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!!!!

I remember reading a thread on here from someone who sent their child to a Cof E infant/junior school. She wasn't a Christian but it was the best school around.

She then had the brass neck to come on here complaining that her child was 'forced' to sing hymns etc and asking for advice on how she could force the school to keep him out of assembly or anything else that had a religious flavour about, "The Sky Fairy"-as she called God in her post.

I sincerely hope the school opened the door, told her-and her child- to step through it and fuck off.

What will you do OP when the Catholic faith is taught?

Open confession is not in a confessional box and there is no anonymity. Priest(s) seated at the front of the altar, kids brought out of the pews and lined up. You go up individually, 2 metres from the person behind you.

No idea why people are so snarky on MN, or very Christian is it. I could equally write, ‘well your son’s experience is nothing like mine!‘ with the requisite passive aggressive exclamation mark. I don’t presume everyone’s experience is the same but given OP is not even Catholic posed the questions as kinda useful to know what you’re potentially signing up for when you have no idea. I’m mid 40’s so talking about school in the 80’s and 90’s. My experience is not unique to several other Catholic schools in the area at that time.

Our local Catholic school is only about 30% baptised Catholic. Great school, very undersubscribed. So non-catholics get in pretty easily. But in other areas unless you meet the church attendance criteria (so not just baptised but baptised and having attended regular mass for an extended period of time, to be signed off by the parish) you haven’t a hope of getting in.

Councils usually publish a breakdown of how many children got in under each criteria in previous years, so you can make an informed decision about how likely you are to get a place.

I'm a couple of years older than you and also In a Catholic school in the 80,s my point was that Catholic school ,s have changed a lot since we were at school ,my son gets taught about all religions ,his RE teacher was Muslim!,you were telling the Op to do her research whilst recounting your own very outdated experience of a Catholic school.

OP I would urge you and anyone who is thinking about a Catholic school to really understand what a Catholic education entails.

The school I work in has the Catholic ethos running throughout EVERYTHING.

The day starts with a prayer and there are prayers before and after lunch; Tutor time includes gospel readings; there is termly mass; they make their confirmation together and the preparation for this is included in the school lessons; there are crucifixes in every room and a chapel on site.

For non-Catholic I think it'll just boil down to whether it's oversubscribed. If it isn't you'll probably get straight in, especially being local and C of E. If it is busy, who knows?

We were recommended a site called Locrating which has various school stats including over-subscription numbers and heat maps of children who attend etc.

Ds did, it was the best supposedly good school near where we lived. It was the biggest mistake I ever made, the school wasn't a good fit, too much time was spent on religion & not enough on the curriculum. All the Catholic parents & children knew each other from church & many of the parents were former pupils, we were treated as outsiders

I'm a couple of years older than you and also In a Catholic school in the 80,s my point was that Catholic school ,s have changed a lot since we were at school ,my son gets taught about all religions ,his RE teacher was Muslim!,you were telling the Op to do her research whilst recounting your own very outdated experience of a Catholic school.

But it varies so much.

I went tot he RC girls' school, my brother went to the RC boys' school in the same town.

My brother said a prayer at the start and end of the day. He was taught 'scripture' to O Level.

I had prayer or assembly first thing and mass on Fridays. Before lunch there was 'the angelus bell' so we all said the angelus before the lunch break.
We had 'hymns' as a lesson where we learned new hymns or new tunes.
We had prayer before we went home.
My O Level RE was a specific to RC doctrine.

Yes that was the 1980s, but there is still a variety in what different schools teach. And things that should be secular are still often taught through the lens of the faith eg there were machines to buy sanitary towels but not tampons. Sex education was none existent other than doing a project on marriage and where was a good place to find a husband.

NSS has reported something like 70% of faith schools teach SRE according tot he faith of the school.

www.secularism.org.uk/news/2018/05/most-faith-schools-distorting-sex-education-nss-study-finds

@Noodlicious thank you!!!! Honestly I'm
Totally aware that no one's experience will be like mine! I was just interested! I will definitely research further into the religious side of it!

Thanks all

I used to work in a Catholic school. It was about 20% Catholic.