To consider a Catholic primary school?

[MrsMuffins]

DH and I are not religious, however our nearest primary is Catholic and Outstanding. It also has space, so we would probably get in regardless of the fact that we don’t attend church. However, we would have some concerns - things like the amount of religion in the curriculum, how they teach sex ed and relationships, attitudes (amongst staff and parents) towards LGBTQ issues, etc. Would this be an issue? Would we feel part of the school community as non-churchgoers?

@Backinthebox for some reason ‘more emphasis on Mary’ made me smile! We have choices of non-denominational schools locally, but the good ones are oversubscribed, and the one that has space didn’t even meet floor standards this year.

Or perhaps it was just my schools, who knows? I really don't approve of Faith schools but I can understand non religious parents sending their children there. There are far fewer options available if you aren't religious.

I have to add that only about 5 in each class at our local school come from practicing catholic families. The rest are agnostic or other religions. They wouldn't have enough students if they didn't allow non Catholics in !!

I’m in the west of Scotland too and Catholic/Protestant can be more “tribal” than religious here. I bet me and my non Catholic kids have been to more Catholic masses than some of the families who and their kids to RC schools and profess to be “Catholic”.

@NottonightJosepheen pretty sure it’s not exploitative to send my child to a taxpayer-funded school that is open to everyone?!! Are you being ‘protective of your faith’ as well? I’m definitely not scared of what they might teach my son, as we have a loving and open home where we can speak freely, and therefore I would be happy that I would have a good idea of what he was being taught, and would be able to offer a balanced view. Having a faith does not give you an excuse to be vile and abusive. I’m not sure the two of you are doing much to promote Catholicism’s virtues

If you’re going to object to religion and Catholic ethos being taught at a Catholic school then please don’t send your children there. My children go to a hugely oversubscribed Catholic school, where attending Mass is imperative. All the pupils and parents take their religion very seriously.

As I said, there are parts of the UK where there are very few or no non-religious schools so the only choices are one religion or another. As a taxpayer I don’t feel it is unreasonable to be expect to be able to send my children to a local school without having to express a lifelong commitment to a particular religion.

MrsMuffins Please send you DC to a Catholic school, they will have a lovely time and an excellent education. I have never come across a mrsmole before, IME Catholic schools are welcoming and generous and multi-denominational.

I agree that it can be very tribal here which is ridiculous to say the least.

Sorry I haven’t read the ft but my dd goes to catholic school. In her class there are only three catholics that took holy communion so the rest of the people aren’t catholic.
We are atheists and in my opinion it has given my daughter a solid start to school life. Yes it is religious and they go to mass etc but the values taught are ultimately values that I respect and want my daughter to abide by too.
They do pray four times a day and the school itself has a lot of religious ‘signs’ around but ultimately her education has been excellent and I am happy with the way she is taught. (It is not a great school in terms of ofstead and is she on a council estate) so much so that I am in the process of deciding whether to send her to a catholic secondary school where as I would never have entertained the idea before!

Dd is in an outstanding Catholic primary school. Prayers, hymn singing etc are just at a weekly assembly. In RE they learn about all religions and sex education is in years 5&6 and follows government guidelines, which surely all schools do. We don't regularly go to church and this has never been an issue though dd was christened and I doubt she would have got a place in the school if she had not been. She definitely would not get a place in secondary without being christened a Catholic as this is the primary requirement, it is rated outstanding and is oversubscribed.

I'm astounded though that a school rated as outstanding and is 'the best for miles' is undersubscribed

@Theunreasonableone what I’m hearing here is that there is quite a variety of Catholic schools, with some being more overtly religious than others. For sure we wouldn’t fit in with a school where all the parents take their religion very seriously, but it may be that the local primary is more diverse in intake, in which case I would consider it as an option.

No, it is not up to you to say what bits of a Catholic education may be taught to your children if you send them to a Catholic school!

Are you a bit dim!?

It is actually. Parents have the right by law to remove their child from RE and collective worship if they wish regardless of the denomination of the school. They can also pick and chose which bits they will allow their child to attend. Any school that refused to allow parents to do this would be breaking the law. Any school that asked a parent to remove their child because of this would be breaking the law twice, because they’d likely be breaking the admissions code too.

@XiCi we do have quite a few primaries locally, but the good ones are massively oversubscribed, and the ones that have spaces are generall doing pretty poorly. It is a tiny Catholic school, I don’t think the catholic religion is hugely popular in our area - which may suggest something about how devout the school is I guess.

My local Catholic secondary has a really inclusive ethos, great pastoral care and has a strong presence at Pride events, so I would look at the school on its own merits rather than making assumptions. It might be great, it might not suit you at all, but the only way you'll know is you have a look round and ask questions.

Re Holy Communion & Confirmation, these are taught in the Parish Church in after school classes. Many RC schools have only 1 Parish church now.
I live in a particularly RC part of England and IME it is mandatory to be asked for Proof of Baptism at both Primary & Secondary level.
I think you probably should look elsewhere for a Primary school tbh.

TBH, while I find the insistence at the DC’s school on marriage and children in that order a bit silly (half the class have parents who weren’t married at the time of the birth of their first child and many parents have never bothered) and guarantees a lot of eye rolling from pupils, I’m actually rather relieved that complicated social
issues are not tackled at school.

what I’m hearing here is that there is quite a variety of Catholic schools, with some being more overtly religious than others. For sure we wouldn’t fit in with a school where all the parents take their religion very seriously, but it may be that the local primary is more diverse in intake, in which case I would consider it as an option.

That seems to be true. Our school is next to the Church. The Priest is in every day. The children pray multiple times a day and there is Mass at the beginning and end of every term. The school has a large community of Irish, Italian, Polish and African families who take their religion extremely seriously. Families are expected to attend Mass every week and only children baptised by the Priest and with parents attending Mass weekly are allowed to attend the school. Sex Ed is taught but with strong guidelines from the Diocese, which parents are made aware of.

Our priest was married with children. He had a t-shirt which said "Look busy, Jesus is coming". I think I was very lucky with our Catholic school being quite progressive.

SoSaidTheHorse
I'm in Glasgow. Personally I've never heard of any child who wasn't Catholic attending a Catholic school. You must provide a baptism certificate when you register your child for school.

I think this whole thread just demonstrates how diverse ALL schools can be, faith or otherwise, and how important it is to visit them and see if you like the feel and the ethos, the teachers and the head.

@OlderThanAverageforMN yes totally agree, which is why we’re even considering a catholic school in the first place, I don’t want to rule it out just because it’s a religion I don’t follow when it looks like a fantastic school. Also - are catholic priests allowed to be married?! Thought that was only CofE?