Church of England schools

[ADayGivingMeHope]

Sorry it's not an AIBU,
Just hoping for some replies here!

Does a school being a C of E school make a difference these days to how the school is run?

Thank-you.

I love my school
We are lucky but the culture is very very good 😊

The CofE primary which my children tended was shunned by the middle class mummies because we took children from the catchment area which included an area of significant social deprivation. We also had a unit for disabled children. Our SATS scores were a bit rubbish but our value added was great. Didn't stop the aspirational parents rejecting us in droves. Not all C of ESchools are 'on you knees avoid the fees.' Many are full of local kids or Muslim kids as the parents like the ethos.

OP you need to go visit to find out what sort your school is.

Again, my anecdata. Have taught in two CofE schools. Current one is non-selective. Has daily act of collective worship-which all schools need to do whether faith or not. Current school is very Christian but also very accepting of the Children of other faiths and none. We have school values instead of British Values, friendship, belonging, community,love etc...much more accessible. Our catchment straddles an interesting mix of communities.....and we don't teach Creationism. I was raised Jewish but follow a different faith now so it's all rather amusing to.my friends.

They vary wildly, as you will be gathering. I've systematically avoided them for years (atheist) but one of the DCs is at one now. Religious affiliation not part of the admissions process. RE just the fairly standard comparative religion stuff, a bit of lip service in assembly to prayer (or just 'turning our minds to') and church-based service at Christmas and Easter. Nothing more than I had at my own secular school as a child. The school was recently inspected by the diocese and it was mildly hilarious how much pretending they had to do regarding a quiet room for prayer, extra hymns in assembly, etc (for one day, now reversed). The key thing is church funding, which all helps at a time when schools are parlously underfunded. You obviously have to research the particular school in question, OP. No one here can really relace that fact-finding mission for you.

My son is due to attend a c of e school in september. I'm not religious at all, my wife was raised in the church but doesn't attend. The reason we picked the school was that it had a great atmosphere, confident children and in common with all church schools that we had seen, better equipment. I have concerns that religion will play too big a part of their syllabus. At the moment it does not appear so but I guess a lot depends upon the head teacher. It annoys me slightly that I feel I have to turn to a church aided school in order to get the best available education for my child but I feel I have no choice. Anyone else in the same boat?

The c of e school my children attend has a multifaith and multiethnic intake. I happen to believe the teachings of Christianity are true however the school does not force religion on the children and teaches other faiths which is great too.

Mine go to CoE which I think is probably majortity Muslim anyway. Son says they pray in assembly and it's quite Jesussy but he's not fussed. He doesn't believe, just gets on with it.

i don't think they do selection based on faith for c of e primary??? we are muslim and when i applied for ds 1 the application never mentioned faith at all! it just means they have ties with the church. that's fine with me. he will learn our religion at home. our local primary goes to church for the usual things, harvest, easter and xmas. but thats it. school is for education and i don't think a school's identity should be based around any religion apart from teaching about all religions in religious studies. saying that it doesn't bother me that it's c of e and it's a nice school

Reasons you'd know my dc's school is CofE:

• a prayer tree where the children can attach questions or worries they have for God
• a few crosses on the wall
• a garden of reflection outside for quiet times
• a comfy reflective corner in each classroom
• some pictures of biblical scenes in the hall
• visits to the local church at relevant times of year (Christmas, Easter, etc)
• most importantly, a well used and well stressed set of school values which are based on Christian values but actually are just very human imo: friendship, trust, forgiveness, love, hope. These are the basis of behaviour rules in the school and seem to work very well (even Ofsted thinks so 😜)

Oh, and faith is no longer an admission criteria (not that it ever needed to be as it is not in an area where there is ever oversubsciption problems)

In this county a large number of primaries are CofE. Our local (not very good or popular) Cof E is more secular than a lot of non Cof E schools. You can't make a blanket judgement. Each school is different.
The C of E secondary in the county (which two of my children went to) is very Christian though, and pretty middle class.

Most people do not realise there are C of E Aided and C of E Controlled schools. Controlled ones are less likely to have religion as a selection criteria. They may have a close link to the church but teach the agreed RE syllabus and have a daily act of worship. The latter two happen in all state schools.

Aided schools are run by the church and employ their own staff. The school premises are owned by the church but the budget is not funded by the church unless it is a capital Project. They often select by religion and have very close links with the church.

You need to see what type of C of E schools you have. If there are lots of them, they may select by catchment. They could have quite significant differences in how the school runs depending upon how they interpret their religious character.