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?

I know people who embraced all things Catholic / (one couple was C of E ) once children had finished year 7 it waned a bit , by year 13 ( they did sixth form ) they struggled to find the church any more! Its not true of all of course, but the ones i knew it was blatant. I am sure their children did have a wonderful education, but i did have to bite my tongue a lot! I can see why people do it, all state education lists of top schools have faith schools right up with grammar schools, it was ever thus, but there is also a lot of one upmanship and pretence too. Makes me sad for people who really do go to church because of their faith and continue long after the children are at uni!

No the number of Catholics has increased dramatically here ( South East) The polish and Filipino make up about 2/3 of the congregation. Business is booming

I reckon Jesuswasnt really arsed by the son of God gig until he heard Galilee RC Primary had been rated outstanding in their last Ofsted report and a bit of miracle working and disciple bothering would get the kids right to the top of the admissions list.

Why more Catholic schools? Why not another faith? **
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It is shocking that this is allowed in this day and age. Church attendance is falling despite faith schools being tax payer funded and community schools forced to hold assemblies of a broadly Christian nature. Faith has no place in education. I really wish we'd be like France and the US where church and state is separate. **
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Again, I don't agree. For. Catholic school anyway you only need to have your child baptised for your child to be high up the list unlike CofE churches were they count church attendance as a criteria. If a parent really wants their child to be baptised then that doesn't require much effort, you need to attend church for a few months, speak to a priest and choose a date that's it, trust me I'm not a perfect mother and just because I'm Catholic does not mean i have all of life together, trust me it's not.

I say more Catholic schools because a very large number of Catholics have moved in this area. Supply and demand.

jenga, that is NOT the case at all where I am.

RC schools are the strictest on admissions. You have to have your child baptised within the first 6 months of life and show regular church attendance from that time onwards (signed in an attendance book by the priest, who also has to write you a reference for school applications).

As an athiest I sent dd to a church school. Because that aside, I liked it. And having no religious criteria, she got in. Being situated on a council estate, with stats and ofsted that clearly clashed with Christian belief given it was hugely undersubscribed, the racial/ religious mix was representative of the area.

However for secondary I had only one realistic and crap option. Because bussing your kids in to the high performing secondary that admits on religious criteria is what jesus would want. Or go a bit further out, pick a below average comp or another religious criteria school.

Jesus loves everyone. Except for those who want religious entrance criteria. He thinks they are twats.

I do realise that the reason my children got there place at Catholic school is because they filled the baptised Catholic living within parish criteria but they did not get there place because me and their dad are middle class or are somehow better than the family living next door who's children didn't get a place, because we are not.

I don't agree in faith schools, I believe them to be discriminating.

For. Catholic school anyway you only need to have your child baptised for your child to be high up the list unlike CofE churches were they count church attendance as a criteria.

Not true. Many Catholic schools have strict church attendance criteria.

I think it's very difficult to discuss the unfairness of state faith schools in isolation, with regards to the education system. For example;

Faith schools damage the local community in so many ways:

• creating religious 'ghettos' and bad feeling in the local community
• prevent children from attending 'local' schools and all the associated benefits: walking to school, having local friends,
• create extra pollution and traffic by encouraging people to travel longer distances to school

These comments, posted on the thread could also refer (just take out the word religious/faith & replace it with academic) to the state selective grammar, which We live next door to. Would it be fair for our children to take two buses to the next town to reach the next available secondary school, when there is a school on our doorstep?

"Again, I don't agree. For. Catholic school anyway you only need to have your child baptised for your child to be high up the list unlike CofE churches were they count church attendance as a criteria. If a parent really wants their child to be baptised then that doesn't require much effort, you need to attend church for a few months, speak to a priest and choose a date that's it, trust me I'm not a perfect mother and just because I'm Catholic does not mean i have all of life together, trust me it's not."

But atheists wouldn't baptise their children.

And I don't think anyone was assuming anything about you from the fact you're a Catholic.

Jenga How strict the criteria is depends on where you live but my local faith primary in London required baptism before 6 months and attendance is marked in a register. The requirement was for specific churches rather than being the right flavour of Christian which is grossly unfair for parents who are religious but prefer to worship in a different building to the ones required to the school. It therefore becomes a tick box exercise rather than a faith one.

I don't understand when people criticise faith schools to you that you can't nod along to the unfairness that their child faces and acknowledge that you're very lucky to have a great school that prioritises your kids for admission purposes.

My kids go to an excellent primary/secondary and I admit that I'm very lucky to have bought a house in London in 2000 with my redundancy money from a dot com that went bust so I can live in catchment with little mortgage. It is unfair that others can't do the same so I'm not going to get angry when they point out the obvious.

The catholic schools locally have much stricter religious criteria to get in than the c of e ones.

Whatever the criteria though one which excludes children based on their parents beliefs is unfair.

You could say the same about any school though. A high flying community school that's oversubscribed could have a catchment area of only 100m, so you could say that's not fair to local children who live just outside of that. Or a school that prioritises siblings first, a parent of an only child could argue that's not fair, especially at secondary school as it's not so important to have your children at the same school as most kids of that age would make their own way there as opposed to parents driving them.

I don't love my taxes paying for the royal family, I understand that's miniscule as well. But I know there's not a lot I can do about it. What's the point in moaning. There's loads of things we can all complain about where our tax goes. But what's the point in complaining. Yanbu, just ignore the moaners.

I went to Catholic schools in Glasgow. Whilst there is no where near the same sectarian divisions there were 30 years ago, separate faith schools still cause problems here. Unlike most other places outside west central Scotland, this is intrinsically linked to football but separate faith schools continue to fuel sectarianism. Communities split on the basis of faith is a fucking nonsense in this day of age.
As a 5 year old starting school I was bemused to be sent to a completely different school from my wee pals in my street. A 5 year old certainly cannot comprehend the reasoning "because they're protestants hen".

Schools can't do much about the fact they have a small catchment though. But having a faith criteria makes that catchment much smaller for those who don't meet the faith criteria.

The siblings thing has been contentious for a while, but at least the logic behind giving siblings priority is clear.

High 5s PurpleDaisies and Rafals!

you could say it about schools that are prohibitive due to house prices.

In Bristol, an area notorious for schools, you really do have to pay or pray for a decent secondary school.

The city has more private schools per poll than anywhere else in the country bar one square mile in Kensington.

It also has a number of faith schools. The best non faith secondary has a small catchment and houses are £750,000 for a four bed.

The best results are the two faith secondaries with very restrictive and faith lead admissions.

Oh, how Christians love their privilege!

I understand that enderwoman I really do, but why should I be made to feel guilty for choosing a school that has been made available to me? Everyone has different circumstances ie a couple of streets down from me is a millionaire couple that own a gated mini mansion and they send there children to a top independent school, now I don't get angry with them for being in a more fortunate position (financially and socially) than we are, I wouldn't have the right to.

Where I live the faith v non faith secondaries are a fat 20% pass rate at GCSE.

And here come the whatabouterers!

"Never mind my privilege-go and sort out theirs"