Would you attend church to get a school place?

[Werehalfwaythere]

Sorry for the long content - feel free to just answer the title question!

We live in an area with the grammar school system, and as such, secondary schooling is a bit of a nightmare.

My child is only in Year 1 but I've also come to realise that where we live isn't particularly close to any grammar schools. We live in one of the 'priority parishes' for one school (this means we'd get a place over someone who doesn't live in the long list of parishes) but it's a train ride away and I'm not interested in that for my children as the town it's in isn't nice, especially after dark.

There's a comp on our doorstep that we'd get into. Known to be good in terms of experience but the academic performance is lacking and my child seems to be pretty academic from what we can tell so far so I'd like them to attend a school that offers them enough academic challenge.

Anyway, there's a comprehensive 4 miles away that gets great results, which is sadly rare in this area, given the grammar divide. The only issue is it's often way oversubscribed for this reason and also it's a church school, meaning they offer 50% of their places to church goers before the remaining places go to other kids based on address. This means we'd be unlikely to get in. (I've checked the policy and this is correct).

I'm not anti church. I'm atheist and always will be but have always liked the church community vibe, just not the Jesus stuff tbh. The communities close to us are all older people and generally very friendly and proactive with food banks, fundraising, playgroups etc. I'm friends with a few of them already through various community activities but have never considered joining the church.

To get into the good comprehensive, at least one adult in the family needs to be an active church member for at least 2 years. So if I join when my child is in year 2/3, I should be covered.

Is this amoral? I'm assuming there are other non-believers who attend church for other reasons (community etc)? Im aware this will involve attending services fortnightly as the admission criteria states.

Would you in this situation?

Pretty normal thing to do here but the requirement is to have donated a certain amount of money during this period of attendance, too. It's not just showing up.

If you don't do it, then someone else will - and that place will go to their child and not yours.

Channel your inner King Henry IV of Navarre - “Paris is well worth a mass.”

He was a Huguenot who converted to Catholicism to become king of France.

If it was good enough for him, it’s good enough for you.

Absolutely not. Incredibly hypocritical.

Often the criteria is three years attendance at least twice a month or sometimes weekly for maximum points. Many parents start attending church simply for a church place at the start of year 3. They then have the same priority as a family who have attended church for many years.

Yes - if I have to show up once a week, that’s a small price to pay to get my child the best education I can give them. Quite frankly, If they asked me to dress as a rabbit/ say I believe in ghosts / do the Macarena/ eat chalk (or any other strange religious practice) once a week, I’d be fine with that, if it did the trick for the school.

A family member did, with no qualms. She kind of convinced herself that it was authentic to her to do this e.g. talking about how lovely the services were, whilst simultaneously pretty much not believing in God.
Must be a bit depressing for the vicar to know that all the middle class families that suddenly arrive at a certain point in their children’s lives are faking it to be there.

Yes I would do it. You might meet some nice people. I'd probably start now so it doesn't look suspicious.

Aren't you going to bring the child to Church too as it is the child that will be attending school, and join Sunday School too.

And the cubs ( Young boy scouts ) that are probably held in one of the Church halls too.

Will you be upset if your child does not get a place at the school if indeed it turns out it was all based on being Christians and they only knew you and not your son or family.

No, I wouldn’t join a church. I would move so I could send my child to the best school possible. I would want to avoid sending my
child to a church school because I believe the messaging is actively harmful.

I agree and would ban church schools too, but as I’m not in charge, I have no qualms in getting my child into the best school I can. Not sure why you found my comment incredible - people attend church for all kinds of non godly reasons e.g. to become part of a community; to alleviate loneliness; to get into to a good school; out of a sense of tradition etc.

Being a Scout doesn‘t mean you have to be a church member or even religious.

DD is an Explorer Scout and apart from the meetings being in a church hall and the pastor loving having an active group on their grounds, no one has to be a member of a religion. Even the oath is now available in a variety of versions.

DH is the Group Scout Leader and you wouldn‘t find anyone more atheist than him.

It's absolutely fine. You will become a part of a great community (hopefully) and it may give meaning to your life.

@reluctantbrit

yes i know that, I was meaning the child would be seen ( and recognised ) as being frequently in the Church building - providing they were held there and not in the Scout hall up the road.

Maybe Boys Brigade - do they still exist