Going to see a Church School Thurs, but am not religious. Can you see a problem with this?

[Mum2Ela]

Bit of background: we have just moved house and so we are not in the catchment area for the school which DD and DS's names are down for. They prob won't get in as I think the school is oversubscribed.

There is a Church School literally a 2 second walk from our house. Thought this might be the road to go down as the primary school which is our catchment area school is a bit scummy (sorry, not being snobby although it sounds like I am).

I am really trying to find out if anyone has any experience of this? Will they ask me about religion and how often we attend church (wedon't)?

Hmmmm. We live in the borough with the highest council tax in London. A few (Catholic, with baptised children and church atendees) parents from the Bubble boys' school have recently left to go to the (very oversubscribed) Catholic primary school nearby..

By their own admission this is because they want their children to be able to get into a (high achieving) Catholic secondary school.

IIRC. The church pays for the building and set-up of the school(s) but the LEA (ie. Taxpayer) pays for the running costs, which costs a lot more, year on year, than the one-off set up costs. I know of two families who are really P'd off that their children can't get into this (their local) school because their children aren't Catholic or even baptised.

IMO, if the Catholic school wants to select only Catholic/baptised children, then it should be totally self-funded.

Please note that Catholicism is not the issue here, I would think it as unfair if any organisation used local residents' money, but refused admission/entry to said paying local residents.

All things are possible. DS goes to a catholic church kindergarten here in Austria. Really didn't think I would get a place as DH and I both British, CofE but never attend church, DS not baptised & didn't speak german. Headteacher never asked us about religion/baptism...I think she was very happy to have a native english speaking child to improve english all round. From age 3 they spend one morning per week being spoken to only in english, the last laugh is that we have to pay 10euros per month for the english teacher .

QofQ, you're lucky that your school teaches different faith systems, but my school point blank refuses to do that and I find that very sad .

DS attends a CoE. Up to half the places are for church goers and half for other children. He's in the "other children" group. We didn't have any questions about our own religion (or lack of). Good luck, i hope it's the right school for your children, it's such a big decision.

Just thought I would update you all.

We went to have a look at the school yesterday and its just lovely - lots of extra-curricular activities, very much into parents partaking in activities etc etc. We have put DD and DS's names down. The head said they are foetn asked about the religious angle and said that the admissions policy of attending church etc. only comes into play when oversubscribed. I am not going to start taking DD and DS to church to get into the school but that doesn't mean that I am an unhappy to bring them up in a christian environment. I was brought up attending sunday school and mass etc, and I made up my own mind as I got older.

Our second choice school is in the village we have just nmoved. Again, a gorgeous little school, not a church school, but my sister attends there now and to me it doesn't seem less 'religious' than the C of W school I looked at yesterday. They both have assembly, they both have prayers, they both have christingle services and easter events.

Regardless of the school DD and DS end up in, I plan to be an active member of the school in any way I can, be in on the PFA or otherwise. I don't want to use this school close to my home for 'convenience'. I want DD and DS to be active memebsr in our immediate community where they will hopefully make friends and have a social life.

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As far as I understand it, in a voluntary-aided school, which means most state primary schools with a religious affiliation, the government pays 100% of the running costs but only 85% of the capital costs (ie building works etc). The school has to find the other 15%, which they do at least partly by asking for a contribution from parents. Not sure how much the church pays.

I don't know about others, but our school was founded by a chap hundreds of years ago who left the money in a trust, which still pays a contribution and is controlled by the Church. Not aware that the church makes any separate contribution, nothing to indicate it in accounts. We are not asked to pay anything, although parents vieing for the places available to people not resident in a small section of the village (where we live) tell me they were asked to make a time donation but could 'buy' their way out. Don't know if that's true or malicious though. Certainly the school is not lacking money- almost £50K surplus last year.

They do ask for LOTS of extra's though: £36 a week at one point for trips / events / etc. Things other kids might get for free at school come with a small price tag. As I am a Student, gets a bit much sometimes.

The worst one was when we had to pay £2 for them to visit... Tesco's. Supposedly it was a Maths thing, but I went and there was no maths at all, mostly they ate doughnuts and wandered aimlessly saying 'I want that for Christmas!'. Ah, what a marketing scam that is!