Catholic secondary schools -how do you get in?

Tessak - you are kidding? Accord's sole purpose is to get rid of faith schools and the 'useful idiots' from some of the faiths are not representative of their churches, synagogues etc. But what really annoys me about Accord is that they profess to want kids educated together while some of Accord's supporters send their kids to private schools.

Ours is for catholic children who have been to a catholic feeder primary school, are baptised catholic and live within the catchment area.

The school is so good that if you fall outside these guidelines then your chance of entry are minimal.

Some catholic schools require the christening to have taken place before the child's first birthday. And I suspect that over-subscribed schools are more likely to be sceptical about later christenings.

Hi

Sorry to keep you waiting. This document contains all the evidence about faith schools. It was compiled by Accord, which is mostly made up of religious representatives (no, I don't work for them).

If you would like to have an informed debate rather than just talking about individual schools you happen to know, then I'd be happy to discuss it after you've read it.

www.secularism.org.uk/uploads/dossier-of-independent-evidence-on-faith-schools.pdf

HI

Really busy today but will get back to you asap.

And no, I don't especially have it in for Catholic schools.

I still can't believe the rubbish TessaK was spouting!
Catholic schools are very socially mixed.

TessaK I live in a prosperous area with two faith schools: one Anglican and one Catholic. Both are heavily over-subscribed but do not "cherry pick" their students based on ability or wealth - families just have to meet the admissions criteria which are centered on babptism and church attendance. There is no ability test to get in to the schools and both have SEN and FSM levels in line with the rest of the area - in fact the SEN levels are slightly higher in the Catholic school compared with other local schools. All this info is included in the Ofsted info for a school.

As for not employing gay or co-habiting staff - well that certainly isn't the practise in the schools I know.

I think, TessaK, in your obvious ignorance, you are confusing the statistics for CofE schools with Catholic

TessaK ds's Catholic high school takes all the ASD kids in the area, Catholic or not.
You are talking shite!

Tessak - leaving aside your thing against Catholic schools (bet that's an interesting story) I would appreciate sources for the research you mention. If it's the sources I think it is these typically compare a self-selected sub-set of Catholic schools with intakes within neighboruing community schools and the FSM statistic from that LEA. The problem with this is that community school in-take is inevitably more local whereas Catholic school intake come from a wider range of LEAs. Nationally the FSM measure is about the same as community schools. But please post the research details - that would be good.

Tessa I can assure you that co-habitating would not cause even an eyebrow to be raised in this parish. And I am pretty sure one of the teachers is gay unless my gaydar has let me down. Truly no-one cares.

Maybe things are different elsewhere...

Am I abnormal in thinking it odd to be thinking and planning Grammer or Catholic secondary schools in a child who has not yet started Reception class? How do you know he will be bright enough for Grammar? The rat race really does start early in some areas - and yes I realise we all want a good education for our children but to be thinking about 7 years down the line when you've no idea of the ability of that child seems bizarre - or am I the odd one out here? My DS is nearly 7 and secondary schools could not be further from my mind - I'll worry about that when we get there not years ahead.

Sorry if I am speaking out of turn here.

I have evidence that I can send you (but it's at work and this is Sunday) that religious schools have fewer children on free school meals. This means fewer children from poorer income families, regardless of the catchment area. There is also evidence that children from stable, middle-class homes are favoured, too.

Yes, we can all quote examples of good faith schools, especially in areas where they are undersubscribed, but in areas where they are oversubscribed, there is a wealth of evidence that they cherry-pick their pupils.

There is also evidence that faith schools discriminate against who they employ or promote if their lifestyle doesn't suit the ethos of the school. This can mean gay teachers, teachers who co-habit or sometimes those who are just not considered religious enough. They are currently allowed to do this by a loop-hole in the law.

You may think this doesn't matter to your child but in some schools it means that the best teacher is not hired, just the one who best suits the faith profile - and that does affect your children.

Summer111 - I understand your POV but it is not realistic to appeal to the non Catholic family to restrain from applying for a Catholic school place after a baptism of convenience. What's at fault are the admissions criteria that allow this. It is unfair and wrong - not just for families like yours but for the Catholic school as a whole. Or should we see such late convesions as like the prodigal son?

Allok, I still don't understand why you are cosidering a catholic secondary education for your dc? You are not Christian and your dh is not a practicing Catholic. Surely wanting a Catholic education is because you want dc to be educated according to the Catholic faith? If not, then I would suggest that you don't pursue this option as it probably is not the education you are striving for. The mission statement for my dc's Catholic primary school is 'We follow Jesus' - which is a fundamental truth of being Catholic.

I've just completed the arduous task of applying for a 2010 secondary school place for ds. Our no 1 school of choice is our local Catholic secondary school. I want my son to continue to be educated in a Catolic environment - as our faith is a fundamental aspect of who we are.

Maybe you should consider parents/families like mine before you begin your application process.

Wgat does your dh have to say about all of this. He is the catholic, right ? doesn't he want ds baptised ?

Well said ladies - I suppose with November 5th coming up anti Catholic prejudice is alive and well.

The 2nd criteria for our secondry (after looked after children) is Catholic children who attend specific Catholic primary schools.

You also need a Priests letter.

In practice its weekly mass attendance from birth plus baptism within the first year.

Our Catholic primary is chock full of SN children including a non Catholic girl in ds's class with severe epilepsy and brain damage who moved from a non faith school which couldn't/wouldn't meet her needs. My own SN child will start there next year.

I agree Nancy Apart from the HT who must be a Catholic the only requirement is that staff will do nothing to undermine the catholicity of the school.

I would say that catholic schools in our area actually take in kids with SN who have been failed by non-faith schools - and many of these kids are not catholic.

I haven't come across any that only hire catholic staff either...

"god" or "good?" LynetteScavo

TessaK faith schools avoid special needs children. On what evidence do you base your statement. Where I live I can state absolutely categorically, based on personal experience, that this is absolutely NOT the case.

But how will your son "get it" if he has no Catholic instruction? I doubt he will suddenly want to be baptised when he is 6-9.

If you really want to play the game of baptising him to get him into a god school, baptise him now, get your DH to take him to mass, and make sure he has taken his first communion (and prefereably confimation) by before high school.

Around here there arn't that many Catholic children, so it doesn't really matter if children are Catholic or not...there are lots of places in the school for children of all faiths.

Actually, my kids catholic primary school
specifically takes special needs kids from the borough!

Tessak - which Catholic schools discriminate against special needs children, or at least what evidence do you base this statement on.

Hi

Why would you want to send your kids to a religious school to be indoctrinated if you're not a strong believer yourself?

Some faith schools do well because they cherry-pick who they let in - they avoid special needs kids as much as they can, for example. Most of them are paid for by us, the tax payers, but they won't let our kids in unless we are of their religion.

They're also unfair to teachers as they discriminate in who they employ - and are legally allowed to do this, which they wouldn't be in other jobs.

All parents want good schools. They should not have to lie, fake belief and get kids baptised just to get them a decent education or to avoid travelling miles. All state schools should be non-religious so it's fair for everyone.