors, but there is no Church majority on the governing body, the teachers are employed by the Local Education Authority, the LEA funds repairs and capital projects,
  
• foundation: the foundation owns the school, the governing body employs the staff and is the admissions authority, the Church appoints a minority of governors.

[Tutter]

thanks - useful

[seeker]

Tutter - can I ask why you're going private when there's a good state alternative? Or is that the sort of question that will make this thread take off?

[Tutter]

tbh, we'd always assumed we would

we're about to move. the local state primary here isn't so great so the option had been pushed furtehr to the back of our minds

it kind of stayed there even when we knew we were moving

so, we have only just discovered that there is a decent state option

at secondary level the state options aren't so good. as a result we now consider it easier/safer to enter the system now, rather than at 11/13

[unclefluffy]

Maybe Tutter is a godless heathen sceptic and worried that her kids won't get a place? Our local school is CofE too, so I feel your pain. "Why do you want your children to attend this school?" Er - it's right behind our house!

[Tutter]

indeed, godless heathen i am

[Tutter]

(but am irritated that my sons' education should be affected by that)

[FAQ]

surely the problem is not the fact that some schools are selective on the basis of a parents religion, but that the government can't get the education system sorted out so that ALL schools provide a good standard of education????

[wannaBe]

but these selective schools are becoming more and more.

Did you know, for instance, that these accadomies that the government is so keen to open have selective admitions policies? Also that they don't have to publish their results for the first three years? meaning that a parent putting their child in said accadomy might not know how crap it is until it's too late...

[FAQ]

ahh hadn't thought of the new academies and stuff with the selective intake....

Still stands thought that EVERY school should be a decent school............

[Quattrocento]

Don't get me on the subject of faith schools. It's an absolute outrage.

[plumandolive]

God stirring goes on a lot in community primary schools too- there seem to be a mass of evangelical born again christians in community schools round here.
Yes, it's a scandal.
So are academies.
Keep God out of educatioin, that's what I say

[ivykaty44]

I don't understand what relegion and education have to do with one another - fine to learn about relegion at school but not have the school dominated by it.

This is one thing in my mind the US have got right keeping God out of state education.

[WideWebWitch]

Oh it's dodgy as anything isn't it? Lots of us hugely object to this.

[FAQ]

what totally out of Education?

What a fine way to promote diversity and understanding - keeping religion (of any type) completely out of schools...........