Success stories in getting into catholic secondary school with delayed baptism? (London school madness)

[littlecrystal]

That is really the question. We are located somewhere in between of John Fisher, St. Joseph?s and Bishop Thomas Grant. Based on Good Schools Guide website we would stand a fair chance to get into all of them IF DS was baptized ?on time?. Now, I am not sure as DS was baptized at 17 months. We can try and explain our reasons, but it will not be anything straightforward ? basically we had a very difficult life at the time including eviction from our home (due to fault of landlords, not ours), my depression (only diagnosed around baptism time but dragged since the difficult birth of DS), no friends and family around for support, immigration issues for DH, poor DH?s health (only diagnosed after the baptism so no clear evidence before the baptism) etc. I am so stressed that the admissions will not accept any of the reasons and we will fall under the late baptism category and will lose our chance to go into a catholic secondary. Should we even bother applying?

Thank you!

[zipzap]

I know nothing about late baptism for schools - but just wanted to say that from reading the thread title I was assuming you were going to get ds baptized at the age of 10 when it suddenly became obvious that your dc needed to be baptised to get into school!

Why not call the schools and ask for their advice?

Given your ds was still really young when he was baptised and that there were extenuating circumstances, doesn't seem fair that you get penalised for it now! It's hardly like the most important thing that occurs to you when you are in the middle of a whole load of strife and your dc is just 4 months old - oh if I don't get him baptised now it's going to affect his senior school choices...

Good luck - hopefully they will see sense for you!

It would have been different if you had baptized your ds at age 10 - then that would have seemed unfair to have lumped him in with others that were baptized at 4 months old. But would have thought that any sort of baptism at least under 4 or 5 years should have been grouped together. Otherwise it's going to get to the point that people are dashing to have the earliest possible baptism as delaying for a week or two, to when Auntie Maud can come too or choosing a different god parent because the person you'd like to have can't come immediately or because you got baptised at 3 months and 3 weeks and 3 days rather than at 3 months and 3 weeks and a day just because of the day that you happened to be born closer to a sunday or because your vicar did baptisms on a saturday instead of fitting them into the sunday service... all bonkers ways to provide eligibility criteria for subsequent admission to senior school many years down the line!

[littlecrystal]

zipzap I enjoyed reading your post, thank you! It does not seem very fair looking from the angle you mentioned, but not everything is fair in this world and I have got to be realistic.
Sometimes I regret sending DS to a catholic primary ? what is the point if might be not able to follow his peers at the secondary level?

[AnythingNotEverything]

In the end it will depend on the school's policy, but I would've thought you stood a good chance by attending the feeder school.

The policy often contains stats about last year's intake, and you can check how many non baptised Catholics were admitted.

Save any worry and speak with the school re their admissions policy. I agree with pp that 17 months is hardly a delayed baptism. Are you regular at church? Maybe you could ask your priest to support your application.

[KingscoteStaff]

I have a nasty feeling that this is not going to turn out well. The Oratory and Cardinal Vaughan require baptism before 6 months, so that may be 'on time'.

However, they get used to explaining their peculiar methods to parents, so give them a ring.

[Farewelltoarms]

A friend got her child into v sought after London secondary with a late baptism. She collated a full file with medical information, social service stuff etc to do with her particular situation. Her child was not the only child from the primary to have successful entrance to this particular school with late baptism. However, they all lived in the borough and apparently there has been some pressure from the LEA (don't know if that's true or not).

[RussiansOnTheSpree]

Are you in one of the croydon parishes? Would your PP support your application? Which primary school is your DS at?

[Blu]

BTG say priority will be given to children who were baptised within the first year - but they don't actually say how that priority is implemented within the other categories. They do prioritise in order of how frequently a child attends mass - so maybe if the 'weekly' category is over-subscribed they start to prioritise within that cetegory - they say in terms of siblings ('close family relationships') and then distacne - but they don't say at what point they prioritise baptism within a year.

Very opaque admissions policy actually .

Ask the schools, and check what is said in the borough's admissions booklet. The LA has to give details of the admissions categories and last distances etc for the last year.

The Good Schools guide frequently gives out dated and mis-information IMO and IME. (totally wrong on admission prospects for schools in my area, anyway)

[BarkisIsWilling]

My daughter was baptised at a year and a month old, my son at a year and 4 months. They were both admitted into their catholic secondary schools without any hassle beyond my filling in the CAF & supplementary forms.

[sashh]

This has only become a criteria when Polish and other Eastern European children arrived in the UK.

In Eastern Europe it is common to not baptise a baby before their first birthday whereas in UK it is normally done more quickly.

Yes I am cynical.

I think if your child is called John Smith this won't be a problem, if your surname is Polish you might

[littlecrystal]

Thank you for all responses. To be honest it doesn't get much clearer as it is and the schools on open evenings weren't very clear with our chances - I guess they were trying to avoid being responsible for their words.

[majurormi]

I think you need to document everything you can with facts for the initial application, If he does not get in, appeal. It might be tricky if the school is heavily oversubscribed as they need some way to weed out children.
The comment from sashh alluding to racism is silly. Vatican II stated that all children should be baptised by 6 months of age. Church doctrine trumps local customs. This has been around a lot longer than the influx of Polish immigrants to the UK.

[littlecrystal]

majurormi I think I have but I also have to have a back up school.

[viktoria]

Hello Crystal, my son was baptised when he was 17 months old and he got a place at BTG in September 2012. We are very happy with the school.
I think at the Oratory or Cardinal Vaughan, it is much harder (but not impossible) to get in with a late baptism.
We also applied to the Oratory and got full points (I think it was 4 out of 4) for the baptism - our reason for the late baptism was my dad's illness, and they accepted that.
I don't know about John Fisher or St. Joseph, but as a back up, have you considered Wimbledon College? As far as I know, they accept late baptism, and their catchment area also seems to get wider.
Good luck

[BarkisIsWilling]

tiggytape, I am puzzled at your response to my answer to the poster's question, particularly since AFAIK, you had, at the time of your post, no knowledge of which schools my children attend.

littlecrystal, my son starts at one the colleges named upthread in September, and my daugher is at another (of the variety described by tiggytape). HTH.

[littlecrystal]

viktoria as you say that you had an obvious reason for the late baptism, I understand that they took that into account.

Unfortunately my reasons are so complex - I can write 5 pages about it and attach relevant references, but cannot get one straightforward evidence (like medical evidence etc.)

BarkIsWilling you say your son starts at the college so I guess it is St. J college? Did you apply and got in under the late baptism category, or tried to prove special circumstances and move one category up?

[littlecrystal]

Can I hire someone professional to write about my case on the application for me?

[BarkisIsWilling]

I don't know under what category he got in (the way you ask it). All I know is, I completed the forms, provided the baptism, holy communion certificates/other docs - BTG asks for bills, for example, and did not make ANY mitigating statement whatsoever. There was space for any other comment on some of the forms, but not all. I chose to leave them blank. I worked on the principle of least said soonest mended and only provided the minimum asked for. My only particpation in parish life is regular mass attendance and contributions to fetes and the like - if that info is of any use.

Again, I am still recovering from helping a friend 8 years ago to construct a detailed statement about her and her family's involvement in church/related activities in support of her son's application to John Fisher. Thank God we don't have to do all that any more.

By and large, London catholic school forms are changing and becoming more simplified (partly to reduce the disadvantage faced by people for whom English is a 2nd language in filling in the old ones, logical when you consider how in London many catholic parishes are more "ethnic" than UK white). So rather than work yourself into a panic, print off the forms and scrutinise them. You'll see that it is not really a question of jumping through flaming hoops, but of providing information in a straightforward way.

Which primary school is your son at?

[Floggingmolly]

Don't cite your child's ill health as an reason. They may well ask why that didn't make it imperative to get him baptised sooner, rather than later.

[littlecrystal]

Thanks all. BarkisIsWilling can I ask if you are far from BTG? (you can PM me if you want).

I don't want to give out myself so can only say that my DS is at a catholic primary in more or less equal distance to JF, St.J and BTG. None of them are close. Just found out that JF last year admitted only early baptised children and there were no spaces left for the late baptism category.

My problem is that I although we had the reasons, most of them are very sensitive and personal. I am not sure if I am able to put them down clearly enough. I am not sure if I can trust the priest, the primary school headteacher and the admission team to keep it confidential.