Wanting a Catholic school but not Catholic!

[lovecharms]

Hi all
I'm a newbie on here, this is my first post so hopefully I've posted in the right place. Sorry if this topic has been raised before but my dd is starting reception next September so I've been looking at quite a few schools in my area. I attended a Catholic Primary and Secondary school as a kid but since then I've changed denominations and now attend a local pentecostal church. I hadn't thought much about sending dd to a catholic school but I fell in love with one I saw yesterday and I'm wondering what the chances are of being accepted if we chose this as a first choice.
The ethos and quality of the school along with the teaching really stood out and I think my child will really fit in there. However there is stringent criteria, some of which includes: attending a specific local parish, certificate of attendance, baptism certificate etc. I have no problem with my child going there or practising the catholic faith, as far as I'm concerned we'll all have faith in the same God but I'm trying to figure out what my chances are of getting in.
This is my first child I'm sending to school (currently have another one in the oven) so its a brand new experience for us. We have to select 6 schools in our borough so its a tough choice. Has anyone experienced anything similar?

[HeyMacWey]

Find out which criteria the last child entered on last year - this will give you an idea of how over subscribed the school is. Our local catholic school is undersubscribed so its last pupil last year entered on the last criteria.

[TeddTess]

gets popcorn

[Annarose2014]

I got you.....

[Headmelt]

Usually, irrespective of the type of School, you need to have an address in the catchment area. There is a specific percentage of Children of Catholic Faith allowed for in the enrolment policy. In our local School the policy is; How near you live (Within catchment area gets preference)
If older siblings are in attendance already, younger siblings get preference.
It's not a compulsory requirement to be Catholic per say but they do give unofficial preference to a high percentage of children of Catholic faith.

[Headmelt]

I have got a large container of popcorn in for another thread on mn already this morning. As a poster said last week "It must be midterm break somewhere in the world"

[MidnightVelvetthe4th]

Welcome to Mumsnet :)

The school will publish its Admissions criteria on its website usually, there's a descending order of scale. In our area if you want to apply on grounds of faith to a faith school then the admissions criteria are different, you have to apply to the school itself not via the council & they will ask for certain paperwork as you say in your OP, that needs to be provided direct to them.

As you have changed your faith just be certain that the many hours of praying & Mass & indoctrination are the right choice for your child.

[eddiemairswife]

You must apply for all the schools you want through your LA, but for a faith school there is a Supplementary Information Form which you return directly to the school.

[Aliceinwonderlust]

Depends how good it is and how full they are. My local catholic secondary takes anyone because it's not very desirable. You need to check the criteria and how many children have been admitted under each point

[Alfieisnoisy]

It will depend upon how in demand the school is locally. I am Catholic but I wasn't when DS got a place at the local Catholic school...he got in because they had a place for him when we moved to the area and it was nearby.

If it matters, they had the same stringent criteria but DS got in despite this.

If the school is very in demand you may find that getting your child in is difficult, especially if every child ahead of them has a baptism certificate.

[MidnightVelvetthe4th]

Ah apologies OP, eddiemairswife is correct :)