Bishop Gilpin parents - And you call yourselves Christians?? (MERTON SCHOOLS)

[NutellaWithEverything]

Name changed because I need to rant about my DS not having been offered a school place and don't want to be outed. I am in Wimbledon and my nearest school in Bishop Gilpin. My DS has not been accepted to start in Reception this September coming even though it takes us three minutes to get there. Yet, they take in children from the other side of Wimbledon even though they have to drive through town to get there. And why?? Because they go to the right churches. So last November there was a request from the Council to add another Reception class but parents voted against other children from their own community benefiting from attending a good school. They felt it would be in the detriment of their school's community feel!!!!! AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THIS IS SELFISH, SHORT-SIGHTED, UN-GODLY AND JUST PLAIN WRONG?????????????????

Religious schools dont discriminate. They have a policy of admitting a percentage of children not in the faith. I do, however, believe it is a baptised child's right to be educated in his/her own faith.

Do you think a child who isnt in the faith should have a place over one who is, thereby denying that child his/her education about their own faith and getting their sacraments?

The council actually put forward a very fair case for going up to 90 intake. There are dozens of highly successful large primary schools nowadays - its part of busy city living ! The problem was that none of the parents or governors were prepared to listen. The public meeting was a terrifying display of " not in my back yard " the unfettered and misplaced anger was horrifiying. One wowan burst into tears over the possible damage to her school. its not HER school - its the communities school, and as such will go on generations after she and her children have left. The school is outstanding and backed by parents with plenty of money. It could have easily coped with a 90 intake - they just didnt want to, they could have seen it as a challenge and embraced it and used it to get more funding from MErton to become an even better school. The worst thing about it is that Bishop Gilpin's biggest problem is that all these posh parents whose little darlings couldnt be effected by the extra pupils all bail out early and go off to prep schools. They take 60 at reception and by SATS are down to 42. How outrageous is that ?

Because very often parents without faith, who send their children to a faith school, decide to keep away from the school community. They are very happy to send their children to a good school, but would rather not take part in the community of the school, and dont want to mix with the religious parents, as they feel they have nothing in common. They also very often fight to keep their children away from the religious life of the school. Such as assembly, harvest fest, etc...

Would you like to go into assembly, take communion from Father, on average, you need to take a day off from work once a month, to take part in something or other in school, in addition to the weekend fundraising things.

I find it mind-boggling that a state funded school could be legally allowed to turn away a child in their district, but our system is very different.

We just hire more teachers.

I really don't know where to start OP

Surely you knew the admissions criteria when you applied? Faith schoold tend to give priority to familes with...erm...faith

I know Wimbledon is a very tricky area for schools but you have a back-up plan I assume

QuintessentialOldMoo that's bollocks

I dont know about other state schools but with catholic school the parish pays what is referred to as the school levy. This is a voluntary contribution requested by the church to support the school. Every parishioner is asked to contribute once a year towards this levy. The money then goes to boost school funds.
If you are a not a catholic and having a child going to a catholic school then you are getting the benefit without being part of the community that pays the levy.

rabbitypabbity that's precisely the problem, thanks. It sounds like you were there! I hear the Priory might accept a bulge class this september?

Its not you know nutella. Ive had to take my turn to help out twice this month by walking ds' school group to the church for mass. They go once a week and parents have to help out.

I think people who put their kids down for faith schools should first have a good look at the RE curriculum and have an idea of the type of religious involvement the kids will have at the school.

"Also, faith schools are not funded in the same way as a non-denominational school. Parents have to be involved with a LOT of fundraising. And baking. My son went to an rc primary, and youd think parents had no work outside their duties related to school! People who share the faith and the ethos of the school accept this, and pull together to raise the money for the school."

Er.
Pretty sure that any state faith school in this country can't be any more than 10 per cent MAXIMUM church funded.
Thats MAX, so often are funded LESS than that by the church.

And actually, all community schools have to do loads of fundraising (well they do where I live) because there is not ebough money to keep them going otherwise, for things like books and that.
And any community will pull together for a local school, particularly if local children go there.

Fact: My nearest 2 schools (and the only schools in my community) are faith schools. The local church is stuffed with people with kids under five, and then there is a big gap until you get to the old people.
Fact: Most people attending that church are there to get their kids into school,(sometimes driving from other areas) which is hypocritical, and surely "unChristian"
I mean, I am no bible basher, but lying, thats in the Bible under "wrong" surely?

Fact: While the councils have been busy closing primary schools the birth rate has spiked, so these children have to go somewhere. They have to build more schools (preferable) or add to existing ones(easier and quicker due to the red tape involved)

My son got allocated a school nearly an hour away on foot (I don't have a car)
I am appealing, or possibly having to move house.
I am appealing for a non faith school, but it is out of our area, and still quite a walk.
Meanwhile the kids of the diligent "church goers" will be trotting down the road to the nice local village school and having a lovely life.
Yes I am bitter, not because I want an outstanding school for my precious boy, but because I would just like him to be able to go to the local school (either of them).

OP YANBU

I hear this is a very high intake year this year for reception. At DDs' school a set of triplets applied and 1 got in!

What rabbitypabbity said is SO TRUE. I know this might be of no consolation Nutella but lucky escape from GP! It is divisive and extremely clicky. And if your dc gets into The Priory be happy. You will NOT want your DS to go to BG in KS2.

OP, I completely understand your anger. I always think that the people on these threads who say 'Why would you want your child to go to a faith school if you're not religious' or 'Just go to another school' completely don't get what it is like in areas of London, where there is so much competition for school places, where driving anywhere takes forever (and many more of us don't have cars) and where faith schools can seriously warp the local education market.

Some of us live in areas where ALL our nearby schools are faith schools, and so we don't get into those. That means we are too far away from the nearest community schools to get into those, either. So often are left with a complicated journey by public transport to a failing school that no-one else wants. No wonder we get cross: our taxes pay for our local schools that our children can't go to. This was the situation I was in till last year, in a borough where four out of the five secondary schools are RC, and where David Cameron's daughter got chauffered in from miles away to attend a state school, in my street, that my daughter couldn't get into. In that area, and certainly for that school, the faith criteria operated to keep the school very exclusive: locals used to marvel at how it was just like a prep school, but with no fees.

I don't blame individual parents for this situation, or individual schools either, but the system is ridiculous and I do think that some (I'm not saying all) faith schools should hang their head in shame at how they use it to shore up privilege rather than to reach out to the needy. Incidentally, I've now moved to another borough where again there are not enough school places. All the community primary schools have expanded to meet demand; the faith schools are refusing to. And the local authority is now consulting on building a new secondary school: their preferred option is for a Roman Catholic school. This in a borough with a very small Catholic community, and not enough secondary places to meet demand within its borders. A faith school will just mean more children travelling across London, rather than going to their nearest school.

Oh yeah, also-the Cof E school near me does not have particularly religious teachers, or head.Just the board of Governors who choose who gets in.
And ALL schools have to teach Christian values, plus comparitive religion.

CheerfulYank where do you put these extra teachers and children?

This is a london school with limited space and many schools just dont have room to enlarge their intake.

When my sons were at primary there was only one class per year. They had enough applications to have at least 2 classes but in a small school there just wasn't the space and some classes still had to be taught in portable class rooms in the play ground.

Funny thing is, OP says that she may be forced into private. If mine hadnt got into his school, I would have taken him to a private catholic school too. :) For me it was catholic or nothing.

Or: what Northernrock said!

I thought the funding situation was that the church had to come up with 10% of the assets/land, not even running costs. It's really not the case that the churches are footing the bills for these schools.

x-posted hester. Believe me, it's not just London. Agree totally.

hester the church will be the owners of the land and boildings and have to pay 10% pf capital costs for the school. The rest is funded in the same way as any normal state school.

anotheracademic, the OP hasn't said that at all

Oh, I was sure she did, sorry

CheerfulYank - the system is so fucked it is beyond belief. It would be downright illegal and a cause of national outrage in most Western countries.

Get this - there is one state-funded junior school in my village. It is legally allowed to discriminate against Catholics, Jews, Muslims etc - in fact anyone who is non-Anglican. The second nearest school is 7 miles away, and guess what - they have exactly the same rules.

It fucking sucks.

Not everyone has a school of their faith on their doorstep. My children have always had to travel some distance to school as that is where their nearest faith school is.
If it is reasonable that i have to travel to get a faith school why is it unreasonable to have to travel to get a non faith school?

I really understand that people with a strong faith want their children to go to a faith school, and that they pay their taxes too. But can't they see that they are a small minority, and that they are highly privileged within the current system? Do they think that is fair, and an appropriate use of public funds? And do they accept that a large proportion of their children's peers are there because their parents played the game, not because they are truly of that faith?

There is a high-achieving RC primary just round the corner from us, and yards from that a decent state secondary that is in demand locally. Last year just six children went from the primary to the secondary, despite it being a linked school. I commented in amazement to a woman I know whose children go to the primary, and asked if the children generally went on to a RC secondary. "Oh no", she said, "They all go private. They see the primary as the nearest thing to a local prep school, because it's so small and exclusive. That's why my children are there - I'm not Catholic, but my husband used to be and we went along to Church to get them in." Now, in her position I may well do the same thing, but that doesn't make the system fair.