To apply DC to a religious school although we aren't religious at all

I did not know that! Wtf!

I’m about to start school visits so I’ll be definitely asking about that when I go.

OP you are in London, while this might be your physically closest school, I would assume there’s also other schools in sensible distance for you to choice. Plus am I right that kids can go on buses to school for free in London?

This is not like in some towns where there’s literally only a faith school, you’ve got options.

Don’t get me wrong, if this school’s right next door to your house, I’d put it down as option 4 on my school application (we got 4, not sure how many choices you get!), but I’d definitely look round other schools that are a reasonable distance from your home.

Finally, as faith schools tend to have bigger distances for the faith applications, you might find your child has more local friends if you send them to the next nearest school.

And we are ALL paying for this whatever our religion or absence thereof. This is fundamentally wrong in principle.

And if that school is the only practical option geographically? What then?

Well both I and @Mischance amongst others have given explanations. Not sure what’s hard to understand?

if you genuinely don’t get it try here:
https://www.secularism.org.uk/faith-schools/
or listen to Alice Roberts here:
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/zjT5XHW56zs

I'm not religious and went to a Catholic secondary school. I was very happy there. Mass was compulsory once a term as was Religious Studies O-Level (Old version of GCSE - I'm in my 50s).

My 18yo nephew also went to Catholic secondary and he had much the same experience.

DC1 had one term in a Catholic primary and in 2007 and also compulsory praying and mass. DC1 was very happy in that school and much preferred it to the non-religious primary where they went to for several years afterwards.

Our local Catholic schools, only allow a handful of non Catholic children in , priority is given to baptist children, and yes the bible study etc class will be mandatory. I have never understood people sending their children to a religious school when they are not religious and then complain about the religion element to the school.

By all means send them, any decent parent would want their child to go to the best school in the area. Mine go to a Christian church school, we’re not Christian but it’s the best school in the area by far. What I would say is don’t complain or ask for them to be excused from the catholic side of things, if you’re going to do it - embrace it. Not saying you have to be catholic but you should respect it. If it’s what you choose!

Yeah and can you imagine creating a school with Government funding and setting admissions criteria to include only those of no faith or religious practice? Equally, imagine if hospitals admission were tied up in a similar way? Crazy. Unnecessary. Do your religious instruction in your own time and on your own dollar.

And if that school is the only practical option geographically? What then?

It's still a legal requirement - which is, of course, completely fucking ridiculous - for schools to have some sort of collective worship.

In reality of course, this is widely ignored.

Opt out ...

Sending your child somewhere else is often not a practical option.
If these schools want state funding they should provide an ipt pit from religious observance for every child whose parents wish this.

So what do you recommend for parents who have kids in schools taken over by religious academies? And what about local people whose closest/only school is religious?

OP: as pp have said, start with the published Admissions policy. All the Catholic schools I know of prioritise on religious attendance and engagement, and distance is largely irrelevant.

And require baptism before 6m so a quick few weeks turning up to Mass will not swing it.

Also the Catholic schools I know devote time to preparing for confirmation, for example. Though if they accept non Catholics there is probably facility to sit in the library during those sessions.

Where in earth do you live in London that your only available state school is Catholic?

I assume you are taking about primary?

Church schools are by definition selective, if they prioritise baptism and church attendance.

They exclude the chaotic, those who can’t get of bed on a Sunday morning etc etc.

I doubt very much that achievement in the school will be ‘diluted’ by the children if parents who will pull stunts to get their kid into the school of choice - they will also be parents who support education etc.

I also suspect that the good performance of (many) church schools simply reflects the cohort, rather than superior teaching or any inherent superiority of religious kids and staff.

To my mind it is really not acceptable that state funded schools select on the basis of church attendance , and un Christian to keep kids out and demand segregation.

(parent of very high achieving Dc who attended good but fully inclusive and representative S London community schools)

Is this true?! I would not expect my child to be attending any ‘worship’ if he went to a non-church state school.

I would expect him to attend RE to understand different types of religion from a neutral perspective.

If someone sends their child to a Church school of any religion they should not then start expecting their child to be excused from aspects of the curriculum relating to that religion. When a child is admitted to a school the parents enter into a contract based on that school's published rules etc., too many start complaining about what they agreed to.

All the church schools around here do talk about faith, god, prayers said daily etc. and for secondaries taking RE is compulsory - so it depends really ARE you atheist and think 'god' is nonsense? Probably not for you.
Are you agnostic and believe in a 'higher power' and are happy for your children to? Probably ok.

Most catholics schools will have the odd non catholic so no guarantee of a place unless you live very close.

This discussion comes up often. Pro religious school supporters always talk about ‘choosing to send’ as though schools of every denomination and none are there
on every corner. The reality is that local people can find themselves excluded from their local school or attending that school
and being obliged to participate in religious activities that they do no wish to take part in. In my area a religious academy took over the local high school so the kids already there were drawn in and the alternative for parents not wishing to go to a religious school was to travel some distance to the next nearest non-religious high. It really is outrageous that my tax money is taken from me to support a school my child is excluded from or marginalised in and the smug comments about about going elsewhere if you are not on board are infuriating.

I'm not religious at all but I think if you're going to send your kid to a religious school then you have to accept it comes with the territory and there's no way to opt out. If you're thinking of trying to opt out just send your child somewhere else.

My ex is a Hindu and is raising our daughter to know about her religion and culture. But she is also learning about Jesus at school, singing hymns, the whole nine yards.

There's no conflict between that and her feeling like she is a Hindu as she says "i just sing along and ignore it".

My view is that she will decide in time what's right for her but there's no harm learning about Hinduism and Christianity (and atheism 😀).

I mean I wish our three nearest primary schools weren't state-funded faith schools, making the catchments of the nearest community schools too small to get into. We all want things we can't have, I guess.

Faith schools only perform better when they're able to exercise a degree of selection by applying faith selection criteria due yo over subscription. Like any form of selection, it selects out children from the most difficult and chaotic homes and the intakes are disproportionately better off.

There's nothing inherent to faith education that leads to better performance. Where schools aren't oversubscribed, they perform no better than community schools. It's the kids and parents that are the biggest drivers of performance, not religiosity.

In a Catholic school, yes, everyone learns prayers every day, yes they learn hymns and yes, they will attend Mass. Your children will learn about the sacraments but will not be able to receive them. No, you can’t opt your children out. If you sign the admission contract with the school, you cannot then complain.

However, Jewish schools and Muslim schools and, I assume, C of E schools will have the same expectations.