Getting into COE school when not christian

[SimR]

We are sikh but want to send our little girl to a faith school.

We live 100 meteres from the school. I've read admissions policy and it says the following if oversusbsribed(and it is one of the most oversubscribed schools, nearly 1 place to 5)

1. Sen
   
2. Brothers or sisters in school
   
3. Christian
   

4.distance from school.

There's 30 places

Now if people have siblings at school ,they will get in but given current legislation they can only bring in 50% of individuals on being Christian.

What happens if you have a sibling and are Christian. Does this count towards the 50%?

Also my daughter has delayed speech and senco are looking at that. Would that help?

[Mary21]

Would say it doesn't count. So if 50% of the paces are taken by siblings and they are all Christ iain. 50% of the remaining places i.e. 7 or8 would be for christians and the ramainders on distance.
For the sen places. I am assuming you don't mean places for those with an EHCP as this is outside the normal admission process. You would need a professional to write and say that little sim needs to attend c of e school because *. Not that they back the parents or it would be helpful. They need to say that in there professional opinion it is needed. Many schools will be used to 4 year olds with delayed speech. Do make sure you include it in your application with evidence because if you go to appeal you can't say the never took speech delay into consideration in the application if you didn't tell them

[AssassinatedBeauty]

Isn't the 50% cap only applicable to new academies and free schools? So it wouldn't apply if this is maintained school or a converter academy?

[prh47bridge]

The 50% rule only applies to new faith schools. Some older faith schools have put a limit on the number of faith places they will award but not all. It will say in the admission criteria what this school does.

It is unlikely that being a sibling and qualifying on faith grounds means you count towards the percentage admitted on faith grounds. The child is being admitted as a sibling, not on faith grounds. But again the admission criteria should state exactly what happens.

Category 1 should be Looked After Children, not SEN. As Mary21 says, children with an EHCP naming the school are admitted outside the normal admissions process so shouldn't appear in the criteria at all. If, in fact, category 1 is LAC, category 2 is SEN and so on you need evidence that your child's difficulties mean she needs to go to this particular school. Having difficulties that can be dealt with by any school is unlikely to put you into the SEN category.

[SimR]

Last year they had 121 applications and 30'places. You would assume 30 chistians from 121 so my chances are minimum:(.Below is criteria.

jotter2.files.s3.amazonaws.com/5914188?response-content-disposition=inline;filename=admissions-policy-2017.pdf&response-content-type=application/pdf&AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIH4MJHC24RK4EHAA&Expires=1505581337&Signature=V4PtxxzErboeK0NYtUldIupukQ0%3D

[AssassinatedBeauty]

Your link isn't working for me...

[spanieleyes]

Here you go. You would fall into category 6

[AssassinatedBeauty]

Is it too late to get her christened and attend church monthly for two years?

[prh47bridge]

Link works for me.

Priority 1 is looked after children - nothing to do with SEN. Looked after children is children who are in local authority care or have been in the past. I'm afraid your daughter's delayed speech won't give you any priority for this school regardless of what evidence you produce unless you get an EHCP for your daughter naming this school.

This is not a new faith school so the 50% requirement does not apply to them. They don't reserve any places for non-faith applicants. So I'm afraid your chances of getting a place at this school are low.

[SimR]

Think we fit a chance with a 4 to 1 veteran s ratio? I presume there will be 30 Christian's joining?

[brilliotic]

SimR, you need to look up the 'last child admitted' for the last few years. See if the last child admitted was ever category 6 or lower priority.

You say 120 applications for 30 places. If you live in an area where parents can give 6 preferences in their applications, that actually means very little. Some schools may have had 120 applications but not been full. If the area allows 4 preferences per child, 120 applications for 30 spaces sounds just about right - the school should be full but not oversubscribed.
What really would indicate that a school is oversubscribed is the number of people who put the school as their first choice, but this figure is not available.

A school near us has non-religious children as category 9 (of 9), and gets over a 100 applications for 30 places each year, but is never full - meaning anyone who would want a place there, would get it.

Really the only way to know if you have chances is to look at the category/distance of the 'last child admitted'.

(And even then, bear in mind that things happen, like bulk classes at a nearby school taking the pressure off, new schools opening, or new housing estates being built that increase the pressure.)

[prh47bridge]

Find out what has happened in previous years. If they regularly admit children from category 6 you have a chance. If they never get beyond category 3 or 4 it would be a very long shot. I think it is very unlikely you will get a place for your daughter at this school. However, you never know. It may be that this year will be different.

If you really want your daughter to go to this school I would still put it down as your first preference. But make sure you've got at least one school on your list of preferences where you will almost certainly get a place for your daughter.

Is it too late to get her christened and attend church monthly for two years

No need to get her christened. That isn't a requirement to qualify for a faith place. Simple church attendance is enough. But, assuming the OP is looking for a place next year, it is far too late for that.

[SimR]

fot Birmingham council where can I find last child admitted?

[Northstarnomore]

Sim I have a child at this school. I would say there is a small proportion of non church attendees in each year group but it's a very small minority. It's definitely worth putting this school down on your preference form because you may get lucky in that there aren't many LAC or siblings in your application year but I think your chances realistically are pretty slim. St Martin De Porres is a possibility. It's Catholic but has a higher proportion of non Christians I think, geographically you would probably also get in to Kings Heath Primary.

[spideronthescreen]

SimR, you'll need to phone the school. There's nothing helpful in the most recent primary Admissions Brochure, and the council will also probably tell you to check with the school which, as a Voluntary Aided school, is its own admissions authority.

The school should tell you over the phone what the last category admitted was, and if it was category 6 they should be able to tell you the distance. If they don't then you can put in a Freedom of Information Request (use WhatDoTheyKnow.com if you want to do that without giving them your full name and address).

Their most recent Ofsted report does say the school is mostly white British.

[SimR]

Good to know. We live next to the school( you probably know where) on school road.

Kings heath is our second choice.

St martin and king David is on the wrong side of Moseley and has applicants from basal heath side. So probably out the question.

I really like , white British and Christian values.

[SimR]

Ok I went to the open day. The head teacher said distance from school- in her 10 years school has never been reached. Having said that she said last year there was 22 siblings and 30 places and the 31st place was distance from school. This year they expect 15-16 siblings

[Paddington68]

worth a try then

[Rhayader]

In my experience it's unusual for CoE schools to not prioritise "other faiths" before "distance" children. You are unlucky that this school doesn't do that. DDs school is

1. Children in care
   
2. CoE weekly & leadership position in school
   
3. CoE weekly
   
4. CoE fortnightly
   
5. CoE monthly
   
6. Other christian (at least monthly)
   
7. Other faith (at least monthly)
   
8. Distance
   

We have a Sikh school near us too, they actually reserve 20% of the places for "other faith" children (worshiping at least four times a month). If not enough "other faith" apply then the places are given to Sikh children, and if there aren't enough Sikh children (very unlikely) then it goes to distance.

The CoE secondary near us does the same as the Sikh school, reserving a small number of places for world faiths who attend weekly.

[OsmiumPhazer]

As someone else has mentioned, perhaps you could apply under the 'World Faith' criteria. If you regularly attend a Gurdwara, perhaps you could get a cleric to sign the supplementary application?

[OsmiumPhazer]

Oh just realised, there is no 'World Faith' category on the form