strict school admission criteria

[crazymaybe]

can someone help me?

dd will be going to school in sept 2008 (i know its ags away, but that only emphasises my desparation!). the school i want her to go to is apparently one of the top 5% nationally and a church school. i have requested some info re their admission criteria - but they wont give until June 2007. ive learnt that one of their main criteria is regular church attendance for at least 2 years.

i will have been attending for 1 and half years by admission time. what happens in this case. ive been participating in as many activities as possible, but have been warned by a friend that thiws will not guarantee dd a place.

any suggestions?

the other schools in the area generally leave a lot to be desired and private education is not a viable financial option at the moment.

one good thing is that the top admission criteria is the church attendance and not sibling or catchment area.

any top tips?

People get their knickers in such a twist about this one, we attended church twice before applying to the school having looked around it and made all the right noises to the head.
We then applied, there was a place and in she went. Her little sister started today.
We haven't been back to church since.
Don't worry.

I would suppose it would depend how strict the Vicar is. Church school near us is very strict on this and if you are a month under their limit at the time of application, they won't consider you - or you are considered on distance from the school like non-church attenders. I would call the school if I were you and ask them what their policy is, as if you get involved in lots of activities there they might make an exception?

if they follow the criteria properly, you will get a place if any are left after giving places to those who fulfill the first criteria. So it will depend on the amount of applications that meet the criteria.

They will have to do this because there will doubtless be appeals from people who don't get in, and if they can prove that the process was not carried out to the letter, they will be forced to have an overcrowded school.

And if the area is very competitive for places at this school, there will be parents 'clocking' who started going to church when!
Were you a churchgoer before you moved to the area - is there a vicar in a previous parish who could vouch for you, or are you a 'school place' member of the congregation?

Do you mean you've only been attending there since March this year, what about previously ? Was your dd baptised ? Does it have to be a specific church and do you live within the parish ? If your vicar (preferably one involved with the school) can vouch for you then fine and you can always write a covering letter outlining your Church involvement, if not or it is deemed insufficient then you may just have to take your place next in line behind those who do meet the 2 year criteria and possibly siblings and SEN. The basic criteria shouldn't change much from year to year so have a look at the LEA website to see what specific ones apply for next year's intake.

some schools are really strict about this. To get into the RC school, we had to have slips signed on Sundays to say that we had attended mass & then these were counted up to see whether or not you could be classed as a weekly attender. Only weekly attenders got into the school.
My children are at the CofE school (we ended up to far down on the waiting list for the RC school, despite have attended weekly, because the school was so heavily oversubscribed) and again you needed your form signed by your vicar, priest, lay preacher etc & the school & ministers are really strict about it.
There are no guarantees CMB, all you can do is give your DD the best chance possible. If you are a regular church attender & well within the catchment area, as long as there aren't too many siblings in the year you apply for - you'll have the best possible chance. Good luck.

Angelchill

im delighted for you that you had such a painless experience, but i get the distinct impression is that it is the exception rather than the norm.

this particular school has allegedly been known to ask pupils to leave based on their non-attendance at church and the perceived non-genuine faith.

imactually really enjoying being back at church. I have been to church on and off (say, 20 times a year) fof the last 25 years. Though i wouldnt say that i am affiliated with any one church in particular - and certainly wasnt involved in any way beyond collections and tea and biscuits after.

gegs 73

dd wouldnt have any real hope of getting accepted based on distance from the school. i live about 4-5 miles away from school/church; though still have many letters and bills sent to parents address, which is 2 miles away. i am not on either council register (two different local authorities), though full tax paid at both based on full adult occupancy. any ideas?

blu's posting sent shivers down my spine!

this area is really, really competitive for school places.

any ideas how vicar will know how long each indiv family has been attending? no register is taken as far as i am aware - though i suppose they could note each child in attendance during the Sunday school sessions. does anyone know of any other systems in place?

do you think that the two-year rule is a way of securing only the most committed? many other schools only require 3/6 months monthly attendance.

the school/church i am targetting does not require applicants to have been baptised. i notice that some families (including parents)do not take communion, but have a blessing instead, is this likely to have any bearing?

my honest answer is that i was a sporadic church-goer, now turned into a weekly attender - the catalyst being the pursuit of the school place.

dd baptised into a different denomination, though still christian. 3 generations of my family went to church where dd baptised. for my target school, their top admission criteria is church attendance (at least twice a month). so far we have missed 1 week since May, might this be taken into consideration?

i am happy being part of the church community, apart from the school thing, i do feel that i have gained spiritual growth. i look out for meetings and fund-raising events and anything i can get involved in, but im a bit worried that i might be perceived as 'sucking up' and over-doing my involvement.

i read somewhere else that another parent was considering meeting the preist and/or headteacher and 'coming clean'. what do others think? i do really believe in honestly being the best policy and all that, but i dont want to do anything that may possibly jeopardise dds chances.

I would have thought that it was very hard for them to enforce a 'two years at the same church' rule if they are LEA funded, as it would discriminate badly against people who had moved into the area within that time.

Through the church do you know anyone who has the admissions form for this year? We applied to a CoE school (for SN reasons) and the form asked us to say how long we had attended the church, or for a letter from a previous congregation. I am sure you could enclose a letter explaining that you had been a member other congregations.

I know nothing of all this really (and although the school was lovely and gave us a place we doidn't take it), BUT I do live on the outskirts of a school with an extremely competitive catchment where parents get to know each other simply to find out if they live nearer or further form the school than they do - and then use that info in appeals! (so and so got in but they live 44cm further away than we do if you take the route past the letter box...).

The new Education Bill (if it's passed - don't know the timescale)will require schools to follow the admissions code and not just "have regard to it", as they do now, - which apparently means that "faith schools could ask for evidence of a commitment to a faith but not use the degree of that - such as attending church weekly rather than fortnightly - as a basis for selecting their pupils." (quote from BBC News\Education)I would think you would have good grounds for claiming that this covers your situation.

Are you on something official such as the electoral roll of the church concerned ?

Your county council will send you details of schools in your area nearer to admissions time (that would be Jan 2008 where I live but some councils are earlier). It should have details of each schools criteria, no. of places available, no. of applications for those places from the previous year, etc. The school will give you a definite catchment boundary - beware! these can change. The DfES publish on their website SATs results (age 11 results are more important than the 7yo ones IMO) and there are also Ofsted reports to read.

When you have read all the information, go and see the schools judge each one on it's merits. And go nearer the time of your DCs admissions - a change of head or reception teacher can make a lot of difference to a school. If the church school you like has a small catchment area and a high number of applicants then either forget about it, apply to another school or be prepared to go on a waiting list and lose a place at your 2nd choice school. Don't let your DC know that it's a big deal!

We are, just, in the catchment for a state funded church school which, like yours is in the top 5%. We knew this year would have a high number of applicants so we looked at 2 other schools. Guess what? we preferred one of those - it was much more welcoming and the curriculum had much more variety than the 'top 5%' school which did little else other than Eng, Math & Sc. My DD1 has settled in very well, we're very happy with it. DS1 will also go there next year (and no terrible wait to see if we get a place because sibs are way up the list of criteria)!!!