To wonder if church schools are becoming undated

[Notasproutbutagiantpea]

*outdated ?

My youngest DC is off to start school in September and we are in catchment of a relatively new modern school with 5 class intake and also same distance is a church of England school with 2 classes. Both same good ofsted, both in past 2 years.

The church school catchment on the council website is basically the whole wider area, which is slightly confusing. But the church school has been undersubscribed for the last 2 years. Is this a low birth rate thing or the fact the the non- religious school is full more appealing in modern times? Maybe less people are christened, or religious, so find it harder to secure a church school if this is considered part of the application as still goes through the council, but you can add notes as to why you want the school. Plus the church school was saying before the place allocation that they still had spaces for September. A friend has said years ago that the head had said they pick who they want, in terms of family fit so distance isn’t an issue.

A couple of smaller schools (single intake) in the area have become academies so maybe it’s just smaller schools are struggling?

Voluntary Controlled.

Yes christianity is in decline with many saying they have no religion. However the UK with its history and cultural traditions is Christian with the King as head of the church.

Personally I'd like schools to be secular and believe the UK is making a mistake with this liberal approach

This

WTAF

My DS goes to an RC school as my DH is one and only had no problem with DS being baptised etc. It is the best school in the area so over-subscribed but there are children who attend who are not RC or religious at all.

RX schools can definitely cast other dc aside when it comes to religion in school. Yes you can go to the school but you are not “one of us”.

We allow selection by religion but frown on selection by intelligence or aptitude. Religious schools that select by religion are clubs. You must sign up to the principles and attend church. Parents lie about their views but want the schools. It’s double standards and poor. Religion is for home and church. Education is separate in my view. No child should feel set apart from cohort due to religion.

The churches pay for next to nothing. They don’t pay for teachers. Some VC schools can find they have a dominating vicar! If people want to hear the vicar, go to the church. Village life is never all about church. It’s about community of which the church might play a part. The best school my DDs attended was a community school with highly supportive parents and nice dc. Who needed the church in school? No one.

So in my city the CofE school is the local school, everyone who loves close by goes there. But the Catholic schools cover catchments of about 6 primaries each, and are very strict based on Baptism, attending Mass etc. Some families choose it because they have a strong faith, others choose it (and jump through the hoops) because the Catholic High School is outstanding in every way, and the only guaranteed entry is through a feeder school.

Our C of E school is vastly oversubscribed and requires church attendance as well as baptism, signed for by the vicar, to get a place. It is a superb school with a particularly good reputation for SEN. And of course if the local churches are full of parents and young children then it is self-perpetuating as there is a social element for young families, which there wouldn't be if the churches were three old ladies and a hearing loop.

The only mild criticism I have is that Year 3 have recently got into heroin, but it's worked out alright on balance as it calms them down after lunch time and means they don't go on the rob down the high street any more.

Liverpool has 3 state schools which are inadequate or RI. All faith schools. It guarantees very little if the education isn’t great.

Ditto. Local primary was c of e...the biggest different I notice is my friends know how to behave in a church and they sing the hymns. Quite a few still ended up in prison though!

I think the policy of many to only hire staff if they can give a priest / vicar as a reference is ridiculous. They’re losing out on good staff

The Church of England school near me is closing at the end of this year. Falling roll and a bad Ofsted.

@Blahdymcblahdyface I've worked in C of E schools for many years and have never heard of this. I'm not a Christian; had Naming Days for my own children, didn't get married in a church...

I’ve seen it many times on teacher recruitment forms - usually CofE

Do you honestly believe that it's only teens in "rough" areas who smoke weed?

Blahdy yup I'm pretty sure ours does this. And permanent jobs are only advertised via the diocese.

The amount of religious interference imposed by the local church is much higher than it was in cofe schools when i was a child. The cofe is panicking about falling numbers and a core part of its strategy is a desperate attempt to reach children via upping presence in schools.

Its not working though. Parental influence continues to override. My eldest told me at age 7 that he didn't believe in god and only pretended to join in prayers at school.

No🙄

Not necessarily.

We looked at a school it was Methodist. It was also an academy. We had to submit proof of worship, I.e if we weren’t part of their church community where your attendance was mandatory, they wanted a letter from our priest stating we were regular worshipers in our religion. 99% of admissions were selected on attending some form of church and, there was a minimum church attendance required.

The local C of E was also overtly religious, my niece went to it and the whole school attended a full mass each week as well as individual year groups going to year group masses.

I was relived when we visited the catholic school, it was nothing like the other 2. Thankfully we left the area so didn’t go to any of those schools.

I absolutely do think the first school was very much if your face fits. Thankfully ours absolutely didn’t.

That hiring policy certainly isn't universal. When DD was at primary school, nobody on the staff was a practising Christian, and while interviewees for SLT posts were asked by church governors about how they'd promote a Christian ethos, fudging it with a broadly humanitarian rather than religious approach didn't lose them any points. (I was a non-church governor serving on interview panels.) It didn't come up at all when hiring other teaching staff.
I'd say that most of the diocese-appointed governors weren't actually in favour of church schools per se. They saw their role more as an extension of the church's duty to serve the community.

Looks like this.

I’ve seen RC schools only want RC teachers. It’s discrimination in my view. Excluding others based on religion who could be more than qualified or better qualified for the job. It’s not acceptable. At least our local CofE junior was VC and a bit light touch until new Head arrived. I now hear it’s gone evangelical and DC are turned off by prayers before lessons and all sorts of bible phrases all over the place. Many DC are questioning what’s being said. My DC would have left. It used to be Harvest Festival, Christmas and the vicar once a month. The Diocese education service is pushing all of this. Who honestly needs it in school?

I think that used to be the case ,my sister was a primary school teacher and she qualified in the mid 90,s in her first appointment at a RC primary school they specified they preferred RC teachers which she was
However my own son and I can only talk about his school his RE teacher at his RC high school was Muslim as was his maths and science teachers

I just had a look around a CofE primary with a view to applying for a class teacher role. The Head was great and made it very clear that applicants didn't need to have a faith, or could have another faith that wasn't Christianity, providing they upheld the Values of the school eg. personal responsibility etc.

This is my nearest RC VA school. How does a standard teacher do the attached?

Church attendance is at an all time low, by insisting on that when recruiting teachers some of these schools are shooting themselves in the foot.

It’s also how they are required to teach! Where I live, no RC is a local catchment school. CofE is and it doesn’t seem there’s much light touch CofE now. They feel very more religious than they used to. A neighbour is Head of a CofE primary. Her newsletters to parents always start with a bible quote. Hardly anyone chooses this school because they are church goers. They go because there is nowhere else. It’s so unnecessary to have bible quotes all over the place and prayers all the time. Who does this in normal life?