To go to church to broaden my childs choice of school

It's even worse than that. It's got nothing to do with a child's beliefs. It's about a parent's church attendance.

In any sane world the idea of publically funded schools which are legally allowed to select kids on such fucking ridiculous criteria as belief in God should, of course, not exist.

But here we are, so you absolutely do what you need to do to get your kid into a decent school.

There are no "genuinely religious children ". They are just children following a parent's lifestyle/rules.

I did it for primary and I’d do it again. I took a very active role in the church, we were out of county but got a place.

Unfair is a child born to parents of the "right" faith having a greater choice of state-funded schools, or preferential access to a significant proportion of state schools, than a child born to parents of the wrong or no religion.

The system is explicitly discriminatory. It's not the only issue with school admissions - distance-based admission has its own major issues - but a child not being able to access their nearest state schools because their parents don't pray right is iniquitous.

The church folks will definitely be able to spot why you are there but they won't mind.

How would they know?

I am applying for secondary also and I am one denomination, the father the correct one. I havent baptised my child aither as a baby but anyway, just went to the church ( I am a believer though and this is known about me) and said to the priest as it is: I am intending to apply for this secondary, and that is that. Enrolled in the relevant courses and groups etc. I am going to put only once choice though on the application so God really has to give the place lol

Religious selection is completely awful and needs to stop.

https://fairadmissions.org.uk/

I genuinely don't understand how people can be ok with children being prioritised in the admissions process for a state school on the basis of their parents' religious beliefs and church attendance.

Let the family go. This is what churches are meant to be doing, to be welcome. The places get allocated anyway who knows how

A religious child doesn't need to attend a religious school. God won't care.

Also the school can set their criteria to ensure the truly religious get in if they can be bothered. E.g. stipulate parental church attendance since before child born

How would that happen? If there was,a genuinely religious child surely that family would have more proof than the Op.?

It's not cheating. The admissions system says you are higher up the list if you do x y and z so you do x y and z. Cheating would be saying you'd done it when you hadn't.

Just go. You and your son will only benefit from it. You might hear and learn something that actually will be beneficial to you, who knows.

You want to take a place away from a genuinely religious child?

There's nothing wrong with church attendance if that is needed to get into your chosen school. It's not dishonest or hypocritical at all - you are simply fulfilling the admission criteria no different to someone moving house into catchment for example.

Dishonest would be bribing the priest to say you'd attended when you hadn't. Or if the requirement was to state that you believed in it all.

Frankly most churches are empty or have a handful of over 80s attending each week. They should be glad to have a few more people going for whatever reason. Once you're in their they have the chance to influence you.

Another vicar here. It is important to check the admissions criteria as they vary by school. Some ask for regular attendance which might be at least once a month over two years. Others may want to know how long the parents have been on the electoral roll. Others might just want proof of baptism. A very oversubscribed RC secondary in London would at one time only accept baptisms under six months. I was friends with the admissions secretary at the time and the excuses for no baptism and no church attendance could get very creative.

I have been asked to lie on admissions forms. One family said they came once a fortnight and we only saw them once every couple of months. Others thought that regular attendance was Christmas and Easter. Unfortunately that wasn't how the school defined it.

I'm not a fan of faith based admissions criteria and none of the schools where I have been chair of governors have had it. If it is there read the criteria carefully.

Would people really put their child in a shit school because of their principles I think not the UK education system is unfair there are some really terrible schools untill education is fair for all parents, will do the beat they can
I note that many mumsnetters are obsessed with Grammer schools despite their only being 163 in the whole of England so for most it's nor a choice either

I agree with this. The situation is utterly ludicrous, but it isn't of your making and it's not on you to fix it. If you feel it will be of net benefit to your children then do it.

Yanbu though it is a fucking travesty that our children’s access to education is hindered / helped by whether or not they follow a religion 😡

smacks a bit hypocritical doesn't it.. you're going to go to church purely so that your child can get into a better school.. are you going to go to church everyweek? are you going to throw yourself into church life? are you only going to go until you have a school place and then what?

that said.. lots of people seem to do it

Is it really? It's a fact that a Catholic child may lose a place in a school run for Catholics because the OP is gaming the system. I would call that unfair.
And what of her own child? He/she will have to practise deceit since she's declared they are RC. She would be better off applying truthfully - if she's in the school's cachement area, she will be considered.

I know someone who actively tried this.
Threw themselves into church life - didn't merely attend weekly - also helped with church duties.

After absolute years of duty - didn't get a school place.

Immediately cut ties with the church.

I think the church saw through their cunning plan 🤣. Point proven really.

I think it's incredibly hypocritical to do this. I would have loved my daughter to go to the local CoE infant school when she was younger but I would never have dreamt of trying to cheat the admissions system by suddenly starting to attend church to get her a place. I'm not religious at all, but I have enough respect for religions to not be a hypocrite.

It's no more immoral doing this imo than having a state education system where certain schools have faith-based admissions.

We moved house with school catchments as the first priority so do prioritise dcs education, but I'd have drawn the line at sitting through that much church..! And I'm not really on board with religious schools either.

That said, you won't be the first or last to do this.
Some years ago we went to a particular Sunday service with baby DC1 for a random irrelevant reason and were very nicely greeted by the vicar, who obviously didn't recognise us. He was very jolly as he asked us if we were here for the school and handed us a piece of paper to sign in with 😄