Primary Schools: What does Voluntary Aided mean and how will affect our daughter's application

[Wills]

Hi, We're about to move house and will be a quarter of a mile from a Voluntary aided CofE school. The only other school is a mile away and very poor. My husband is almost religious in his agnostic views about religion. Will his views prevent our daughters from attending this school?

Yes, I should have added that the school I was talking about was in a rural area, albeit a small town. As it was the only possible option for primary schooling there was no selection of any description, and the religious aspects were all very low-key. I don't think the Voluntary Aided bit made any real difference. Well, they did let the vicar judge the party hat competition, but that was about it

Wills - if I were you, I would just ask for the admissions form, and a copy of the admissions criteria. You can do that now, whether the offer is accepted or not. No need to discuss your DH's beliefs first!
Hope they accept your offer - good luck!

yes, my nearest non CofE primary school is flipping MILES away, but the moajority of the local/village schools are heavily weighted in favour of proximity/siblings criteria

Something that has been puzzling me: if I was Head of an over-suscribed religious school, and wanted to use the religious famework of the education to spread good things in the world, and perhaps increase the congregation of the church I was attached to, I would give places to non-believers in the hope that the children WOULD make up their minds in favour of becoming religious, on thr grounds that they certainly wouldn't under the influence of their feckless athiest parents!

quite right Blu
why should only the children of believers get the benefit of a religious education
they will be getting one anyway, at home
surely better to get the unbelievers
much more logical
(btw if you were the head of a religious school I would be very surprised )

Am torn between sniggering at image of Blu as head of over-subscribed religious school and awe at her perspicacity

It is a good point, actually, though, isn't it?

Thanks Blu

I know this thread is about a voluntary aided school, but thought it worth pointing out that for voluntary CONTROLED schools, also religious, the admissions criteria is set by the LEA rather than the Governors. Worth checking with any church school whether it is voluntary aided or voluntary controlled.

Tamum and Harpy - well, therelies the flaw in this process. There's me, doing my best to INCREASE the number of practicing Christians - but they would never give me the job (alledgedly). Watch out for my thread under 'employment issues' "Am I being discriminated against?". I would produce a better nativity play than DS's very devout teacher, I can tell you!

I suppose my lack of a teaching qualification - and experience - might count against me too, to be fair.

Uh, can I just say that I don't think it would go over very well if Vicars started giving prioity to no practising Christians. My mother is a truly devoted atheist. I swear if I brought her to church and gave her a glass of wine, she would start debating the existance of a God with the vicar. Anyway, as a result a very much want my children to go to a COE aided school. I want them to be surrounded be children of similar beliefs and I genuinely want them to be involved with church life. I think if you try populating schools with non church goers you willprobably find no one in your Sunday services. As if the vicar at the school we are going to apply to did this,I would be motivated to find another church to join.

I knew there was another serious flaw in the whole argument, Uwila, thanks for pointing it out.
You're right - all the parents who wanted a religious aspect would be in the 'involuntary' schools having fled the faithless masses in St Sainted's CoE primary, all the children of feckless athiests would be in the CoE schools, and where would we be then?

DO vicars set / oversee the admission of schools? I thought they just did the reference? Surely the govrnors and Head do it?

Blu, I think you missed my point. I said that the church attendance would suffer, not the school. And I think the vicar might have some pull on the board (not sure about this though).

Is there something wrong with sending christian children to christian schools, and then expecting that the school is populated with... Christians.

if it is voluntary aided it means the governors have some say in who gets in if the school is oversubscribed, if it is C of E they probably WIll give preference to church attenders

dd1 goes to a VA school and the vicar is on the board of governors

Yes uwila there is, when that school is the only one within 8 miles and it's my taxes paying for it.

I do think your views fail to take account of non urban settings where tehre is actually a reasonable chioce of schools - not everybody has that choice.

I'm in the same situation Prufrock. I ahve no choice over school, catchment and rurala rea 9ther's another but catchment means we can't use it). So my kids go to a Church school, which is nice enough but I am not a Chrsitian and everybody expects me to be glad that the school preaches creationism and lots of Church, and say 'well you send him there'.

But Uwila, if christian parents started to change churches on the grounds that the vicar was prioritising non-believers into the school, then SURELY those parents would seek different school, too? I was looking at the extended logic of your post.

Though, theologically speaking, I still think my approach is the more Christian, being based on the teachings inherent on parables such as The Prodigal Son.

It would be interesting to see if congregation levels did fall. Judging by my own DS's response to religion, he would be the first to sign up as a church attender if he had the influence of a CoE school. Though I think he is more drawn to the iconography of catholicism or at least high anglicanism.

Hmmm... I'm thinking I naively walked into a controversial topic here... unsuspecting foreiner here.

Yes, I can see that it would irritate me if there weren't any other choices in my area and I didn't happen to be Anglican.

Uwila - I have been feeling very guilty about this: yes, I was being 100% tongue in cheek since my post of 6:43 on Sunday, and you are right, it is a topic of some continued ....discussion...on MN!

But fun nevertheless

Besides I've now phoned up the school and they are well and truely oversubscribed i.e. they only take 30. Basically the secretary told me that they only way I would get dd1 in next year would be to get my vicar to sign something. I don't go to church enough to warrant him doing that and I'm not prepared to set up a lie. Her education is important to us but not to the extent of lying. So the only school that's left is the one further away and very poor. Is it unheard of to use a younger sibling to get and old one into a school. dd2 is 2 and will be at the school in 2 years we could apply and if successful can we then move dd1?

Moving house is right for us as a family but finding dd1 a school to attend is going to be interesting.

By the way we're moving to the Ramsgate/Broadstairs boarders.

it seems much simpler in Scoltand - the religious schools are properly part of the state sector (ie not voluntary aided) and have thier own catchment areas.

it deso mean though that the local RC school prbably has a majority of muslim kids - but they still have the priest going in on a weekly basis!

Having state relgious schools (in practice, almost all Catholic) does create its own problems - viz the sectarianims ever present escpaically in the West of of Scoltand. (But that is a presonal opinion)

Wills, I would guess that dd1 wuld count as an older sibling on the waiting list IF a place came up. But it's always worth staying on the waiting list for a school, as you never know when a child might leave.
Has your offer been accepted?