Catholic school admissions

[ivfbabymomma1]

Hi all

Does anyones children go to a catholic school when they aren't catholic?

My son is christened CofE but there is a really good catholic primary school 2 minutes walk from my house...

So I have a chance?

Thank you!!!!

Our Catholic primary school does not have enough Catholic children so yes you would have a very good chance

Yes my dd does. Initially they were strict on being a catholic and the school wasn't in our catchment despite being five mins down the road. I sent my dd to another school but moved her in year 3 and got her a place at the catholic school as they became more relaxed about it being an admissions criteria.

Why do you want your child to go to a school that is contrary to your particular Christian denomination? If you are not a Catholic family perhaps you should look to your own religion to provide primary education? Although as the CoE does not seem to uphold biblical truths it is perhaps understandable you would want to distance yourself from their views? Time to covert to Catholicism?

I would quite like to become catholic, for reasons I don't understand myself. I've not really thought about schools. You do you I guess!

I don't understand why you would want to send your child to a religious school that is not your practising religion unless every other possible school option is terrible.

I work in a Catholic High School. Faith Schools don’t have a catchment as such. We have many children who aren’t Catholic, follow other faiths or don’t have any particular faith. The same applies to staff - mix of faiths/no faith. Regardless of this, all are expected to respect and follow the Catholic ethos of the school and participate in daily prayer and occasional mass. Some of our year groups are undersubscribed and when we have spaces any child can be offered a place. As others have said, admissions will depend on the school. If it is wildly oversubscribed then priority will be given to baptised Catholics in all likelihood.

So why did your child take their first holy communion then? Just to get them into the Catholic high school?

@Bbqchicken agree!! I genuinely do not understand people like @Icouldabeenalawyer who go to great lengths to get their children into a Catholic school when they aren’t Catholic / have no intention of practising. I wouldn’t send my children to a Jewish/Muslim school because we aren’t Jewish or Muslim. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Sure it does if the narrative is Catholic schools perform better,the children are better behaved ,might be smaller etc.

If the schoo! Is

A. On the doorstep
B. A higher standard of school\education\results

Then I get it, but I'd be annoyed if those parents objected to their non Catholic children going to mass on Holy Days of Obligation or other religious events during the school day.

Academic research has consistently made clear that religious schools don't in fact perform any better than other schools, when the background of the pupils is considered.

Take a look on your county council website and you should be able to find out how places for each school were allocated. Where I live you would have very little chance of getting your child into the local catholic school. Even if you lived next door to it, they would give the place to child who has been baptised catholic and has a signed certificate by the church to say the attend regularly who lives 5 miles away!

If you're in Surrey here is the link for how school places are allocated.

www.surreycc.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/admissions/arrangements-and-outcomes/previous-years

older DS had an in-year transfer so the faith thing was not much of an issue (raised Catholic but not practicing) I was asked to make a commitment to the Catholic ethos of the school - which wasn't difficult to be honest, be kind, be honest, share love - I feel fortunate he's at this school regardless of denomination. younger got in on the sibling rule

So are you saying they DO have better results but it's because the parents situations are the reason?

I'm going back a couple of decades but the high standards of the local schools, both Catholic and non Religious had parents moving into the catchment area to get their kids into them.

Yes, YABU to think that all of us strangers on the internet, can tell you how likely it is your child will get into a school which could be any area of the Country, when we don't know the admissions criteria.

Not necessarily, although it is possibly a factor, but their upbringing and the values of religion taught since birth, yes. Lots of information out there on it.

Also if somone is prepared to move house to get their child into a certain school, that child is likely going to achieve well just because they would have the influence and support from home. Ie you aren't going to move house if you really didn't care if your child failed.

My DS2 is at an outstanding Catholic school and for 12 years it's been just over half Catholic, so if you were non Catholic and lived fairly close by, your child stood a good chance. However next year it's all Catholic. Fairly gutting for non Catholic familea who wanted younger siblings to join their older siblings already there. Being Catholic will always trump every other criteria.

Being Catholic will always trump every other criteria

Exactly. And personally I don’t see anything wrong with a Catholic school prioritising Catholic children.

people could always send their children to the local school?

Again you need to look at the admissions criteria. Then you need to talk to the school.

The (secondary) school I attended merged with the one my brother attended but their current admissions criteria gives priority to children from another town's RC primary above distance.

OP I would NEVER send a child to an RC school, look carefully at the school before you do. Ofsted inspect schools but the RC curriculum is inspected by someone appointed by the governors.

Exactly. And personally I don’t see anything wrong with a Catholic school prioritising Catholic children.

I do. I pay taxes, that money should not go to fund a faith school. In the days when the schools were 50% funded by the faith they belonged to there was an argument for saying the children would need to attend school anyway, but now 90% comes from the government that no longer stands.

Very much depends on the catchment. There is a catholic school in our village, Ofsted outstanding with a very good reputation. Admission criteria has 8 criteria on it. I won’t go through the list, but in effect if you are a non catholic and live next door to the school - a catholic child who lives 5 miles away will get in as priority over your child. And this often happens. They don’t even accept practising CoE families - they would be in priority 8. It is very very unusual for a non catholic child to get a space in this school. The local catholic church is also always very busy with young families drumming up the necessary ‘points’ to qualify for the school!

Check the admissions criteria as stated. Many Catholic schools indeed all I have ever come across (teachers in the family all now retired though) have had non-Catholics.

There are those who 'rediscover' their faith upon having children and then becoming non-practicing once their children leave school, a separate issue.

@ldontWanna so if you lived near a Muslim school that had good results, small class sizes and good behaviour; you’d try to get your child in there and be happy for them to be an active part of all religious holidays and practises and join all the prayers?
You’d be happy; as parents, to attend religious services held within school and happy to confirm on entry that you will raise your school believing in and conforming to in the Muslim ethos of the school?

You seem a little confused by the concept of Section 48 inspections. It doesn't matter what faith it is, Section 48 of the Education Act 2005 places a duty on the board of governors of a school that is deemed religious in character to inspect any denominational education and the content of the collective worship. If it's a maintained school, it's the responsibility of the board of governors to arrange for inspection - the actual faith/denomination is immaterial, the Statutory requirement is for all schools of religious character.

In Church of England and Methodist schools, this is called a SIAMS inspection carried out with the input of the Diocese.

In RC schools, it's called a Section 48 (no need for a fancy name) and is carried out with the input of the Diocese.

It's exactly the same in Hindu, Muslim or any other faith school - the inspectors are appointed by the board of governors and usually in conjunction with the religious organisation/faith body that is consistent with the religious character of the school.

As it is, the GAG is largely taken up with staffing costs/ever increasing utility bills/catering and the faith body, where they own or hold the land/buildings, pays for things such as major repairs, legally required fire safety works, temporary classrooms, etc. Schools can also hold private (audited) accounts as result of things such as premises hire, fundraising, donations and legacies; that's the sort of thing that pays for libraries, new play equipment, activities, minibuses, etc.

It's easy to say that government pays for everything in maintained faith schools. The reality is that they really don't.

As a side note, the RC church recognises baptisms made in the trinitarian tradition (father, son, holy ghost), as does the CofE and any other member church/group in Churches Together in England, an ecumenical association. As such, Canon Law means that if a child baptised in that way goes on to take their First Holy Communion, they are Catholic. They are not CofE going through the motions to get a place at an RC secondary, they are Catholic from that moment onwards. Perhaps this might make a difference to some people?