Would having DS christened be beneficial when it comes time for school?

[winniethepug]

We live in Hong Kong but would most likely be moving back to London or the home counties by the time DS (14 months old) starts school. I am agnostic, as is DP but grandparents are CoE. Is being christened a big deal (or even essential) when it comes to school applications in the UK? I have no idea....

I am unfazed as to whether DS is christened or not, but extended family would definitely prefer he was....

In a word, no. Only a small proportion of the schools are faith schools anyway; the rest don't care at all.

If faith is a criterion for getting into a faith school, then the school would typically expect more of a religious involvement from the family anyway (i.e. regular church attendance), so just having been christened years previously isn't going to cut it.

The schools have lists which specify the order of priority that children take. ie children of faith will be higher up the list etc - various definitions of this, church attendance (letter from vicar) etc.

The C of E school where I used to live required that a child had been christened before the age of 1, if they were going to get into a particular priority slot.

If you may want your child to go to a faith school you should check the admission criteria of the schools in which you are interested. Most CofE schools seem to give priority based on whether or not the family attends church regularly rather than whether or not the child has been christened, but there may well be some where christening matters. Some (most?) RC schools give priority to children who have been baptised Catholic but some give priority based on church attendance.

For admission to a community school (i.e. one run by the Local Authority) it will make absolutely no difference whether or not your child is christened.

Many parents want their children to go to faith schools even though they are not believers because faith schools are often perceived as providing a better education than community schools. You will often find a number of parents with children aged 3 or 4 attending church purely in an attempt to get their child into the local faith school.

Can be useful in some catholic schools, I gather, but that doesn't apply here. CofE schools in our area want to see at least 2 years of twice monthly attendance, ideally at the tied church, but failing that (if you were out of area for some of the 2 year run up) another Cof E church.

My children go to a non selective CofE school. This means that while the school is run in a religious way,church attendance and christened or not play no part in the over subscription criteria.

May I just say I think your extended family might be fretting over a Christening for other reasons?

I recall this situation with my brothers child. Brother and his wife claim they are atheist. The rest of us are nominally "Christian" but the issue of a naming service was more to do with being invited to meet the new member of the family.
I have never met my brothers son ( my nephew - note I cant even bring myself to call him nephew) . There was no Christening service and so consequently only his maternal family got to see him in hospital or have contact afterwards.

It doesnt hurt anyone to have a Christening and it does give extended family a rite of passage and an opportunity to see a new child in the family.

I have no views on religiobn one way or another but we had DS Christened.
It might one day get him into a better school if we need to apply to a faith schol( and then it might not) but that isnt the point.