Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to expect a catholic primary school for my catholic children?

167 replies

Mixedupmind · 02/08/2014 19:46

No idea where to put this so I've put it here
We are moving to west sussex in a few months time, just in time for reception applications
Now there is only one catholic primary in the borough where we are moving to, compared to 3 where we currently are ( London )
Am I being unrealistic to think we will get the school place?
My sister in law today has made it very clear she thinks we are!
There are 2 intakes for each year so 60 children, we will live 0.4 miles away from it and are practising Catholics.
We want this primary as much as we want the catholic secondary college so it's important we get the primary as its a feeder school.
If for some reason it becomes over subscribed could we appeal for religious reasons?
And would this mean we may get offered a catholic school in a different borough miles away?

OP posts:
HarveySchlumpfenburger · 02/08/2014 20:09

You are entitled to a school place. And that's about as far as your entitlement goes. You are not entitled to a specific Catholic/CofE or any other type of place.

You can express preferences on your application form, but if the schools fill up with people that meet the criteria better than you then you won't get a place.

NynaevesSister · 02/08/2014 20:10

Please ask this in the Primary School forum (Talk, Education). There are real experts in there who are willing to donate their time talking people through admissions and appeals. You'll get a reasonable and appropriate answer in there and also an informed one. They know the law inside and out.

IScreamForIceCream · 02/08/2014 20:10

Then it will probably depend on how many LAC and siblings there are in catchment, won't it?

arethereanyleftatall · 02/08/2014 20:11

No one on this forum can possibly give you an answer. Assuming the criteria is looked after children, then Catholics, then catchment - ergo if there is more Catholics of reception age closer than you, then no you won't get in. If there isn't, then yes you will. Not sure how anyone here could know this.

charleybarley · 02/08/2014 20:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

nocoolnamesleft · 02/08/2014 20:12

Presume you're talking about a voluntary aided Catholic school? So partly funded by tax payers, partly funded by the church... If you're moving before application season, I would think that your DCs have exactly the same chance of getting in as other children of practicing Catholics, living the same distance away, who don't already have siblings at the school. If you're moving after application season, then it will largely depend upon whether there are any spaces left.

Charitygirl1 · 02/08/2014 20:14

If you name another Catholic school out of borough as a second choice you will presumably be considered there if you don't get your first choice. But it's not going to happen otherwise. Whether your children get an education that you consider religiously appropriate is no-one's interest but yours (of course)!

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 02/08/2014 20:14

Sorry I read quickly and with error.

You should get in , possibly at the expense of a parent who put the school down ages ago but dog eat dog if it's a fab school.

We'd all do the same wouldn't we?

AnythingNotEverything · 02/08/2014 20:14

Sorry for the double post.

BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 02/08/2014 20:15

Have you looked in detail at the admission form?

Usually you choose eg three schools, so you would put the catholic one at the top, and then decide whether your 2nd/3rd choice is closer and non-Catholic, or further away and Catholic.

Parietal · 02/08/2014 20:16

You can only expect a place for your catholic kids at a catholic school if you will also argue for a place for my atheist kids at an atheist school (and the Jewish kids at a Jewish school and the Sikh kids at a Sikh school etc ...)

The state can't & shouldn't have to provide places for every possible faith - better to have less religion & less segregation of children.

HeyBabyBaby71 · 02/08/2014 20:16

Er, you might find the Catholic primaries are undersubscribed in West Sussex. Just saying...

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 02/08/2014 20:18

Still, applications for Sept 2015 haven't even opened yet, let alone reached deadline day. It's not going to be any more at the expense of a parent who put the school down ages ago (not than you can these days) than someone who's been living in the area for 5 years and hands in their application on the 15th January.

HeyBabyBaby71 · 02/08/2014 20:18

If your DC is 3, you will be applying this autumn/winter. You will have 3 preferences for a school, so it could be that you put 3 Catholic schools down, bearing in mind that they might be miles away, in another town. There are no 'boroughs' as there are in London...

DefiniteMaybe · 02/08/2014 20:22

It's not necessarily difficult to get into a Catholic school. My ds got into his school even though he was in the 8th (of 8) category of admissions criteria.

Original poster
Mixedupmind · 02/08/2014 20:23

Thanks for the replies
We were all set to stay here for primary school until recently so haven't been able to contact the school however have emailed their office and will call once the re open
I just wondered what usually happens if children don't get a place at a church school and appeal on the grounds of religion? I've heard this but only in passing so no idea how true it is or what the outcome is likely to be

OP posts:
nooka · 02/08/2014 20:23

Fundamentally it depends on whether there are more than 60 children of the same age who are also practicing Catholics but live closer to the school than you, are siblings of children already at the school or looked after children. To find out you could go to the local Catholic church and see if it's full of three year olds, ask other local parents or see if the school/LEA issues stats.

To the person who said we all want our children to go to schools with similar values, I would agree, but also point out that there are no such things as secular schools. If the OP's child doesn't get into the local Catholic school, or a nearby one then even if they go to a community school they will get at least some exposure to Christianity. Plus secondary schools use similar criteria to primary. I doubt very much that not going to Catholic primary school will be a bar to going to the secondary school. Again that should be fairly easy to find out.

PumpkinPie2013 · 02/08/2014 20:23

Can you contact the school in Sept (as it's holiday time now) or the LA and ask about the admissions criteria? That should give you a good idea of the likelihood of a place being offered.

It sounds as though you have a good chance given you will live so close and are practising Catholics so I wouldn't worry too much.

I also don't imagine there will be lots of non Catholic families wanting their dc to attend a Catholic school as it surely wouldn't fit their beliefs?

I'm Anglican and wouldn't choose a Catholic school for my ds because I'm not Catholic and nor is my ds.

Good luck - I hope you get the school you want Smile

Original poster
Mixedupmind · 02/08/2014 20:24

Not sure about west Sussex but where we currently are the catholic schools are heavily heavily oversubscribed but then we are also far more populated so that isn't a surprise as most schools even the ones people shudder at are over subscribed around here

OP posts:
chanie44 · 02/08/2014 20:26

We are practicising Catholics and our child didn't get into our local catholic primary.

The school is over subscribed and the only reason we didn't get in was because our ds didn't attend the school nursery and so wasn't known to the school (he attended a private nursery because we both worked).

We did everything 'right' - baptised under 6 months, lived close to the school, 5+ years at church, but it wasn't enough.

Luckily for me, I actually preferred another school, so the catholic school was our second choice, but we wouldn't have got a place anyway.

Original poster
Mixedupmind · 02/08/2014 20:31

School nurseries have no bearing on reception places, it states that everywhere!

OP posts:
jacks365 · 02/08/2014 20:32

Whats the actual wording for Catholic priority? The reason I ask is because my local Catholic just looks for baptism and still takes plenty of non Catholics but my brother's stipulates practising at a specific church and is oversubscribed for that category, in your case the parish priest may not agree to complete the forms due to it being a new area so although you are more than likely ok it would be worth looking further in to it.

chanie44 · 02/08/2014 20:34

To add....

Within the practicising catholic band, it favoured nursery attendance over distance, so even though we lived relatively close to the school, we didn't get in because of the nursery criteria.

I am rather annoyed on principal, because OH and I both work, ds had gone to a private nursery since he was 7 months old and we had no one to take him to the school nursery, even if we wanted to.

Hope it works out for you.

chanie44 · 02/08/2014 20:37

Sorry, cross posted

I asked the school out of curiosity and they said that nursery attendance took preference.

chanie44 · 02/08/2014 20:38

Mixed up - I asked the school and that's what they told me!!!

They said that after the siblings, nursery and pastoral care, there were 4 places left and these went to people who lived closer to the school.