Reception school choice……

[chellewillnotbebeaten]

I realise I could get some backlash from this and that is not my intention, this is my own personal feelings and I respect everyone’s views/choices.
I just need some opinions cos I can’t decide!

First/only child starting school in September. Nearest school is a catholic school and very catholic at that, when I asked how much emphasis was on prayer throughout the school day I was told ‘quite alot’ by the teacher. Also many visuals of god/crosses.
But it is an easy walk, easily accessible etc…… I have to admit as an atheist the religious side is putting me off.

Second school would be my first choice, it’s a C of E and no doubt does celebrate festivals such as harvest and Easter which I have nothing against, as a child my school would do this as it was a village school with a church nearby, we sang hymns etc…. but it was low key religious, which I feel this school would be, had no sense of it being religious, no mention of the diocese, or someone talking about it like the other one, no visuals of god at every turning point. I had a lovely feeling about this school when looking round but although walkable more of a trek, not as handy.

Both have before and after school provisions, both good reputations, it really is distance and the religoius aspects I’m having issue with. It is myself that would be doing drop offs and pick ups (partner works longer hours and earns the better wage and no family to help) and I am already considering I will need more flexible working and it’s going to be difficult to get to and from work on time with school (I have no option I have to work and struggle on 32hrs a week, due to child care provision, wage as it is).

So….

YABU - if it’s more easily accessible and DD will be happy and get a good education what does the religious side matter

YANBU - if the emphasis on the religious side makes you (me) uncomfortable choose the other school.

**DISCLAIMER - I am not against religion, open to any if that’s an individuals choice and my daughter can grow to make her own choice and I’m fine with that.

I don't think you should put the Catholic school in your list then.

I’m a Governor at a Catholic school … we teach the National Curriculum, like all other schools.
We teach about all religions, we have Pride week, we have Muslim students who wear a headscarf as part of the uniform.

Christian teachings form part of the ethos & ethics of the school .. Love, Forgiveness, Helping our neighbours etc. We have Mass, but nobody is required to go.

Our feeder primary schools are Catholic, and we are oversubscribed, so to get into the high school, you really needed to get into one of the Primaries. The Primaries all have a policy that prioritises baptised Catholics.

You need to be prepared for a religious school to be religious .. if that’s not for you, you should go elsewhere.

Agreed!

Thank you to everyone who has responded to this post, it has really helped me decide. I appreciate I may seem naive about this whole thing but if you don’t know you don’t know!

Thanks everyone, much appreciated xxx

I went for the school that was 10 mins more walk away (we literally live next to nearest school) as didn't like the overly religious ethos of nearer school. It worked for us

I wouldn't go for the Catholic school if not religious. I went to a C of E primary which was fine and then a Roman Catholic secondary. This was almost 30 years ago now so things msy have changed, but not being Catholic I felt very singled out and was constantly questioned about not being Catholic. The assembly were very long and we had to partake in mass regularly. I very much felt like I didn't fit in at all.

Think about high schools. You might find that all the RC children move to RC highs. That’s what happens generally.

IME catholic schools tend to be much more religious than c of e. Id go for school 2.

Really? Interesting…… many thanks x

My eldest is in reception.

We are in similar walking distance to four schools, all 20-25 minutes away. The one with the best Ofsted and SATS results is RC. I know from other parents that it has quite an RC emphasis, so I didn’t look around - I didn’t want to be swayed by the fact it performs slightly better than the other schools. Of the other choices, one is C of E and two are non-denominational. The C of E was lovely, although a bit too religious for my preference, but I was happy to put it as my third choice. Child ended up at another school, and I feel a bit more comfortable with this.

Only you can decide what you would feel happy or uncomfortable with. But I don’t think it would be odd to pick the further away school!

Almost all the Catholic primary school kids here go on to the Catholic High School which has had middling to bad Ofsteds for years so I factored that in. We had the choice of 7 others - as agnostics we chose the only C of E school and have no regrets.

I would say RC schools are more religious day to day than CofE. There are more CofEs and a huge % of CofE schools are in areas where few are actually active church goers and/or a lot are in fact Muslim or Hindu etc.

My daughter is at a catholic primary it was my first choice and wanted it due to the faith element. My daughter is in reception sept 2025 start and many schools usually over subscribed didn’t fill places due to low numbers this year. The catholic schools all were overs subscribed. I would think you dilema maybe a non issue as your child may not even get a place based on admissions.

I’d personally rather walk that bit further. I wouldn’t want the ethos of a catholic school for my child, I have no opinion on what others prefer for their children but it’s not for me.

It’s definitely not over prescribed, but as I said earlier that is possibly due to the fact Islam is fast becoming one of the most dominant religions in my local area.
Unfortunately the school further away which will be my first choice it seems is and they are reducing the admission numbers for 2026 🤦🏻‍♀️

Yes, I agree completely. This is now my confirmed point of view thanks to the advice/replies I have received on this thread ❤️