To go to church to broaden my childs choice of school

[AwkwardAadvark]

Hello
I live in an area where the comprehensive schools aren't great. There's only 1 I'd be happy for him to go too. We also live by 2 religious schools that I'd be happy with. Issue is these schools require church attendance. It's a while off but I do worry about these things. Do I start going to church to widen his choice of school?

Is that you Julia?

The church is there to serve the people. If you are respectful of the views held and don't mind your DS being taught certain beliefs then I don't see why not. If there is a God I'm sure he wouldn't be too fussed about why you'd joined his congregation. I'm sure if he can see into everyone's hearts he'd know your motives were no less suspect than many others.

School admission is a game we have to play by the rules. They make the rules so you’re fine to play by their rules. It’s not like the churches and the schools don’t know why they have a sudden influx of parents with young children.

@weAllWanttheBest

Use all the options on the application form in your order of preference. Just in case.

My old mum and her cronies decided to start going to church in their 80's just in case they'd got the hereafter all wrong. Apparently they sat in someone else's pew and a little ungodly squabble ensued so they never went back. I'm still pretty sure that, if she went anywhere, it was upstairs and she's looking down.
(Irrelevant to the post except that making use of religion, when it suits, can occur at any age)

You live in London where 3 times as many children attend private schools and where state school choices are huge because of the sheer number of schools within travelling distance for most children. A good number of state secondaries in London offer partial selection or choose by fair banding/lottery.

Step away from London or any major urban area and families have far, far less school choice. Public transport is terrible in many rural or semi rural areas, which restricts people's choices when it comes to school. Then throw in religious admissions criteria and it all gets really hard.

So you would have preferred to have your 8 year old go to a school miles away from all her friends, rather than walking to her local school? That's the reality of the stranglehold that the CofE have on village schools.

Although, if the OP actually attends weekly for two years then isn’t that all you would need to sign off on? I’d be amazed if people had to prove they held a sincere faith to a vicar.

I’m a bit weirded out by the people who have said this is immoral. Is it any more moral to live close to an excellent school than to go to church?

@izimbra the thing is there are many (state) schools in London with long long waiting lists - I live near one which is practically worshipped on Mumsnet yet really it isn't anything that special.
Yet a C of E school a couple of miles away was undersubscribed.
I was just saying it's interesting.... that's all.

As someone raised RC and spent my education in catholic schools and Sundays in church I find the pp’s who speak of indoctrination hilarious.
I know many catholics and they are certainly not indoctrinated. Most of us pick and choose the bits of our religion that suit us.
I refused to send my dc to catholic schools because didn’t enjoy being a pupil in a catholic school.
They both went to the local comprehensive and did v. well.

I'm a Christian.

I think it's appalling that we have Church schools funded by the State.

We lived in a village and my dc went to the village school which was CofE. We aren't. Every child in the village went, so no Church attendance was necessary, but I don't agree with the CofE stance on a lot of things but had no choice as it was the only school.

All state schools should be non religious.

No vicar is going to sign the letter if a parent is honest about not being a believer but only going to church for the school place. And if the child asks why the family has suddenly got religion the parent would have to lie to them as well. Very distasteful in my opinion.

I would ban faith schools tomorrow, by the way.

Me too I went to Catholic schools in fact my primary school was a convant school i sincerely doubt many of us,are regular church goers now
My son also went to Catholic schools and is,atheist so they don't appear to do a very good job of indoctrination.

You can find it as distasteful as you want ,but if the choice is between a failing school, and an outstanding church school. ,than parents are going to try and get their child into the better school principles don't come into it
The quality of schools vary massively in this country

@CruCru different schools have different forms. I’ve seen ones which just ask for attendance through to ones which ask for ‘commitment to the worshipping life of the church.’

@x2boys if a local school is failing wouldn't it be better for parents to try and improve it (through PTAs etc) rather than faking being religious?

In an ideal world yes but most parents are not altruistic and only have the energy for their own child

@x2boys but those parents can manage to join a church and attend the services?

Well yes because they are doing it for their own child to get a place in an already outstanding school ,not one that could be outstanding in five years time don't blame the parents blame the system

I object to the idea that religion is needed as way to frame the teaching of the moral principles you list.

C of E primary near me has this on their curriculum page. There is a massive crucifix with Christ on it in their assembly hall (saw it when I went in for a craft fair). Lots of reference to Jesus and the Bible on their displays in the corridors. Kids have enough to think about at that age without the extra complication of getting their heads round who Jesus allegedly was and why we need to look to him to teach us how to live.

@x2boys I agree the system is wrong. All schools should be good .There should be no failing schools. All children should simply go to their nearest school - except for very specialist secondary schools that start at 14 (like the Brit School).
It's all a bit depressing really.

And to be honest I am a bit sceptical that a school which wastes time bringing God and Jesus into everything really can be delivering outstanding teaching. There must be better ways to use that time!

It's exactly the same in my local area. The faith schools, especially Catholic ones are the ones with the lowest admissions. The only reason the Catholic high school is over subscribed is because it's the only one in the area.

Ours happily signs the letter for everyone. She privately disagrees with the system and wants to ensure that children can attend their village school rather than be allocated a place somewhere miles away. It's also bums on seats at the church which helps with funding.

That’s interesting. How would you interpret “commitment to the worshipping life of the church”? Would regular attendance be sufficient or would the parents need to volunteer for something at the church?

My faith is a private matter. I am quite uncomfortable with the idea that someone would need to demonstrate faith beyond attending and putting their hand up to help out.