Catholic secondary schools -how do you get in?

It's worth knowing that top-notch, sought-after secondary catholic schools, like the London Oratory and Cardinal Vaughan, expect applicants to have been baptised within THREE MONTHS of birth.So you're wise to check the admissions criteria of the catholic school you're considering. The more popular they are, the more stringent they are on catholic practice too.

summer111 - it seems to me that the trend to water down the catholicity criteria has allowed more "game playing" by middle-class parents thereby undermining the wider public's support for catholic schools rather than (as I think the intention was) to underpin that support.

I do think that non-catholic parents who complain about the unfairness in the system have a point - that nominal, lapsed/ex and shadow catholics are increasingly able to have a choice of a catholic school and their preferred non-catholic higher performing school. This is not to criticise or judge the parents who are doing this but rather to question whether the direction admissions to catholic schools is right - from both the perspective of the Catholic church and the wider society in terms of fairness.

couldn't agree with you more zanzibarmum!

Why wouldn't your catholic husband want the child to be baptised within weeks of his birth - that's what catholic parents are expected to do do. I know of no catholic doctrine which says "leave it up to the child when he wants to be baptised".

"looked after" is children in care.
Usually if your child is baptised and lives within the catchent area, you should be ok.

It really depends on how over subscribed the school is. My DS has just applied to a catholic school as his first choice, but because we have moved out of the parish bounderies (even though we still attend the school and church) we have moved further down the list on how they priortise places.

think it means "in care" or "fostered"
Much nicer language

Be aware that some secondary catholic schools require that the child is baptised within a year of birth.

The answer is it depends on the secondary school. My DCs have all attended a catholic secondary school but not catholic primary schools, at the time that DD1 went we just had to show her baptism certificate but by the time DS1 went 6 years later, you needed a priests letter as well to show that you regularly attended mass. We are in an area where there is more demand for catholic places than there are available but for my sister's DS there are catholic schools aplenty and so the entry criteria is more lax.

If you have a look at the websites of the local catholic school(s) you should be able to see their current entry criteria obviously this may change but you can get an idea whether they use feeder catholic primary schools in your area.

I've just copied the criteria for our local Catholic secondary.
Places will be allocated in the following order of priority;

1. Baptised Catholic ?Looked After? children.

1. Baptised, practising, Catholic children, who live in the St X?s catchment area.

1. Baptised Catholic children who attend one of our five Catholic partner schools and who have a sibling attending St X?s at the time of application and who is expected to still be on roll at the time of admission (September 2010).

1. Baptised Catholic children, who attend one of our five Catholic partner schools and who live within the St X?s catchment area.

1. Baptised Catholic children who attend a non-Catholic school in the St X?s catchment area, who have a sibling attending St Paul?s at the time of application and who is expected to still be on roll at the time of admission (September 2010).

1. Baptised Catholic children who live in and attend a non partner school in the St X?s catchment area.

1. Baptised, practising Catholic children who live outside the St X?s catchment area, but who have a sibling attending St X?s at the time of application and who is expected to still be on roll at the time of admission (September 2010).

1. ?Looked After? children who are not baptised Catholics.

1. Children who are not baptised Catholics, who have a sibling attending St X?s at the time of application and who is expected to still be on roll at the time of admission (September 2010).

10. Children who are not baptised Catholics, who live within the St X?s catchment area, who are preparing to become members of the Catholic Church (Catechumens or Candidates). The Governors will require evidence from the Parish Priest that such preparation had been in progress at least six months before the closing date.

11. Baptised practising Catholic children who live outside the St X?s catchment area.

12. Baptised Catholic children who live outside the St X?s catchment area.

Children who do not fall into the above categories, whose parents would like their children educated within a Catholic school.

They filled all their places using categories 1-4 and numerous children in cat 4 had to go through the appeals procedure. Some failed to get a place.

Am in Scotland and it sounds as if you are not, but I'll tell you how it goes here.

Catholic schools accept children baptised into the Catholic church and also those of other denominations. They will obviously have a much larger percentage of the former.

If places are limited, you are more likely to be accepted for entry to secondary if your primary schooling has been in a Catholic school.