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?

If the school is undersubscribed and they have no problem with you not being Catholic then no. But the curriculum will be Catholic...

Dcs go to a catholic school. The ofsted report is outstanding. It wasn’t my first choice- but I didn’t get my local non-faith school. I was born a catholic but don’t really buy into the religion and didn’t raise dcs to believe in God. I’ve brought my dcs up to respect same sex marriage etc- we have close friends who are in same sex marriages with children etc. The school doesn’t seem to be overly religious- but then I went to catholic schools so I’m used to it all. The ethos appears to be very inclusive and respectful of everyone.
However now I’m in the catholic hamster wheel I have done first holy communion and am considering catholic secondary schools.

If you are happy for your DC to participate in prayers, hymn practice, attend masses during school time, have assembly based on some references or teaching from the bible then go ahead. If you think this might not fit well with your own beliefs and family life then don’t. Also as PPs have said please do not do this and then moan about a Catholic school actually being Catholic because that is the whole point.

NottonightJosepheen - secular education is not a panacea.

All education is an opportunity, by definition.

It can be confusing for young children when the school present religious beliefs as fact, if their parents beliefs are different. I would suggest you ask for a meeting with the HT to discuss, or try and find a parent with a DC at the school to talk to.

Even if you go to a non-religious school, some teachers will teach your child some religious 'facts' that you don't believe in.

As long as you are prepared to be respectful of any religious aspects, you should go if it is a good school. It is better for children to be aware that people have different beliefs.

I doubt that you would be forced to go to services.

I went to a catholic school. My family are practicing anglicans. I'm so glad that I was given a catholic education and have been a catholic convert for 15 years. Best thing I ever did!

I took DD2 out of the local primary school at the end of P5 (Scotland) and sent her to the local Catholic school. The local school was failing her dreadfully. Her best friend went to the Catholic school, plus I knew the headmistress. It was a small school and it was the best thing I have ever done for DD2. That said, we are religious, although I am not personally a Catholic. DD2 came to me and asked if she could be confirmed as a Catholic. I had no hesitation in agreeing. It was interesting for me to learn about the difference between my CoS faith and the Catholics and it was great for DD2.

However, if you are not a believer and don't want to take the chance that one of your children will decide that they believe, even if you don't, then don't send them to a Catholic school.

We will be sending our children to a catholic school, it’s the best school around and feeds into an outstanding high school (the same one my husband and I attended). We aren’t at all religious although we are both christended and went to catholic schools. We won’t be attending church when we send our children as we don’t believe but we will christen them to bump them up the entrance criteria. If it gets my children a brilliant education I’m happy for them to say the odd prayer.

I don’t agree with everything that is taught and how it is taught as fact but as long as we can teach them at home what is fairytale and what is fact I don’t mind. You do risk not being in the clique not attending church of course, but to be honest it’s not something that interests us, our weekends are busy as it is so even if we wanted to we couldn’t go to church and join in all the community stuff.

In terms of sex ed when I was at primary school we only covered puberty, they split the boys and girls up, told the boys about male puberty and girls about girls that’s as far as primary sex Ed went. High school it was covered in biology all very scientific and factual. In RE they did teach contraception but it was rather amusing how the teacher kept reminding us that we wouldn’t need contraception as we’d only have sex inside of marriage. Lbgt wasn’t something that was even mentioned, but it was 20 years ago so a different time, it might be different now?

If it’s a good school and you can put up with a bit of religion I’d chose that school.

My dd is at a catholic primary, it’s round the corner from our house. I was going to discount it but there happened to be an open day when I was free and I loved the feel of the school and was confident it would suit my daughter. I believe it is a requirement in catholic schools for Catholicism to take up 10% of the teaching time, but the head explained how this was interwoven with the curriculum so they weren’t just getting less time for maths etc. I’m happy with the school, dd is in Y1 and aside from wanting to read about “the first Christmas” all year round and occasionally drawing crosses, she doesn’t seem to have been overly influenced by it (and it wouldn’t concern me too much in any case). My biggest issue with the catholic school system is that certain posts (the head) must be catholic (obviously!) which narrows the available pool of talent considerably.

@LittleCandle that’s definitely something we need to think hard about - I’m not sure how I’d feel if DS came home with a strong Catholic faith! I have always been keen that he will find his own path, and if that encompasses religion then so be it, and I think I would feel uncomfortable if this were significantly influenced by a church education. I’d envisioned that he would be openly questioning and able to see a balanced view, and I think I would struggle with him having a strong belief in all aspects of the Catholic faith.

I teach in a Catholic Secondary (I'm not religious at all!) and whilst I understand you are talking about primary I thought I would offer my view as I was concerned as you OP in terms of how 'catholic' it was going to be my DH thought I would be struck down by lightning within a week

However, to put your mind at ease our students are about 30% catholic, 30% muslim and the rest non religious. Students do have to join in the school prayer in the morning and at the end of the day, all students have to attend a once a term mass and respect the catholic ethos. However RE lessons cover all religions and there is no 'this is the only way of life and no other religion exists' and there is a clear view of respecting all choices, way of life.

We have openly LGBT staff members, sex education is taught (including contraception), the only actual Catholic thing that I don't agree with is the charities we are allowed to support (can't raise money for charities that provide condoms for example)

If you have issues don’t send them. All the catholic feeders to the secondary I work in pray at least 2x a day, have mass, RE is a big part of the syllabus. You wouldn’t be able to opt out as part of being there is engaging in this. They don’t however criticise lgbt etc in any way that I’ve ever heard. In catholic schools (at least where I am) sex Ed is not taught. We teach GCSE topics of contraception but it is never taught other than this. They are briefly taught about STIs but never how to prevent them as contraception is not allowed. Primaries don’t teach it at all in my area. It does lead to some interesting conversations in year 7 reproduction unit.

As you can see by the variety of responses catholic schools vary greatly. Is there anyway you could speak to parents or perhaps the head about how things are done at the school?
I'm catholic and I'm raising my kids catholic at a catholic school some things that happen at my school are-
No one is admitted without being baptised you must provide baptism certificate when you apply
Prayers are first thing in the morning, before and after meals and at the end of the day
Mass every few weeks
First holy communion and first forgiveness are prepared for at school and take up a large part of year 3
Sex Ed is taught in accordance with the catholic faith anything that crops up such as birth control and they won't say it's not allowed but will refer them to parents
Our school admit a small amount of non catholics maybe one or two per class but it's a massively over subscribed.
Church plays a part but not everyone is there all the time.
I've never heard of anyone opting out of RE they would spend a lot of time out of class!
RE is most days with collective worship every morning.

If I wouldn't send my child to our school if I wasn't catholic or prepared to convert, it would be pointless.

I think it’s virtually inevitable that he might end up with some sort of temporary ‘belief’ system in the early primary years. If you’re teaching him something different at home, he’ll likely lose some of the stuff he’s picked up at school.

I went to a catholic school, I can count on one hand how many people in the school were actually religious!

I don't think that it is moral to send your child to a Catholic school if you are not even Christian.

Do not underestimate how ruthless the Church (and I mean both C of E and Catholic) will be to protect their grip on education. No matter how fluffy a naice village school may seem, all Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, the Catholic ethos means they won’t teach tolerance of LGB issues, won’t talk about abortion, and won’t consider women equal to men.

The grip religion has over education in this country is a disgrace. If you want a laugh, go and read the DfE’s Memorandum of Understanding between the Catholic and CofE schools with regards to academisation. It is absolutely all about maintaining the church stranglehold over school property and teaching, and school improvement comes a long way down the list.

I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have another option (and there are many situations where there aren’t other practical options).

My DC attend a catholic school.

They pray 4 times a day and learn one aspect of Catholicism in depth every week. They role play, dress up and are encouraged to say their own prayers. God is very entrenched in life at the school. Which is great as far as I’m concerned.

Catholic schools are are inspected by their diocese to endure God is firmly at the heart of the school too.

Notanotherjaffacake Your view of Catholic schools is ill-informed or outdated. As a teacher with many Catholic teacher friends, many of whom are openly gay, you are casting aspersions.

I don't think that it is moral to send your child to a Catholic school if you are not even Christian.

I’m not sure it’s entirely moral to take almost all your funding from the taxpayer and then essentially exclude people from the school for being the wrong faith tbh. I know the history of why the schools are affiliated to a religion and why it’s difficult to change that, but at least theCofE are moving in the right direction with starting to reduce faith criteria in the admissions process.