For considering sending our DS to a CofE school even though we're Jewish?

[Mariagatzs12]

Our local authority schools are in need of improvement but the CofE one has consistently been outstanding. I don't even know if they'd accept our DS as I'm a practicing Jew. Would he feel very out of place? My DD didn't like singing hymns (and it wasn't a CofE school) but they'd let her not take part in any of those celebrations.

I went to RC schools and my fellow pupils were all faiths and no faith. It wasn't a big deal.

Our local faith secondary reserves open places for children of no faith/ non-Christian faith.

If the admissions criteria allow it, I think it's fine.

As far as I know, lots of Jewish children go to Christian schools. I remember when my son was at school that was the case - Muslims and Hindus too and even when I was at school there were Jewish girls. They don't have to take part in any worship but most faith schools don't do hard sell religion nowadays anyway.

Just apply for the best school in your area and see what happens.

It very much depends on the school and how much religion plays a part of the daily timetable. Some schools are very light touch, others less so.

You can choose to withdraw from worship - but that may include things like carol concerts, Christmas productions etc. Would you/your DS be ok with him not being part of this?

In terms of whether you’d get in you need to look at the admissions criteria and previous admissions cycles data to get a sense of how many children were admitted from each category.

Probably not as hypocritical as people who find "find god" and attend anglican/catholic church just to get into a better school.

At my single sex c of e independent school overseas we had quite a lot of girls who were Jewish. The parents didn’t want them going to 100% Jewish school and the results weren’t as good. I would say why not

Although c of e do obviously have a religious element to them, such as more RE , daily worship and Christianity taught throughout the curriculum, they are welcoming of all religious denominations and in no way discriminate against them. Your Ds would be able to opt out of religious celebrations, and I would hope that your child would be celebrated for who they are. On a personal level, the children probably wouldn't even notice, and certainly wouldn't think that your Ds 'different'. In my experience, there isn't particularly much more singing in a church school than there is in a community school.

It very much depends on the school and how much religion plays a part of the daily timetable. Some schools are very light touch, others less so.

This. We had no choice of school very rural area, only the village C of E school and although I didn't grow up in the UK, friends with children in C of E schools had given an impression of largely tokenistic religious touches. Alas, this school, which was otherwise lovely, had an unusually close relationship with the village church, whose vicar was an evangelical and Biblical literalist, and a particular version of religion played a far larger role in the day to day life of the school than I had expected.

Having said that, there were a significant minority of kids in DS's class from Hinda, Sikh and Muslim backgrounds -- some were withdrawn from 'worship', some not. I know there were Jewish kids at the school, in other classes.

You can choose to withdraw from worship - but that may include things like carol concerts, Christmas productions etc. Would you/your DS be ok with him not being part of this?

I didn’t vote because I honestly think it is a very personal decision and it’s up to you. I’m Jewish and Was in a similar ish position. I did visit the local outstanding c of e school with an open mind and I thought I was going to hear “we are open to all faiths, and none” (as I had heard at a lovely church academy school that I did end up applying to as a back up) But the c of e school was very much of the mindset that everything they do was through the prism of the religion, the bible and the church. 50% of the intake was chosen from church goers and the other on a distance basis. Truthfully I felt unwelcome there when I saw that every classroom had a display about stories from the bible and every aspect of the curriculum seemed to be taught in relation to the bible. That is absolutely their right though, it just was not for me or my family. So I
Applied to the non denominational school with the lower ofsted rating and have not regretted it for one moment. They teach about all religions and it’s a very diverse population. It’s just more us. The best advice I can give is visit the school. They might make you feel really welcome. If not definitely look at the other schools as the ofsted rating is not everything. My friend’s children are at a less churchy church school but for me it still sounds too religious and the parents are a bit cliquey from knowing each other from church. But I’m sure each school is different. As I said, the academy we looked at had a Christian ethos but was so welcoming and inclusive. We would have been very happy there. Good luck!

For me (also jewish), it would depend on whether other Jewish children attended as I wouldn’t want my children to be the only ones there as they may feel left out, and also how much the school
Practised the religion.
Same as if I was non-jewish I’d feel odd sending my DCs to a jewish school (although people do as you are allowed!)
My DCs went to a non-denominational primary but it was very mixed so that worked. There were assemblies about all types of festivals etc.

Agree totally w ScottishDiblet above.

Go to the open day, see how it feels, ask about students of other faiths and what provision there is.

He’ll definitely be the only Jewish child, he was the first baby born in the community in 15 years and no other babies have been born ever since. I guess that’s just how it is. If he’s anything like his sister, he won't mind not being part in carol concerts (my DD has actively asked not to take part as she finds them hypocritical -she also got upset because they wouldn’t sing the dreidel song as she requested- but I can understand why the school didn’t do it).

The nearest CoE school to me has 95% of pupils from a mostly Muslim ethnic minority. So I don't think religion is a bar to attending CoE schools. (Although some give admission preference to children of church-goers.)

CofE schools are for people of "all religions and none". My Jewush godchildren went to a CofE primary and it was fine. The school would probably be thrilled to have him. Increases diversity and they probably cover Judaism in RE so you might he invited to give some input there.

I didn’t vote as, like a PP has said, this is a very personal decision.
Whilst you can inform the school that you don’t wish your child to take part in any religious celebration or worship, you can’t withdraw your child from RE lessons as it is part of the curriculum.
Are you happy for your child to learn Debate about Jesus and The New Testament? If so, then go for it. Most C of E schools actively include children of different faiths.

My MIL was the only Jewish girl at a Catholic primary school, and she was miserable.

Just so people know, the reason why there are displays in every room (corridors, entrance lobbies, etc) of a religious nature is that the school isn't just inspected by Ofsted, it will be inspected by representatives of the Diocese to ensure they're Doing Jesus Right - in the CofE, the inspections are called SIAMS (Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools), in RC ones, they are usually called Section 48s (as in Section 48 of the Education Act 2005).

Section 48 states that

It is the duty of the governing body of any voluntary or foundation school in England which has been designated under section 69(3) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 by the Secretary of State as having a religious character to secure that—
(a)
any denominational education given to pupils, and
(b)
the content of the school's collective worship,

An effective way to get a poor report is to have a religious/church school where there's no mention of Jesus/God. Putting pretty displays up looks good and keeps the inspectors happy.

It's the same way that standard inspectors usually result in a frantic printing and laminating session over the preceding day to ensure that every room has the Safeguarding Disclosure policy, the rules, the behaviour policy, loads of signposted resources that the kids never read, posters about The Significance of The Subject for parents to read when bored once a year and, conveniently, this means that in a school where the overall standard of work is lower/less attractive, less wall space is taken up with scraggy bits of A4 and tags/drawings of penises

Because CofE is the state religion, they aren’t classed as “faith schools” in the same way schools affiliated to other faiths are. I think it’s basically they are the standard secondary schools in their areas.

Aren’t Catholic schools more hardcore than Anglicans? Would they be ok with my DS saying that Jesus is not the son of God? We usually take an “agree to disagree” stance

We have a lot of Jewish schools near us because of where I live and lots of others too. It will depend on the area - some faith schools have lots of children who aren't of the relevant religion. Others are very religious and most people are of that faith. My daughter's (p[rivate) school had Christian and a separate jewish assembly - she (Catholic) used to go to the Jewish one quite often as it was shorter!

Go visit the school and see what it asks of you. Ours requests that you support the Christian ethos. I was OK with that (am atheist).
As well as Ofsted inspections CofE schools get a Siams inspection from the Diocese. Likely all the posters are to remind the teachers to relate religious lessons to the big picture to keep Siams happy.
Do check the admissions criteria and catchment area.

My Muslim child goes to a CofE school, no problem. They have been consistently rated as outstanding, that's why we chose that school. It's also smaller than most schools, 1 class per year.

One thing to consider OP - check the menu if you can, or consider packed lunch. Our school is very good, offers halal options as well as vegetarian, which seems to cover all bases.

Honestly, OP, I find the RC schools a lot more chilled about religion.

Possibly because they don't get charismatic/Evangelical Church members trying to stop the teaching of Science, particularly evolution, and getting upset about such 'demonic' and 'purely Satanic' things as the Catholic celebrations of Dia de Muertos being used as inspiration for art units, any mention of Halloween/All Hallows' Eve/All Saints Day, etc.

RC ones don't demand all students take part in Communion (but CofE ones in my experience, are enraged if anybody refuses Eucharist or doesn't attend optional services) - for example, it was compulsory for staff to participate at one CofE school's eucharist, passing the wafers and grape juice, even though, by their own rules, the staff members were excluded from participating because they didn't recognise the particular denomination - it was demanded that all staff pretended to be CofE. At the RC ones, You aren't Catholic/in good standing within the Catholic Church? Meh, are you OK with coming along to help supervise, then? In a similar vein, one of my old places had a requirement that anybody responsible for the spiritual welfare of the students (form tutors, pastoral staff, etc) had to be a practising member of a Church. The RC one? Don't care, we just want the best staff we can get.

The only 'more religious' bit seems to be the crucifix:room ratio being higher. And the chapel is in far better nick.