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?

I personally couldn't send a child of mine to a catholic school. I know of a head teacher of a catholic school who found out her husband was having an affair, she was told in no uncertain terms from catholic education service that if she were to divorce, even in those circumstances she would have to resign.

I'd rather send my kids to a good or even needs improvement school than an "outstanding" one that pedalled misogynist bullshit.

Dragons It’s a good job your friend didn’t get a job in the non-religious state school where I live where the head raped a local woman with mental health issues and his defence was that she “needed to learn”.

VaselineDion, Firstly, I'm sure you'll forgive me for not believing everything I read on the internet. Such a high proportion of LGB staff makes your school and your local school outliers. It is far from the norm.

Secondly, the Catholic faith makes no bones about its feelings on homosexually. It doesn't say an awful lot about the Catholic church if it actively preaches against homosexually, and expects it's schools to promote Catholic teaching which is openly hostile to gay people, yet it wants to employ gay people in support of its message. Or is it some kind of perverted hate the sin, not the sinner message? Either way, it's not an ethos I would want any child of mine to live by.

No matter how liberal local communities and lay Catholics may feel ( see also contraception), the hierarchy is still very, very conservative and will use their schools to entrench their power. And I suspect many people think it's all harmless Bible stories and being nice to each other because they've never had to deal with the Church (either C of E or Catholic) when they've flexed their muscles. They are in no way benign.

Notanother It’s usual for someone who “knows best” to assume information and you’re intelligent enough to update your information presumably. Having my faith and my sexuality explained to me has become the norm but as a feminist I have to sigh and explain. You are clearly seeing what you want to see to support your worldview and that is your agenda but don’t bring my sexuality and professionalism into it.

Re: ofsted. It’s fairly widely accepted that outstanding is easier to get if you have a more advantaged intake. And church schools tend to have a more advantaged intake because the people that are willing to jump through hoops to get into a good school rather than just the nearest school tend to be interested in their child’s education. A weekly attendance requirement, for example, is fairly effective at weeding out children from disordered, chaotic families.

Rafals Where’s your evidence for this? Because at my school we buy shopping for some families, have bought white goods for some and support constantly with various services.

My DS will be going to a Catholic school in August despite me being Pagan. I've spoken to the school and they basically said as long as I embrace the values it's not an issue. The values are basic good morals so I happily support them. My mum is Catholic so its not to far removed. DS knows about all religions and I am involved with my local Pride event and have many friends from the LGBT community so DS is very open. I simply like that the school is small, has good results and is close by. Speak to your children about religion, sex etc so they have a varied view of the world as Catholicism can be narrow.

My children all attend/attended a Catholic Primary school, we are not Catholic. The lesbian/gay situation has not come up (ds1 is now at secondary). They taught sex Ed in terms of it being part of a committed relationship (which I support). Yes they say prayer before lunch and haver masses for all sorts, some I attend some I don’t. I do not regret sending my children there. Ds1 was happy to say goodbye to the masses though lol.

Mine are in a nearby Catholic outstanding school. I’m atheist. The catholic teaching doesn’t bother me as i see it as a framework for teaching morals and good behaviour, nothing more. It’s a bit like Santa. At some point they’ll realise but for now it’s a nice thought and helpful. And it’s first and foremost a school to teach children maths, reading, writing etc. They don’t learn catholic maths (2 priests and 4 nuns makes 6 catholics).

JSmith99 our Catholic Primary school has nothing to do with the holy communion anymore. They used to send letters home to remind parents to sign their Catholic children up for the lessons, which take place on a Saturday. Now (last 4 years) they do not do any reminders at all, it is left solely to the church to do, to encourage Church attendance I think. The only thing that happens is that they have a mass in school that they can wear their communion outfits to.

This may vary, but the directive in our dioscese is to teach RE for 2.5 hours per week, not including assemblies, daily prayers or hymn practice. One week on Judaism, one on another religion, per year. The rest is Catholic teaching. Regular church visits, liturgies and so on. It underpins absolutely everything that happens in the school. Very rare that a child is not part of sacramental preparation in year 3, which takes up a lot of extra time. On the odd occasion that they are not, they tend to sit through all the prep anyway as there would be nothing else for them to do. So that’s all worth considering.

Also, did you know that Catholic schools do not receive the same level of government funding? The dioscese pays quite a chunk of the funding for various things, (buildings etc for one) which is, in turn, parishioner funded. So another things to bear in mind there.

It’s not about buying food though is it? Poverty and poverty of aspiration are not the same thing.

If you’ve thought about which school you want your children to go to, or how you want them educated, then you are quite likely to value education and support the school regardless of your income level.

So many different opinions.

The fact is our PRIEST IS MARRIED. We have several married priests in our diocese. They are either converted from CofE or chose to become priests after they had married and had children. The Catholic faith can no longer be picky about celibacy as they a running out of priests.

Also, my children were NOT baptised.

It's fine to set out your experiences, I am setting out mine. Just don't say that this is not true, or that it doesn't exist. It is, and it does.

Yes Older, we have married priests in our dioscese too. One convert from CofE and one who married then became a priest. Still no women yet though so obviously still a bit picky!

@OlderThanAverageforMN it does exist but it's the exception rather than the rule.

My ds1 goes to a Catholic school in y1 and has already covered Islam and Judaism in RE. I don't think LGBT issues will really come up in primary school but we have talked about it at home anyway in the context of different types of families. They say prayers several times a day and have regular mass in school.
I'm happy with it but I'm Catholic and went to Catholic school. I think opting out of religious aspects of school life would be extremely difficult. The best thing you can do is look round and ask questions.

As you’ve noted OP, it varies a lot between schools. I went to Catholic schools and had a good experience... I didn’t mind the religious side, some of the sacraments were quite fun. There were a few non-Catholics who didn’t do the sacraments or take Communion, nobody minded.

I’m sending my son to our local Catholic school when he starts (we are Catholic, so slightly different situation). I’m a single mom (never married) and feel very welcome, a gay friend of mine does likewise.

I would agree that there is a variety of catholic schools and I would guess that in a low rate of catholic's attending the level of 'observance' might change.

In my town we have 4 catholic primary's and most years they are completely filled with catholic children only. We do have plenty of choice of schools here though and so I have no problem with faith schools - as said previously I work for them but I'm actually CofE. My dc go to a non faith school but will hopefully go to the catholic secondary that I work for. I want this as we have very poor secondary's in our area and the catholic school is outstanding and our students achieve so much more.

That said, I know we are lucky to have many choices in my town and I completely understand if your only practical choice of school is a faith you and you actively have no faith that you might be upset with your children being taught with a strong religious slant.

The 'observance' of the religion is much less endorsed in see I say schools than it is in primary schools and much easier to avoid if you so wish. In this section to you are much more likely to get other religions in the student body.

Op, for what it's worth it sounds like you have a great balance. Respect the school and have develop an open relationship with your DC's to discuss what they learn, what they think and believe which ultimately is what all parents should strive for no matter what school their children go to. A good catholic school (if you can get a place) will be a great place for any child if you feel the way you do.

I was brought up with a good founding in religion as a child and admittedly I've not been as good with my DC's (I stopped regularly attending church when they were small as it got in the way of life if I'm honest) but we talk about God, Heaven, afterlife etc and I ask them what they think/believe and why. Both of mind at different times think completely differently about God but both question nicely what others might think or believe.

My experience of working in catholic schools have been amazing. I love the feeling of family, community and care that exudes from the staff, children and all involved in the school. We get so many comments from visitors how welcoming our schools are and I agree that is what I felt when I first arrived too.

Our primary Catholic school is a safe haven in an urban London area in otherwise quite a few poor schools. I hear that other schools having winter fairs instead of Christmas fairs as it is more "politically correct" and I am happy that we remain old fashioned.
You sort of expected to go for First Holy communion in Y3 (it is not a must though) so make sure this is your cup of tea.