Church Schools

I don't think it is uncommon for Priests /Vicars to have strong feelings on the issue either way. In this area we have two local Vicars who makes no secret of their displeasure that their churches fill with the parents of young children who are there to secure school places, whilst other local Parishes welcome it. One is currently working with the governors to introduce an inclusive admissions policy in the face of strong opposition from the local parents who have benefitted or hope to benefit from faith selection. Local Catholic parents know that one local priest will always take the opportunity to lecture parents on the priviledge they enjoy in gaining access to the outstanding Primary unless they come from a Catholic country (which is ironic given that in many cases there are no exclusive faith schools in the home country)

However there is a difference between a Priest exercising his right to be the (subjective) voice of moral authority to his congregation, and the implementation of faith selection criteria which by law have to be objective, specific and consistently applied, and not subject to the vagaries of subjective moral judgements of devout ness.

As I said up thread, I went to grammar my little sister to RC school. I'd gone to RC primary. Priest had no problem. It may have helped that I still sang and read in church then. This has been the case for several families in our parish.

You sum it up well, poisonwood.

I live in a comprehensive area so there are no grammar schools. It was important enough for my SIL to want a Catholic education for her children that she preferred to send them to the Catholic comprehensive 6 miles and an awkward journey away, rather than send them to a good (or better) comprehensive about 5 minutes walk away. Some neighbours, by contrast, not quite so devout, were quite happy with the local non-catholic school.

The controversy over church schools is that whilst a parent who meets the faith criteria has the choice of a faith school as well as the choices available to all other parents, the parents who do not meet the faith criteria do not have that extra choice of a faith school, in fact in many cases have no choice of state school. However the law allows that unfairness and in a system where places in good schools can be hard to come by then few would blame parents for taking advantage of the privilege. Whether it is moral for some parents to have that privilege of extra choice, or whether it is moral for a Catholic parent to discount Canon Law and opt for a non faith school for one child and then seek a faith school for another, the matter on which the Priest was making a judgement, is not a matter for the Law or the Admission process, it does not seek to make windows on men's souls, only to set out the criteria for entry to schools.

You can certainly choose different schools to suit the different personalities of 2dc.

It would be illegal for the RC school to allow this fact to alter your DC2's eligibility. They are not allowed to make admission decisions on the basis of faith, which cannot be measured. Only externally provable events like church attendance and baptism.

It doesn't concern me personally, but I can see where the Priest is coming from. You can't say on the one hand that Catholicism is the most important criteria for your child's education, and then a couple of years later, then say, well, no it's not as important as we thought.

Is it a case not of a priest not understanding the admission system, but the parents making much of their Catholicism to get the first child into an oversubscribed RC school? However, when there is a non RC grammar school involved, somehow Catholicism takes a back seat?

That is a priest who does not understand the admission system and the admission criteria and is looking at it solely from a religious point of view.

If the pupil does not get a place when you believed that they met all the admission criteria then you definitely should appeal, so that the admission criteria can be properly explored by the panel.

However if it is shown that these negative thoughts did mean that child was disadvantaged it does not automatically mean they will get a place on appeal. Based on experience when something like this happens, the panel usually finds that the whole admission system has been compromised. It could well be that they will have to go back to square one and review all the admission applications and reconsider where they should have been on the admission criteria priority list. There could be too many pupils who have been disadvantaged, such that not all could be offered a place over the PAN. Pupils offered a place by mistake are normally allowed to keep the place offered, though there are examples on here of situations where that was not the case.

Hmmm, thought it might be something along those lines. I can't see that if all the other admissions criteria are met they can block DC2's entrance but it's one of the dictates of Canon Law to give your children an RC education. Hope someone who knows more about the ins and outs of it comes along with more specific advice if your friend thinks they might be blocked from attending the school on these grounds.
Is the Grammar not suitable for DC2?

I went to grammar, my little sister went to a RC secondary.

You're allowed to choose whichever school is the best fit for the individual child. If that means they go to different schools then that's absolutely fine.