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

Oh give over, believing in an imaginary being isnt what makes the school good its just the additional hoop to jump through which serves as selection.

Religion has no place in state funded schools.

As others have stated, you need to check the stats to see how many non catholics have been given places in the last few years. With a falling birth rate you may be lucky ,but the catholic primary school near me reduced it's intake from 90 to 60 so now very few non catholics can get a place whereas even 7 years ago children of other faiths or non would have secured 10 to 15 places each year.

My daughter got into a Catholic school that was usually oversubscribed, because her year had a low Catholic birth rate 🤷🏾‍♀️.

We are religious though, so had no issues with her saying prayers etc.
As it stands now, she embraced the whole thing and now sings in the church choir, and so do some of her school mates from other faiths. The schools/local churches can be very inclusive.

Some perform better because they are selective schools, not because they are religious.

Sooner we do away with the idea of schools funded by the public purse that are allowed to discriminate which kids are allowed to attend, the better.

OP, if you send your child to a religious school, then it’s a given that you will have no objection to the religious education on offer. At my DC’s Catholic school, RE was compulsory at GCSE and there were regular masses and religious services. No surprise there, and you would not be expected to take communion - but you would be expected to attend. If you’re not prepared for your DC to do that, or to attend occasional services outside school, eg Christmas services, then don’t send your DC to such a school.

It's perfectly reasonable to apply if you think the school is the right fit for your child.

Any religious criteria for school admissions have to be objectively fact-based and are not allowed to be based on what you believe or how strongly you believe it. Eg they can have a criteria for admissions categories about how often you go to church, but they can't require you to believe in what you do while you are there. Catholic schools usually also require that the child has been baptised.

However, if your decision is that this school is the right one, that includes the religious education element. It would not be reasonable to do this and then opt out of the religious aspects of the school

Catchment doesn’t usually come into play when it comes to priority of places in catholic schools.

Indeed. Personally I think all schools in receipt of public funding should have to allocate at least 30% of places on a "free" basis.

We send our kids to a Catholic school. No problem with the religious element of it. Yes, there are lots of religious assemblies that my children complain about, but learning to sit through long, boring events without fidgeting and to paste a semi-interested smile on your face while mentally zoning out is a life skill imo, and one I'm pleased they're getting plenty of opportunity to develop at school.

It's terrible to think that our taxes are paying for these schools but our children aren't eligible to attend them.

While many schools and churches are aware of families doing this, talking to the vicar from a CofE church linked to an outstanding primary and good secondary- he was fine with that, actually encouraged it. Because his view was it gave him a couple of years with those parents in the church every Sunday to do his best to convert them. It gave him 7 years /12 years (reception to year 6 or reception to year 11) to “bring the good news” to children who would otherwise not have a chance to hear it.

It’s a common view amongst those who work in churches and faith schools. Which I sort of see.

So @Playdoughy- bigger question to ponder, how would you and your dh feel if your child has a different faith to you? If your child grows up to embrace this faith you don’t share.

If you send your child to a faith school, you are giving up control of their religious education. (Beyond what’s on the national curriculum.)

Where I live 90% of the primary schools are church schools. Most accept any or no faith but often the Catholic ones are more prescriptive. The Catholic high schools take baptised Catholics first then other strong faiths and if there's any other places left you may be on with a slight chance. The only C of E high school insists on parents attending church 4 times a month. This has to be done 2 full years before applying and it has to be the same parent (not mum one week dad the next) and you have to sign a register! The school then ask for confirmation from the vicar and can ask for copy of register. Crazy but true and it sorts out the parents who are serious about their child's education not necessarily religion 🤔

I have no issue with non-believers sending their kids to faith schools, as long as you realise exactly what this entails. Bitching about the fact that your child has to attend religious assemblies and other things will only make you look stupid. If you’re not on board with that, send your kid to the comprehensive/academy/whatever down the road, and leave those places available for people who are fine with the faith aspect of a faith school.

They are but they soon make it their own minds I went to a very strict Catholic school it was a convent school and we used to go to the chapel for mass, sing hymns frequently a lot of my teachers were nuns ,I'm a very lapsed Catholic
My son also went to Catholic schools ,although they were far more relaxed than my old school ,he decided he was atheist at around 12.

Our local Catholic primary school is one of the most oversubscribed schools in the Borough and they only take a handful of children who are not Catholic (my husband and son are Catholic, hence getting my a place). It’s a lovely school with a real sense of community and high standards but religion does permeate throughout the school. Assemblies are more religious than they were at my CofE primary school and they frequently have special services. There is also a close relationship with the local church.

For what it’s worth, my son knows that I don’t go to church or believe in god but accepts that people believe in different things. I do also really like the school and it’s been a fantastic and nurturing environment for DS.

It really is tome for church and state to be properly separated.

Why should religious schools still get funding; and are often the only school available for a child within a reasonable distance?

It truly is a disgrace that children should be forced into religious indoctrination just to go to their local school.

My children's school spend 10% of the week on religious education, go to Mass monthly. There are no exceptions, everyone must attend, it's in the school contract.
There is also a huge expectation that your child will make the First Holy Communion, this involves weekly evening classes plus mandatory Mass attendance every week for 6 months.
It's a huge commitment so think hard if you're not fully up for it.

It was important to us to avoid a school like this for our child. I didn’t want our child to feel confused/ torn/ conflicted by being told about God as fact at school, despite knowing we don’t believe in God at home. Young children are very impressionable - I think it’s important that the ethos of a school matches your beliefs at home.

They're good because they're selective, not because they're god-fearing.

You can put it down as a choice. Whether you get a space or not will depend on how many Catholic children are applying. If numbers are low you'll get a space. If it's already full with Catholic children, you won't.

What are the other nearby schools like?

If you don't like the religious aspect, but it is the school that your child is most likely to get a place at based on distance, then the sensible approach is to put it as one of your choices but not the top spot. Then you'll hopefully get a place at your preferred school, but if not, it's reasonable to have this one as a back up.

You wouldn't get into a Catholic school in my area without being Catholic. They tightened the criteria recently too.

It would also be very bad form to choose a Catholic school and opt out of religious elements. I don't even know if that would be possible.

Just sent your child to the nearest non-dom school.

If you're not religious at all and have no wish for your children to be then I would avoid sending your child to a religious school.

Yes you can ask for your child to be withdrawn from any or all of the religious practices. But the school doesn't have to provide interesting or valuable alternative provision. So then your child is sat in an effective isolation in a classroom for example, reading, or colouring, or doing homework while their class is in the hall praying or whatever. It wouldn't be much fun to be that child, so singled out from the others.

Or you could let your child participate and then deal with the indoctrination. For my point of view, I couldn't send my child to a place where they'd be taught what I view as fairy stories as facts. I wouldn't want to start from that place when I'm trying to instill acceptance and respect for other people's beliefs which aren't our family's truth.

My children went to Catholic school. We were CofE when they first joined but quickly converted (no pressure from the school on this). Honestly I loved the sense of community from the school and the church. Seeing the teachers at Sunday Mass and them getting to see the pupils outside school.

Some view the hoop jumping as hypocritical and it’s widely known that a number of parents do the bare minimum to
bring their children up in the Catholic faith but, actually, the Church and the school don’t care. We were very active members of the Church and others weren’t but if the bare minimum for a child’s first holy communion is once a month attendance, we’re happy with once a month attendance.

For those of other faiths/none, they’re welcomed at the school. If you want to “tick some boxes” to get your child into
your preferred school you clearly support their education and, if there are spaces, that’s enough.

I went to a Christian school even though my parents hadnt stepped into a church since they were children. Weekly chapel services, singing hymns, and Bible studies, every student went + there were no exceptions. This was only the 2010s too, so not that long ago.

I am not religious myself but it didn't adversely affect my education at all, if anything it was spiritually enlighting.