To feel extremely worried and rather ticked off about this?......

[EmiliaJ]

Basically my daughter who is age 10 (11 in September) is due to go into year 6 at an outstanding catholic school. She previously attended a non Catholic primary due to us losing our appeal, but a place became available when she was two weeks into starting year 3, and as we had always wanted her at this school, which just so happens to be the feeder school to the only outstanding Catholic secondary in our borough we decided to move her there. She's since never looked back, has an amazing friendship group, has come on in her education more than we could have ever expected etc and we are all really happy.

Like I said we hoped she will go onto the feeder secondary school and up until now she has been considered top priority along with most of her other classmates ie baptised Catholic who lives within one of the named parishes AND has attended a Catholic primary school. But we have now been informed (2 weeks ago!) that the secondary school has changed it's criteria frok 2016 onwards and they are no longer stipulating that for a child to be high up the criteria they must have attended Catholic primary. So basically now as long as a child is baptiseD Catholic and they live within one of the six parishes (ours is 3rd closest to the school) then they will likely gain a place. I can't help but worry now as this means my dd will be fighting for a place whereas before they changed the criteria she would have got in no problem. So Aibu to br worried and am I overreacting? I mean realistically how many children who have not attended Catholic primary will actually want to go to a Catholic secondary?......

You can't see the irony? You're suggesting that Catholics have high morals and a sense of community, but then say that you like a school to discriminate and that discrimination should be in your favour at the detriment of others.

I can't work out whether you have a superiority complex or are just plain thick.

OP I think it's you with the judgy pants on tonight. I find it ignorant and offensive that you think that a minority group of people, Catholics, have a better sense of community, better morals and have access to better education than the rest of us!

You are living in a bubble

To be fair this highly moral Catholic business has made my day. Some of them are good, some of them are not. Just like people.

Honestly the stuff my friends who went to catholic school got up to! Moral doesn't come to mind (but all turned out lovely and nothing wrong with a bit of teenage rebellion)

Actually op I originally had some sympathy, wanting the best for our own children is normal. However now you've moved onto thinking everyone should be in agreement your dd is the priority due to your religion, which isn't normal or understandable.
But I should thankyou, as the parent of a child who went to a lovely, undersubscribed, church school, I've never got why some people hate all church schools so much. Thankyou for clearing that up.

School admissions are unfair. A postcode lottery is just as unfair as faith criteria.

Yes, but luckily it's relatively straightforward to fake faith. :)

Frankly it pisses me off that I am paying council tax towards schools that would not accept my children because we are not a particular religion.

We all have our bugbears.

If you had not been able to get your DC into a Catholic primary, you would've been pleased at this change.

Don't worry tryharder, schools are not funded from council tax, they're funded from income tax (central government, not local).

Have you considered moving to Bognor Regis OP?

Erm, no why?

Well, when you chose to opt into one of these ridiculous systems that decides on places based on baptism and number of times parents go to mass, then you have to take your chances in the system

Join your place behind the other people who base ther child's education choices on the teachings of a man in Rome - it's a lottery because anyone can opt in to that system for their own means and "out Catholic" you at any moment

Lots of faith schools are voluntary aided and I think all of them have to have places available for non believers/followers of other religions.

I completely understand why people are angered by this, but it's the same in any school! Children are prioritised somehow, are you as resentful of other criteria?

It's you who sounds the most bitter and judgemental on this thread, OP!

Think what you will but IMO I've chosen the best school for my dd, she's happy, she's settled and I'm confident in the fact that she's getting a much better education than she ever got at her community school. If she doesn't get a place at the secondary school then we will appeal, and considering the level of our commitment to the school and community I think we would stand a good chance. If after that she still isn't offered a place then me and dh will have to pay for her to go private as she certainly isn't going to our local community secondary.

There you go, You said it all in your last post OP

What?.....that she isn't going to our community secondary?......well she isn't. I won't be putting it down as a choice and if she is offered it she still will not be going there at is shocking, in every way imaginable.

VA schools don't all have to have places available for non-believers. In my area it is common for them to be full with those of the faith, and have no children who've not got in on either faith or sibling criteria. They have to give a place to any child who wants one if there are spare places. If there are more applications than places than they can allocate all their places on the basis of faith.

entirely new faith academies, n the other hand, are subject to limits on the number of places that can be allocated on a faith basis.

So it's not about faith at all - just like it wasnt for all those people who got in in front of you who aren't as "catholic" as you. You are all after the best school possible and the faith element atters just as much to you as it does to them. Some people might say that makes you a hypocrite op

So, OP as your faith is the deciding factor here I'm assuming you'd still want your dd to go to the Catholic school if it was 'mediocre'?

Yeah. Didn't think so. You want your kid in the best school, its nothing to do with faith so lets not be disingenuous, eh?

OP I keep coming across threads where you spout these type of selfish and judgemental opinions.

Perhaps if you stop speeding The Good Lord would look more favourably upon you

It's perfectly reasonable to want your child to go to your first choice of school, but I do not believe that it is fair for the parent's religion to have any impact on the child's school at all.
All children should have an equal opportunity within the standard admissions criteria (LAC, SEN, Siblings & distance)
I think it is an utter nonsense that faith schools have better morals

Your mixing my words here, I've already said our faith is important to us but so is our child's education so no, I will not chose to send my daughter to the faith school that is failing. Firstly because my dd will know no one and secondly because it's in special measures and has been proved to be failing it's students.

Yes I totally agree Isinthemood it makes my blood boil

As do people spouting how many times they go to mass while throwing their hands up in horror at the local "community" school (like "commuity is a dirty word and they are way above the "community") also make me quite cross