What's God got to do with it?!

why do you think the Catholic school is so outstanding?

do you know that those parents have to contribute at least 10% of the school's maintenance fund?

practicing Christians can apply to faith schools or non faith schools but not both. i actually agree with this. Fwiw when priests sign the "Certificate of Catholic Practice" form they do ask which schools you are applying for and expect your top choices to be ALL Catholic schools and not mix and match. It would be fairer to enforce a choice of all religious or all non religious schools.

I'd be fine with that.
Thread title asks what's God got to do with it?
Quite a lot, bringing up Catholic children in the Catholic faith being pretty important to Catholic parents.

What OP and many other parents are saying is that faith isn't on their radar in life until the school down the road is Outstanding. Which is tough.

That's fine. So long as all non faith schools have an admissions criterion that says practicing Christians go to the back of the queue.

Or that practicing Christians can apply to faith schools or non faith schools but not both.

They are not being denied a tax payer funded education. Just not the one that, despite having to believe in all the pesky faith stuff, is the best in the area.

They are also, most importantly, Catholic. Which is the main selection criteria for admissions. Not Catholic? Can't hope to get in unless it is undersubscribed.
There are other schools in the area. No use complaining they aren't as good if you are atheist. Be one of those organised, switched on parents at that school then.

"If the Catholic school was crap OP wouldn't care that the faith element was preventing her DC going there. People only tend to get aerated about faith schools when they are performing better than surrounding schools.
The nearest Outstanding school to someone else might be single sex and your DC not that sex. If you don't share the faith of a school it's the same - simply not a school you can choose."

OK. Let me unpick this a bit. First, faith schools only perform better than surrounding schools when they are oversubscribed. Undersubscribed faith school's are no different from other schools in the area. This is because oversubscribed faith schools select. That is, the parents whose children get in are in the main better organized/more switched on/ have more time and energy to devote to their children's education. The children of parents like this do better whatever school they are in. And the more of them there are in a school, the better the school will perform. It is the oversubscription followed by selection that makes the school perform better, not the faith.

Secondly, saying that a faith school is "simply not a school you can choose" is obviously objectively true. But what you are saying is that people are being denied access to a tax payer funded institution simply because of their lack of faith. They are paying the same taxes as people of faith, but have access to a third fewer schools. imagine if the same rules were applied to hospitals, or libraries. And it is important to remember that people of faith can freely apply to non faith schools.

Send him to the closest one and devote your time to helping it improve.

who have no choice but to send their kids to the more under-resourced school just down the road (this was why I mentioned the council estate location, it's not that that was one of my reasons against that school, Pottering)

That was almost a convincing save OP

If the Catholic school was crap OP wouldn't care that the faith element was preventing her DC going there. People only tend to get aerated about faith schools when they are performing better than surrounding schools.
The nearest Outstanding school to someone else might be single sex and your DC not that sex. If you don't share the faith of a school it's the same - simply not a school you can choose.

Jem - you analogy would work well for a private faith school.

I feel for you. I also find it beyond shocking that taxes spent on education discriminate against certain religions or lack thereof. I hope you have luck securing a decent school place somewhere.

...even though you don't have any money.

You sound a bit snobby and a very pushy, no offence. The criteria is Catholic then that's what it is. You would not walk into Sainsburys and insist on buying something even though you don't have any.

I have no idea whether you are a person of faith or not-but this is just the sort of arrogant, privileged remark that gives Christians a bad name

Why should such a remark from a non-Christian give Christians a bad name? It is, in any case, perfectly reasonable that a parent should consider how much faith content there is in a school as a factor in whether or not to choose that school. Remember that some non-faith schools are actually significantly more religious than some faith schools.

Go and look around at the other comp on their open mornings, as Ionacat says their recent ofsted seems a blip.
You won't get into either the catholic or the SF school.

Wavell went out to 3.22 miles last year. I think Hampshire measure as the crow flies. It might be a long shot. Ash Manor in Ash Vale could be worth looking at. Cove in Farnborough is RI, but I know a couple of teachers there and it is on the up. If you are prepared to drive/train, neither of the Alton schools were oversubscribed last year and they are both good/outstanding.
I would have a good look at Heath End, it has been traditionally a good school, but could be a blip. (An outstanding school near where I work was RI for a few years due to a blip in exam results and immediately went back up to outstanding.)

And the question which is usually unaddressed is whether they are successful because of that ethos

The question has been addressed - will have to try to hunt out a reference - but broadly the answer seems to be no - there are faith schools all through the league tables from top to bottom; their 'success' correlates to whether in deprived areas, FSM etc but with those deemed good then able to be selective.

I think I know where you are as I don't think there are many Catholic schools with swimming pools near another school which is consulting on options including a 4-16 school.

If you want advice, I would put a new post with the area in the title as there are a few of us who know the schools round there. As if it is the three schools I'm thinking, then you won't get into the catholic one, the bog standard comp I suspect is having a blip and well worth considering, I wouldn't want the third either but if you are near a bus stop/train station then there are more good options that weren't oversubscribed last year.

When the state can afford to buy them out, then perhaps they won't exist.

Most secondaries require evidence of the prospective pupil's membership of a religion and level of attendance, not that of the parent.

But yes, these schools have a distinctive ethos.

And the question which is usually unaddressed is whether they are successful because of that ethos. And if so, should the main effort be into making sure all schools are that successful?

I don't know if this still holds good, but RC schools are the most ethnically diverse (large numbers of recent immigrants) and have lower than typical exclusion rates for their demographics.

Harder to quantify for CofE schools, a there are so many they are formative if the norm.

I don't know if there's enough info collated on Jewish, Hindu and Muslim schools.

if a club or whatever is set up e.g. for women, then men start saying they want to join too, women would rightly say the club was set up by them, for them. what's the difference?

Try setting up a club that discriminates on the basis of religion and see how that goes.

Ernest - Because it's not a voluntary club, its compulsory education that impacts the rest of your life.

But anyway OP -discussing the shitness of the system with some state schools being 'faith' doesn't really help you. I guess what you may need to try to find out is whether the nearer school is on a downwards trajectory and the more distant one on a sustainable upwards one.

Ernest - these 'clubs' are very largely state-funded.
Anon - I do hope that was meant to be a joke? (hard to tell, sometimes people do say that sort of ridiculous thing seriously)