To think why moan about sending your child to a faith school?

[farmerswifey33]

We are lucky in that where we live schools are undersubscribed and you have a very good choice of 3 primary schools 2 of which are faith (CofE) and the other isn’t.
We have so many parents at the school who moan about the fact it’s too goddy 🙄 or that there is a nativity play as they don’t believe. Worst thing I think is how they tell their children this who then tell my children they are stupid for believing in god and Jesus!
I just wonder why they would send their children here because they DO have a choice! I don’t get it?

Actually I retract that last bit. They should be able to be disgruntled as they like

Non-religious families are strongly discriminated against in the allocating of school places. There is no schools for them to apply for and they expected to take whatever they are given at the expense of religious families.

It can only be fair for faith schools to select by parents' religious observance if non- faith schools are allowed to put religious families last.

That is, if you'd qualify in a high category for the church school, you go to the bottom of the queue for the community school. That would redress the balance a little.

Our two nearest schools are non-faith and non-academy - but in accordance with government policy they're both in the early stages of academisation. A local secondary school has been taken over by the CofE for no compelling reason (just £££).

If there’s a choice of schools then there’s a bit of yabu. If you’re in our position, where the only village school is a c of e one and any other schools are 30 mins away, then that school’s balance should really be as village school first, faith school second. That is the balance at DD’s school which we’re happy enough with. Not too much of the happy clappy stuff, mostly the benign and kindly Christian teachings which don’t hurt anyone.

Could be worse, try being a non-religious parent in Ireland where 90+% of schools are Catholic and can discriminate based on religion in their admissions criteria. There are parts of the country where it's over an hour's drive to any non-RC school at all.

' privileged and unaware'?
I don't think so.lots and lots, hundreds of thousands of people move every year.

Hundreds and thousands of people go on holiday every year, but you'd have to be twatty and ignorant to think that meant that ANYONE could afford it...

Yes, lots of people are lucky enough to be able to move house when they want. Lots of people aren't though, so fuck off with your myopic view of reality.

Most people want to send their child to their most local school as long as it’s a good one. They want the opportunity to walk their child to school when they can and their child be a part of the local community. If their nearest school is a faith school then so be it. Doesn’t mean they have to like he faith bit.

I wonder how people would feel if their childrens school got a new headteacher who believed there were fairies at the bottom of the garden? And started teaching that to their children as fact?

We are not talking about a secular school suddenly becoming a faith school with a new headteacher. We are talking about parents willingly choosing a faith school for their children, and then moaning about the faith and religious element.

It really is time that we abolished state funding for faith schools. Religion doctrine taught as fact has absolutely no place in education. All children should be free from state funded indoctrination.

The fact that a collective act of worship is mandatory in schools is completely out of step with an increasingly secular society. If you want your children to learn about religion teach them yourself or take them to a place of worship.

Recent studies have suggested that many faith schools used their exemption from Section 85 of the Equality Act 2010 as an excuse to turn away children from low income families and hence artificially inflate their exam results. A vicious circle which is pretty cynical when you think about it.

We are not talking about a secular school suddenly becoming a faith school with a new headteacher.

Actually that's exactly what happened a few miles from us. I can't believe nobody kicked up a stink.

My daughter goes to a CofE school. Of the three in my area all are CofE; one was a hell no way school for various reasons, and one didn't offer the after school i needed for work. So i applied for & got this one.

It's a lovely school, they are doing great with her. Do I wish I could have sent her to a secular one? Hell yes. Do I moan about the 'god stuff' when she comes home chattering about it? You bet i do. Unfortunately sometimes you have to what you have to do

I think it's pretty poor when the religious parents have a better choice of schools than non-believers, considering that they're in the minority.

Whoops posted too soon...

It’s insane that religion is a dominant factor in decided where a child receives their education in a country where less than 50% of the population identify with a religion. It’s even more insane that there are less choices in educational establishments for the more than 50% of the population that choose not to practice religion.

Gosh I really am having grammar, spelling and posting fails today. I went to a community school, maybe I should’ve gone for a faith one their education is obviously far superior, that’s why there’s so bloody many of them

MrsHathaway that would certainly be one way to go about it but quite frankly, religion shouldn’t be a factor full stop

"so fuck off with your myopic view of reality."

By suggesting that MOST people could eventually move, within say the 7 years of primary, if they were unhappy with it he School.

Ok then!!

I think there are a lot of parents who just want their kids to go to a good school, and get frustrated about the fact that the faith school sometimes is the only good one in their area (because of the middle class intake).

The whole thing sucks.

It also annoys me that schools focus so much of the Christian aspect of Christmas

Ha! I've heard it all now

Some people just love to whine and bitch about something, so many are desperate to be offended. If your child is getting a good education surely that’s the main thing?

And yes at our school we have had parents withdraw their children from the nativity play. They were not children from other faiths they were children from atheist families. Poor kids missing out on the Christmas play because their selfish parents are desperate to make a point.

What are you supposed to do if there's no option? As others have said, if there's 2 out of 3 schools CofE then it's perfectly possible that there are more kids of atheist parents than there are places at the non CofE school. And the church schools get government funding for those places on condition that they provide places for non CofE kids so it's not like they're just some optional extra on top of the state system.

We're in a similar situation with our kids here in Germany going to a Catholic kindergarten (there is one non religious Forest Kindergarten in our town but it's massively oversubscribed) and we were happy enough to take part, bake cakes for the church fundraisers and all that gubbins, but if my kid comes to me and says is it true that Jesus can hear me if I pray, I'm not going to lie and say yes when I think no. I've told them that the people in the KG think that Jesus was the son of God and all that, and that we think he was just a nice man with good ideas who was scary to some people because he didn't care about money or being important and they didn't understand that. That's the best I can do.

It was pretty cool though when we went camping with the kids, we had some candles going after dinner and it was dark and we're all sitting round and suddenly they start coming with all these "wishes". "I wish that me and my sister and mummy and daddy would always be happy and always be good friends" and all this stuff. Blooming Catholics (I'm a Church of Scotland atheist ), you light one candle and they go all mushy on you...

My dc school is Catholic it's old and quite small and I favoured this over the non religious modern school across the street from me as I felt it has more of a community about it and my dc wouldn't get lost among the masses, I'm not remotely religious and neither is she and doubt she will be as at the moment she is weirded out by the prayers.

It's decorated with crosses and statues everywhere with morning prayers everyday.
I won't complain, it exists and I made the choice to send her there if I didn't like it I would try to move her.

What are you supposed to do if there's no option?

What about doing what most of us have done, thinking about it and organising yourself when you became pregnant? Just a thought...
You have a good 4 years to think about schools, and most people I know had to plan from the day that line turned blue (or pink they really should make it green before the feminists kick a fuss )

If you don't want to relocate, don't moan or start your own school. It's not simple, but most of us had to do it!

I would just like the option of a completely non faith school. I have no issue with my DD being taught about the different religions and I will be raising her to respect people's beliefs BUT I will also be raising her to ask questions and to seek evidence. I would much rather that she went to a school where religion and god were not taught as indisputable fact. When the time comes for school I will apply to the ones in my area but I would honestly rather she didn't take a place in a faith school, if that means a child of that faith is deprived of it.

Unfortunately many atheists are as evangelist with their non-belief as some religious sects can be with their belief. They denigrate believers at every opportunity, and encourage their children to do the same.

You have a good 4 years to think about schools, and most people I know had to plan from the day that line turned blue

Circumstances change. I keep banging on about this but a school near us changed from LA to CofE with actually very little notice in the grand scheme of things.

We chose this house in 2010 when pfb was just over 2yo not least because it's in catchment for the excellent school he has been attending since 2012. When they had a change of HT, the amount of "God" in school changed dramatically. Now, we're lucky that it was still within our comfort zone, but it could easily not have been. Although it is not a church school there's a lot more God there could be within current requirements/guidelines.

My son goes to an Outstanding CofE school. The God but doesn't bother me but for some reason the Jesus bit does.

I'm trying to let it wash over me as I love the school otherwise and I did have a choice to send my son elsewhere and chose not to.

FWIW I don't think it's unreasonable to think that a school is 90% brilliant and better than every other school you might have chosen ... and complain (constructively) about the 10%.