To be sick of people slating Faith schools

[Jenga123]

Don't get me wrong I understand why some people may be against them but the negativity I've come across recently is, quite frankly ridiculous. I've been told by friends of friends, family etc that they pay for my dd's to attend their catholic primary and secondary schools and that tax payers that are paying towards these schools should not have to do so if their children can't attend these schools. Well let me just say the average amount of income tax each individual pays, that actually goes towards the upkeep of schools is minuscule, so they aren't in fact paying for them. Myself and the other parents of my dd's schools pay a considerable sum each year to the upkeep of the school and the school contributes 10% towards the costs of running their school and repairs etc.

I also come across animosity at the fact my children are getting a good education and people putting that down to them simply being baptised. But my point is if they feel that their own children are missing out by going to a less desirable school then I'm sure they could have them baptised therefor giving them a higher chance of securing a place at a faith school, and whilst I'm not advocating people pretending to be of the faith, I'm simply saying there are options.

As for my dd's schools like I said they are Catholic and are obviously places were parents of the same faith opt to send their children as they want them to be educated within that faith, and I can't see any problem with this to be honest so why am I hearing nothing but negativity from people?

But... non faith schools in the UK are by default Church of England, and teach Protestant Christianity.

So-called "faith" schools in this country are just teaching a different religion on those instances where it comes up during the school day.

Mainstream state schools are by no means atheist or non-denom, something which is inevitably overlooked on threads like this. Can we take Protestantism out of the curriculum before we start objecting to Catholic or Muslim schools, please?

Thing is though faith schools are funded by the church.

With the vast shortage of school places in some area, surely church money funding extra places is better than those places not exisiting at all?

So Jenga if those brilliant schools prioritised Jewish parents meaning your children missed out on a place and therefore the fantastic education but your neighbours children got in would you still think it was a fair system?

I am Christian but I am against state funded faith schools and the idea of schools teaching faith in general

It's not about what's taught. It's about admissions criteria. Non faith schools, although not secular, do not have a faith based admissions criterion. Faith schools do.

The contribution of the church to faith schools is very small indeed.

Of course I'm not aware of how all Catholic schools operate but both my children's schools teach the about other faiths, not just Catholic. My 8 year old dd went on a day trip earlier this month were she attended a mosque and learnt a lot about the religion. My 12 year old dd's is going away with her school in June to London were they are spending a weekend seeing the sights and then Monday to Friday are attending an inner city school were they will get to meet children from a variety of backgrounds and they are going to learn about the Jewish and Sikh faith. And in July the same school are sending a class of their students to my dd's school were they will spend a week with them learning about their faith.

My main objection was that my children would only be mixing with other Catholics.

Another point I forgot to mention in my previous post was how limiting faith schools are too. One of my best friends that I met in my Catholic sixth from had spent his whole life- from nursery at 2 through to A levels at 18- in a Catholic school. He says that until he was maybe 9 or 10 he didn't even understand that some people weren't Catholic and that I was the first friend he had, and mine were the first family he visited, who weren't Catholics. He had literally never been in the house of a non catholic family until he was 16!!! That's insane. If that was the story of a Muslim being that sheltered from the outside world, the media would have a field day talking about the community being closed off to the real world. I think it's frankly disgusting that my friend was put through that when he himself isn't a catholic (and certainly isn't now)- it was his mum and dad who were!

Fellout, exactly why we rejected the idea. Exactly.

I can't speak for all parents but for both my dd's at primary and secondary I chose a faith school first (the only ones in the area) and then put down two community primary and secondary schools as 2nd and 3rd choice. I'd have been disappointed fo say the least if I couldn't have sent my dd's to their first choice but I wouldn't have kicked up a stink, I'd would hVe simply sent them to the school they were offered.

If you want your kids to learn about your faith, send them to Sunday school. Superstition has no place in education.

Not saying I agree with selecting based on faith but I wonder how many vehemently anti-faith school MNers paid over the odds for a house that guaranteed admission to an excellent state school.

Jenga-why do you think you should have a wider choice of schools than a person without faith?

Not us, icy!

Oh and let me just say that at my dd's primary they regularly offer places to children who are ether CofE or are of no faith at all. In fact last year there were 50 places for reception and out of those 23 places went to children who weren't baptised at all. So you see my dd isn't just mixing with other Catholics, she's mixing with atheists, Jewish, Muslim kids, and whilst I don't pretend it's quite as diverse as an inner city London school, it certainly isn't Catholics only.

Yabu. There is no excuse for faith schools in a civilised country in the 21st Century.

I wouldn't touch any catholic school with a flipping bargepole, even if they didn't require the kids to be splashed with magic water first.

I don't think I should to be honest but if the schools are there and I feel they suit my children better than any of the community schools then surely I can't be blamed for choosing to send them there.

I think it's frankly shocking that in this day and age ANY school is a faith based school, worse that ANY of my taxes go toward something none of my children would be able to attend. It's completely prejudice and exclusive.

The fact that in this country you either have to pay or pray to get the best education makes me very angry.

I had a very limited choice of schools for my DC due to my low income and not being afford to rent near a decent school. That has nothing to do with faith. In a way, it's even worse for us. I could have got them baptised but I can't magic money out of thin air and afford the house near the naice primary.

So OP.
When you applied for schools did you only put faith schools on your list? Presumably if you hadn't got in to your nearest faith school you would have been willing to travel to the next town?

Also OP. What has faith got to do with the teaching of maths, or English, or geography, or PE ?

One would think that Christian faith schools would be looking out for disadvantaged kids. Did you know that they are allowed to put children of faith over and above Looked After and Adopted non faith children? Doesn't seem very Christian to me?

Fancy admission rules (incl faith proving) generally tend to bias against disadvantaged children whose parents don't have the organisation or time or money to jump through the required hoops (e.g. attending church every week for 2 years).

And then of course you have all the village CofE schools where village children have the choice of faith school or commute out of the village. That's not much of a choice for parents either is it?

It's a bit disingenuous to not recognise the religious privilege at play, don't you think?

No but the pervasive ethos and philosophy is a Catholic one. I don't think my children are lesser Catholics because they don't attend Catholic school-even if many others at Church do think that.

I did not want Catholicism taught as the norm in school. School and religion needs to be separate if we want out children to grow up into reasoned adults who view religion as just one facet of their lives.

YABU - taxpayers are having to pay for schools their children can't go to. It's like segregating for ethnicity or parents taste in music or any other non school related feature imo. Schools should be open to all and tolerance of others beliefs will be better if people mix more.

Ok, I'm probably going to get flamed here but....

In theory, faith schools should be abolished.

Having said that, before we moved, we lived in a fairly rough town and the nearest primary school was pretty dire, with all of the secondaries being 'requires improvement' bar the Catholic one which was outstanding. I was completely poised to play my 'Catholic Card' to get DD into the lovely Catholic primary in the middle of town. I figured that my kids will only get one shot at an education and I would just have to try and do the best for them in that respect. Selfishly, I was so relieved that we would have another option.

As I said, we rther unexpectedly nd now my kids to to our nearest state primary which happens to be.absolutely lovely, and the nearest secondary is good too. So now I can be all 'oh yes faith schools are terrible'.

I'm not sure if YABU or not, tbh.

Mainly because I don't understand why faith schools are better? What is it about them that makes people of other or no faith feel excluded and inferior because they 'have' to go elsewhere? What benefits does it offer beyond its religious ethos?

I understand that there must be a reason for at least perceived, if not actual, benefit in attending a faith school but I don't get what it is.

Genuine questions, not being provocative - I went to a secular state comprehensive and teach/have my own children in a (pretty Christian) independent school so faith state schools aren't something in my experience at all.