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?......

'Our level of commitment to the school and the community'.
Yes, I'm sure all the non Catholics aren't arsed about a good school, and can't possibly be arsed about the community.
Jesus had a lot to say on every subject, funny I've yet to hear anything along the line of 'and thy shalst go forth, and command yon good secondaries be yours, and yours alone, lest thy be banished to the community school with yon pagans and those not committed to thy community' attributed to him.
Infact, I'm pretty sure the bible has lots of relevant stories about the importance of making the most of being raised differently to belief. Moses perhaps ring any church bells?
Still op, there's catholic boarding schools, if Jesus loves you enough he'll sort the fees.

I'd just like to point out that I have an excellent catholic school 300yards from my house. My kids go to a "community" school a mile away. Just in case that affects anything. My father was Irish Catholic. My mother also baptised Catholic. I am guessing that I could have cathoilicked my way in if I wanted. I didnt

The new admission criteria seem very reasonable. They are giving those who may not have had the chance of a Catholic primary education through no fault of their own to have a chance of a catholic secondary education.

Seems very fair and Christian to me....

Our Catholic primary has just started stamping cards to "prove attendance at mass" as an admission criteria. Ridiculous.

OP, maybe a few more decades of the rosary will help your cause.

Siblings and catchment area priority are the most sensible as they're most likely to cut traffic pollution.

Which totally trumps those who believe in silly superstitions.

Beans on toast for you for 8 years then OP if your DD doesn't get a place.

Such an extreme over reaction and using religion as a smoke screen. Nothing to do with ensuring DD has religious instruction in school - it's all about the prestige of the school and results. I think "ticked off" is an understatement as far as how you feel about the change in criteria is concerned.
Hypocrite

Keeping out of the debate here, (a bit boring of me I know), and thinking about what you're concerned about, I think there would be a significant number of non Catholics who would NOT choose a Catholic school for their children, even if it were outstanding. I wouldn't choose one, because the faith side of things (which is a huge part of Catholic education) would make no sense to my children. I suppose what I'm saying is your dd probably still stands a good chance of getting in, even with the changed criteria.

I'm Catholic and my DS goes to Catholic school, because it's the best choice for him in the current system. I don't really think there should be any state faith schools, they should all be secular. I could take DS to mass and give him a religious education myself. I don't think Catholic schools are morally superior!

I don't get your point op. You are definitely coming across like the outstanding school is the important thing and the religion is some sort of justification for your anger.

Makeitrain I am one of those people. 300 yards from an excellent catholic school. Actively chose to send my DC to a secular school a mile away, despite strong Catholic background. Can't stand all this elitism masquerading as religion

At that distance for a secondary I'm sure your dd will get in,

BitOutOfPractice I'm lapsed Catholic too! I don't think it's necessarily the imagined elitism that would bother me so much as the endless Hail Marys/ Confessions/ talk of sin that would worry me. It would be like an alien planet to my children. The music was very lovely though!

We faced this because we moved back into an area following marital breakdown and couldn't get dd into any feeder primary for either local secondary school despite the fact dd was actual baptised in one faith and converted to her own choice to another.

We got a non faith primary place three and a half miles away feeding into a different secondary school that took on distance only so no chance. School 2 was dds faith (Catholic) and 2 minutes walk from home but priority to all Catholic faith primaries in the area and over subscribed.

School 3 was a c of e just under 2 miles away and gave preference to all the non Catholic primaries in our village because of above and oversubscribed which didn't include dd s out of village one.

It was a nightmare. We were initially faced with a new free school two and a half miles and three buses in a morning away and dd has additional needs and wouldn't have managed.

I pleaded under medical, social and emotional for the c of e and she got in thankfully after they upped numbers Then they took the bus off but that's a different story.

although the 'amazing' Outstanding ofsted for years Catholic school has just been put in special measures and specifically let children with sn down according to report so maybe I'm lucky!

Desertislander
our local Catholic primary and secondary give full priority to Catholics for every place bar LA and SN so in effect all 250 year 7 could be Catholic.

Isindemood I think you've missed a huge point, the education in a faith school has more of a faith focus.
If you like swimming you'd choose a school which offers opportunities to swim, not learn about Catholicism.

LAC and Statemeted/EHCP children do not have to be believers Supervet.

There's so much sarcastic "If only you were a better Christian" nonsense on this thread. I don't disagree that the OP has come across entitled and elitist but that is uncalled for and makes you look very petulant.

Not to diminish your worries, but as a practicing Catholic parent, actively involved in our church and Catholic primary school, our son didn't get into any of the local Catholic secondaries. Baptised, Altar server, Mass on Sunday, helping out at parish events...You name it, we did it and still do. You just can't worry about this stuff. There is nothing to be done about it as it's out of your hands. Keep up your faith. We do! I was shocked at how many people stopped attending Mass because their child didn't get into Catholic school. Hang onto the hope that she'll get in but keep an open mind. It may not go according to plan and it's really important that you're supportive of your daughter and not too negative about where she may end up going to school. Otherwise she'll feel like she's failed and disappointed you, even if that's not what you want her to feel. Your anxiety is palpable. You really just have to let the chips fall where they may. Your faith will be your rock.

If your dd is attending Mass every week then she will be getting a better Catholic education than baptised but non-attending children so maybe for the greater good of the church it should be the non-attending children who get the school places.

Personally speaking even if the catholic school was the best one for miles around, I would be loathed to send my dd there considering the way the Catholic Church view women......I'll stick to sending my dd to a school that views women on an equal footing as men

I sent my DC to a catholic primary and secondary. They are baptized but if our local non faith catchment schools had not been failing we will probably have gone for that since the secondary school for literally at the end of our road as opposed to across town.

The catholic secondary school had a large proportion of muslims even though the catchment school nearby was just as good. Some of the parents preferred the ethos of a faith school.

OP have you found out the exact criteria that admissions will be accepted. I say this only because of experience s of my own children at that age. We live in an area pre-predominantly Catholic area. All of the Catholic grammar & comprehensive schools in my area are in high demand. I'm Catholic my son's aren't. We attended the parents evening of a local Catholic grammar that had outstanding results & the headmaster outlined criteria for admission to the school thus:
Catholic primary & christened
Direct entrance from the Prep school attached
Catholic primary & not christened (Catholic)
Catholic attending non-Catholic primary
Everyone else!
Attending church wasn't mentioned.
When I spoke to the headmaster about my son's chances of getting in given the huge demand. He said " he usually found that the Catholic diocese had never yet filled all the places (it was a selective school).

I can understand your concerns, it is a stressful time. But you said your daughter is doing well & hopefully she will be successful. Had she not had the opportunity of changing to your preferred primary, I would imagine you might have welcomed this"widening of the net"
Good Luck & Best Wishes

That's not quite right,Desertilander.
Actually faith schools can give a lower priority to LAC not of the faith than to non-LAC of the faith. They have to give top billing to LAC of the faith and admit any child with an EHCP but that's it.

ragusa is correct, at least one near me has catholic lac as first criteria but non Catholic lac are right down the list after every other catholic criteria.
Faith schools should be like dds church primary, no religious criteria at all.

I think the guidelines changed, advising schools not to specify a particular parish and probably not a particular junior school.

My children are at faith schools. They are very lucky that they are excellent schools and I am happy for them that they are there. That does not mean that I can't see that the fact they have this extra advantage is inherently unfair. If their right to apply there was diminished, I would definitely feel personally disappointed that their choices were reduced. But I could not in all honesty say it was unfair - it would be wrong, I think, to be ticked off about it.

OP, I get why you are disappointed but I don't think you can be angry.

It might seem unfair to you but it is fair for all the children who are getting a chance. To be honest I think people get to where they are in life because of the person they are rather than thr school they went to.
I went to a standard comp but ended up at uni with people from private/grammar/"good" schools because I was determined and I put the work in.
It's out of your control so there's no point stressing