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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To find this unfair

245 replies

user1496701154 · 26/03/2019 23:45

to find religious schools applications unfair. Saying you have to be practicing that religion. I can respect it but you have to be practicing. To apply I find it to be discriminationing

OP posts:
DGRossetti · 27/03/2019 09:39

Surely you can just identify as a member of that religion ? After all, only God can judge you ?

FullOfJellyBeans · 27/03/2019 09:40

My children are being raised catholic so why would I send them to a Muslim or Jewish taught school? It makes no sense. There are plenty of non faith schools around.

The point is that the existence of the jewish musli or catholic school which my child is not allowed to attend means there is ones less school to choose from that my child can attend. This is 100% unacceptable. Being part of an organised religion is a personal choice which should not entitle you to a greater choice of schools. It is also important that children who are being brought up catholic/jewish/muslim have a chance to interact with the wider community. The state should have no part in segregating children according to religion. All children should be taught about all religions at school.

KateTTC123 · 27/03/2019 09:41

I don't think faith schools should exist full stop. Education and religion should be kept separate. I say this as a teacher in a mainstream school.

FullOfJellyBeans · 27/03/2019 09:42

So basically you are of the opinion that religious schools shouldn't exist they should really be for everyone?

Why are you being deliberately dense. YES everybody is saying that the state should not fund religious schools. They are very obviously discriminatory and research has shown (unsurprisingly) that they increase divisions in the community. No one (apart from you apparently) is struggling to understand what a religious school is. They disagree with it existing.

DoneLikeAKipper · 27/03/2019 09:43

Why would you move to an area when you know the majority are faith schools?

I’ve lived in my area long before my children were even thought of. Though the situation now has actually made me long for my home county for the very first time - absolutely no religious schools to even contemplate. As it should be.

It pisses me off people send their kids to faith schools and then moan their children are being taught something they don't like! Fuck off!

Children shouldn’t be taught about religion in schools. You want to follow Christian dogma, go ahead - in your church of choice. Don’t bring it into schools, it has no place there, and certainly not one where it alienates a certain percentage of children. You want a school that follows your religion? Either find a private one or homeschool, public schools should be for everyone with zero religious influence. It shouldn’t put parents of different/no faith in an difficult position when it comes to sending their children to school.

I won’t tell you to fuck off. Faith schools can though.

JacquesHammer · 27/03/2019 09:44

So basically you are of the opinion that religious schools shouldn't exist they should really be for everyone?

Nope, I think any school that applies a selection criteria such as faith should not receive any state funding. So by all means they can exist, but they should be privately funded.

MrsTerryPratchett · 27/03/2019 09:45

I think school is not place for religion. But if people have to have their children educated in a religious environment, it shouldn't be discriminatory and funded by people who can't use the schools nearest them because they discriminate based on a protected characteristic.

Seems really very simple to me.

DoneLikeAKipper · 27/03/2019 09:47

My children are being raised catholic so why would I send them to a Muslim or Jewish taught school?

Why should any of those faiths dictate a school, that’s what your place of worship is for.

It’s a standard curriculum education in a school that at certain points delivers a faith message.

And that is wrong. Schools are for facts, not faith and beliefs.

FullOfJellyBeans · 27/03/2019 09:50

Why would you move to an area when you know the majority are faith schools?

So you're saying that entire areas of the UK should be off limits to non-religious parents? Are you insane?

DGRossetti · 27/03/2019 09:52

What happens to people who believe in God, but no single religion. Seems a bit discriminatory to me ...

Happyspud · 27/03/2019 09:55

Donelikeakipper, I agree with you. I was just commenting to say that it’s pretty ignorable as a part of the overall education in a faith school.

DoneLikeAKipper · 27/03/2019 10:02

Happyspud sorry if it came over as if I was having a go! I thought you were saying all schools have to have some Christian worship, which I’m sure they do. It’s just so bloody ridiculous in this age.

Happyspud · 27/03/2019 10:09

I’d be happy for no Christian worship at all! It would be possible to have general messages on morals and values without any God or religious setting at all. Didn’t think you were having a go, just wanted to clarify I was pointing out it wasn’t a ‘religious based education’ but a perfectly standard education, with some separate religious classes and services. It’s not like they do maths like ‘if you had one priests and they brought Christ into the life of 10 families of four, how many believers would you have’ and the like.

Acis · 27/03/2019 10:22

Bloody hell, we are lucky to live in a free country where you have the CHOICE to send your kid to a non-faith school of your choosing, or a faith one.

How is that a choice, thedisorganisedmum, when your child can't get into the faith school unless you tick the right faith boxes?

JacquesHammer · 27/03/2019 10:23

It’s not like they do maths like ‘if you had one priests and they brought Christ into the life of 10 families of four, how many believers would you have’ and the like

Depending on the "zealousness" of the head it can have far-reaching consuquences e.g. not allowing Harry Potter/Worst Witch books to be read, perusing the readin scheme and removing books with magic in etc etc

Trethew · 27/03/2019 10:25

In Cornwall I looked for a nursery school for my eldest. The ONLY state-funded nursery school within 18 miles was a C of E school with a rigorous selection procedure in flavour of practising families.

Please explain how my child’s access to a state-funded facility was not negatively discriminatory on the basis of his religion (in this case lack of it)

thedisorganisedmum · 27/03/2019 10:25

SOME schools are faith-school, and they have a place in this country. You don't like the religious element, then chose a non-faith school!

If I look at the map of schools on my council website, the faith schools are not shown: the catchment school given - whatever address you enter - is always a non-faith school.
To apply, I can of course chose a faith school in the list.

So not only is no one discriminated against, just ignore the faith school and look at your existing catchment!, but these faith schools take kids and free space in my non faith schools. Everybody is winning.

I appreciate that not all counties present things that way, but you don't like faith school, then just ignore them and focus on the others. You are not being discriminated. It's a ridiculous idea.

It comes down to most faith schools having excellent results, and people being jealous. If the religious schools had the worst results, these threads would not exist. They do accept non-religious kids anyway, have at least a set amount of them ,so double non-issue.

JacquesHammer · 27/03/2019 10:27

we are lucky to live in a free country where you have the CHOICE to send your kid to a non-faith school of your choosing, or a faith one

Hah, we don't have a "choice" - we can express a preference.

thedisorganisedmum · 27/03/2019 10:29

Acis
the choice is to practice a religion and have a school offering education and your set values, or not having a religion and not going to a faith school. You can be an atheist, a jew, a christian or a muslim, there are school respecting your individual values.

And yes, some people will leave nearer to a faith school than a non-faith one. Do you suggest segregating people by faith and divide towns into faith quarters to prevent that?
(that would be a disaster btw!)

thedisorganisedmum · 27/03/2019 10:30

*people will LIVE not leave Blush

FrenchJunebug · 27/03/2019 11:00

all faith schools?! Really?! my son goes to a COE school and the intake is half practicing families half others based on distance. Do your homework.

DoneLikeAKipper · 27/03/2019 11:24

So not only is no one discriminated against, just ignore the faith school and look at your existing catchment!, but these faith schools take kids and free space in my non faith schools. Everybody is winning.

My existing catchment ‘choices’ shouldn’t be lowered due to religious preferences. If a CoE family has a better ‘choice’ than my atheist one, then my child is at a disadvantage purely from our perfectly legitimate lifestyle. My children are legally required to have an education, yet are also subjected to a possible longer commute from a young age because we’re atheist - that’s discrimination. It doesn’t free up that much room in my local area either - there is a high population of Sikh and Muslim families who also are also probably not after a Christian based education.

Even if the local religious school would take them in, why on earth would I want them to be taught in an institution that actively pushes a religion? If I wanted them to learn about how ‘Jesus does for them’ or go to mass, I’d take them myself. Yet if all the local non-denominated schools are full, I’m left with an even more difficult decision. Parents and children should not be put in that position over a faith that has no place in education to begin with.

AllMYSmellySocks · 27/03/2019 11:25

all faith schools?! Really?! my son goes to a COE school and the intake is half practicing families half others based on distance. Do your homework.

This doesn't convince me at all. Sounds like COE children get an advantage in getting into the school and why should the non COE families have to send their child to a school where there will be religious worship? And if they don't send them there they have less choice in school compared to COE families (or no choice at all in some cases - especially for mid-year applications). How is that fair?

thedisorganisedmum · 27/03/2019 11:32

Parents and children should not be put in that position over a faith that has no place in education to begin with.

that's your opinion, why should you impose it on others?
Some people want a religious aspect, others don't, why should one side win? We are lucky we have the CHOICE.

your catchment choice is not lowered by faith schools. Remove the faith schools and your choice is still the same.

Someone else will complain that their commute is longer because the nearest faith school is further.

If you don't like your choice, move. I am not even being sarcastic, I did - like most parents here, we specifically move to be in the right catchment, within the right distance for us.

Some families are given a place in a faith school when they turn up in the middle of the year because that's the only place available there is. Now they could complain and ask for a different one, because that takes away their choice.
You can't complain because the nearest building from you is a faith school you don't agree with. No one is forcing you to apply there.

TeaForDad · 27/03/2019 11:34

There shouldn't be any state or charity status religious schools.

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