Do you start going to church just to get into a good school?

[Ginabraz]

I have not made any admissions to local schools for my boys as I didn't think that I would still be living in the UK. My eldest is 4 in November and the youngest will be three in February 2012. I am now inwardly panicked as the good schools seem to be run by the churches and neither my DH or myself are church goers. I am willing to attend church even though I fear that it could be too late. DH refuses as he is a non-believer.

Do you or have you started attending church just to improve your chances of getting a place for your child(ren)?

Thank you Oblomov!

Oblomov, you say, "you could get into our school. they have non catholic applicants, who do get in. so you are not discriminated against.".

But your opening gambit was, "I go to church just to get my ds in a fantastic catholic school. Many of the mums say they do too."

Why is everyone doing this if non-catholics are not discriminated against when allocating places?

People are having affairs ? what an exciting place you live. playground discussions in our boring surburbia and as exciting as isn't the new young black pe teacher , how extremly good looking he is, and what celebrity he looks like -JLS , Beyonce's dh etc etc and how some mothers would like to slip back into their gym slips for a lesson with him. ohh er missus. ( from mostly extremely happliy married mothers.)

My DC went to a lovely c of e primary. It was also the closest school to our house. We went to church anyway. It was clear it couldn't meet DS's needs by the time he was 7 and at 8 he was transferred to the other sector. It was an outstanding school. I still wince at the snide comments received from some of the "christian" families because we were able to pull him out and pay fees at a school that would meet his needs.

I teach at a Catholic school where students speak many different languages at home, particularly African and Eastern European languages. Are you sure all the effort of going to church will mean you're "free" of children of non English speaking origins . . .?

GrimmaTheNome - I also think that I will be too late. The church administrator suggested I call the schools admissions department and tell a 'god forbid' lie and that I had only recently moved to the area! I found this hilarious, but helpful. God would be proud!

Meditrina, I am christened and confirmed and whilst I currently do not follow my faith I feel that my children can make their own decisions on this very sensitive topic later in their lives. Giving them a grounding involving Christian views can only help them decide which way they want to go.

DH and I have friends who are confirmed athiests, but started attending their local church a while ago to get their two DC's into the local CofE school. They go every week, and read lessons (gets you more points, y'see). We went to their christening recently (me under much duress!) where the dad read a lesson, and the mum was wearing a cross. The whole thing made me feel very unconfortable and a little angry. They don't believe at all! It's soooooooo wrong.

I try and understand their POV, that they want a good local school, but I cannot stand the hypocrisy, or shake the belief that they are lying to their children therefore implying to them that being dishonest is fine.

Icoulddoitbetter - do the parents encourage atheism beliefs with their children? I don't think it is fair for them to outwardly portray both ideals to the kids as it is too confusing for them.

Gin I really don't know, their DC's are still very very young. I can imagine the mum going along with the bibilcal thing, but suspect the dad couldn't keep it up for long! That's one of the things that I find so bad, that they are going to feed ideas to their DC that they have absolutely no belief or conviction in themselves.

amothersplace are you speaking from a position of any experience with regards to primary teaching? Or from the point of view of the tabloid press?

'100 languages spoken' doesn't specifically mean anything about the number of children who don't speak English.

It takes 3/4 months flat for a primary age child to go from no English to near fluent (I speak as such a child....sat silently absorbing language for a term... One of the top readers in my class within two years).

What that is really a shorthand for is '100 kids with parents of foreign extraction'.