Cant get DC into a faith school

[angelfireabbey]

I know this is possibly the wrong place because it seems the whole of MN is atheist or totally secular. However, there is a lot of discussion by MNers here about getting intofaith schools ( often without any faith because they are good schools).

I am a little bit fed up with it. I take my faith seriously. I take my DC to church and we believe. I wanted my DC to have a faith education. There are only two faith schools where I live. They are oversubscribed by parents who seem to have suddenly aquired a need to attend church to get a vicars signiture.

I had my pastors signiture but we didnt get a place. So instead my DC is stuck in a state school where the teachers and other children laugh and say that they have " imaginary friends" ( or simply they are nutters!) and that they believe in fairly stories etc. Sound familiar MN parents? ( I bet you wouldnt say it if someone were of say Jewish or Muslim faith though would you?). It is offensive you know.

They have an atheist teacher who clearly knows next to nothing about Christianity.

I would settle for any faith school although there are no others ( of any faith ) within 40 miles of us.

So how do I get into one? I have asked my church community. I know they are doing their best and we are praying hard but I am sure some savvy non religious types must know more here. So I am asking.
I see thread on thread where parents are scamming the system.So how does a genuine person get in?

Thanks.

And yours is a genuine faith? Really?

But so is that of Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Jews, Buddhists, Rastafarians, Sufis etc etc etc

Which of you are right? Which one of your gods is the true one?

It's weird week on MN isn't it?

Why is the OP's faith in question? And why would her faith be less valis for others holding differing religious beliefs?

We all know people feign religious faith/observance to gain entry to high performing faith schools.

OP's DD has had a tough time. It sounds like she has a reason for a serious formal complaint.

OP is also aggrieved that, despite she and her DD having genuine religious faith she was unable to secure a place at a faith school. I can see why that would rankle.

OP hasn't said that she believes a faith school would be Utopian and free from any difficulty, ever, only that her DD's religion would not be mocked there.

(OTOH, OP I do think you are a bit confused about the line between RE and religious instruction, even in faith schools)

I can't see what everyone is being so weird about. If there is a backstory can someone please fill me in?

Have you looked at Quaker schools OP? If you felt comfortable with boarding, generous bursaries are available, but you have probably missed the boat until 13+ (Yr 9) now.

But if she does go there now of course, she will have a history and a label following her

For the record, as a teacher I can assure you that this does not happen. In every school I work in we have no information provided as to why a child has moved unless there is a specific benefit to our teaching to know.

It's because faith schools are an insane anachronism. But since we have them, it is understandable that people of deeply held faith might have an issue with the current admission arrangements TBF.

Yes, but first and foremost, they are state schools providing the population with a state education. If they become any more selective in their intake then they are failing to do this and should not be state schools.

I am another who believes that faith should be taught at home or in the church. RE teachers are not there for personal religious instruction so their faith is irrelevant as to how good they are at their teaching.

Your DC's RE teacher sounds like a bad teacher but that is not as a result of being an atheist.

My Dad's a minister, we go to church and many of my relatives are ministers, lay preachers and there's even a few missionaries. I have no plans to send my DD to the local faith school though. It's only 1/2 a mile away but there's a perfectly good primary school 300 yards away. I would like my DD to go to the same multicultural school as the neighbours so she can embrace a diverse upbringing.

We already attend church so my DD has a knowledge of the scriptures and she will be brought up in a Christian household until she decides she wants otherwise. I fail to see why attending a faith school when a child is already being brought up in the loving home with a faith is paramount and cause so much grief.

FWIW, if your child doesn't get into a faith school, perhaps it's all part of God's wider plan and who are we to question his plans for us all?

It's not that they should be more selective but they purport to select on faith and they do it in a way that is inaccurate open to abuse. Better methodology of selection to better fulfil the stated aims of selection is all I'm arguing for.

'Truer' selection by religion might reignite the debate on the validity of the system. Support for faith schools is kept artificially high by the possibility of popping along to church once a fortnight for two years and thus gaining a place.

Conversely, if faith communities actually gained places for 'their' children in faith schools more reliably, they might be more inclined to fund them, particularly if this brought them greater control.

It would be an improvement on the current nonsensical mish-mash.

I haven't reead the whole thread but here goes anyway.

Faith selection criteria for state schools are so wildly unfair that IMO it is perfectly justified to fake a faith to get your child in.

I wouldn't do it myself but that's only because I couldn't stomach the pro religious teachings and I am lucky enough to have other options for my DC.

i don't therefore have a lot of sympathy OP. IMO there is no reason you, just because of your genuine belief, should get priority over other parents willing to jump through the same hoops (ie church attendance) even if they don't really believe. I think it's utterly wrong for church attendance to be a requirement for admission of any state school but whilst that remains the system then any parent willing to conform to those rules should be equal.

I haven't read all. but why can't you apply for a faith school ? my dds go now to a faith school which as I live in London is a 6 stop and walk. it takes 45/60 mins each way. but it is a faith school and outstanding.

Sorry! I understand your 'genuine faith' comment now.
Still don't agree with faith schools though, but the whole 'getting religion to get a school place' thing makes my blood boil. But y'know- if any of it is true, they'll get their just desserts after death...

Sorry! I understand your 'genuine faith' comment now.

Oh thank goodness, I thought you'd malfunctioned Nerf

I thought some Faith schools were partly funded by the Church (at least some voluntary aided or voluntary controlled schools) Is this not the case?
Also this country is officially a Christian country so it seems reasonable to me that a Christian religion should be taught in state schools. Children of other religions or no religion can opt out.

Yes they are 3kids - 10% I believe. The church also owns the land such schools stand on, so even if as a country we wanted to get rid of faith schools, the government would have to pay very large sums of money to the church to buy the land back.

10% of capital costs, titchy. Not the running costs, and not most of the capital.

Queenofthepirates - well said.

I too was disappointed when my children were not offered places in our nearest Cof E school, but as you say, they have the choice to have faith because of how we as a family chose to live our lives, spend time in church and taking part in associated activities.

I have no problem with families of 'no faith' or 'other faiths' getting exposed to Christian faith and doctrine within the context of a Christian faith school - for some it may be their only exposure!! Agree it is very weird that state funded schooling could even be connected with particular faith but I do understand this is due to who owns buildings/set up schools originally etc...

It does sit uncomfortably when people vehemently oppose the faith, however, and choose to withdraw their children from activities which are at the core of the school. Or ridicule Christianity personally but are hypocritical with church attendance to get their children into a 'good school'.

Just as we discuss what my children have been taught at school and they are encouraged to make up their own minds about the information they learn at school, I would hope that all children who attend faith schools (or otherwise) are encouraged to explore their own spirituality.

OP - there is definitely no place in schools for poor treatment of individuals for ANY reason, and therefore you have valid issues to raise!!

3kids there is no opt-out, other than going down the fee-paying route, as all maintained schools in England must have worship collectively every day. Indoctrination has no place in state-funded, universal education IMO.

Our nearest 3 state-maintained schools were faith schools; my children go to independent schools. I don't want my children worshiping anything, I want them to make up their own minds when they're old enough to do so, and have learnt enough about all the options out there.

There are two very separate issues here.

1. Your DD has been treated very poorly. I am an atheist and think that all religion is nonsense. However, I would NEVER say anything approaching that to a believing child. If she believed in fairies or unicorns, I wouldn't either because she is a child and you don't treat children like that; horribly, in front of her peers, in a school.

2. Religion, particularly Christianity, is all-pervasive in our society and shouldn't be. If my child were educated in the UK I can choose either academic excellence and a faith school, or a poor education in a non-faith school but still have DD subjected to collective worship or exclude her from this, as I was. Walking out of assembly every day was super-fun as you can imagine. Thank goodness my friend was Jewish or I would have been making that walk alone. Religion has no place in school except for a cultural lesson. None at all. Discriminating against children based on their parents' religion is wrong. It didn't work in your case, according to you because decent, atheist parents have to lie to get their children a good education. Think of how that must seem to them...

so even if as a country we wanted to get rid of faith schools, the government would have to pay very large sums of money to the church to buy the land back.

Or we could let the churches/mosques/synagogues/gurdwaras etc buy them fully into private ownership and build new state schools with the proceeds?

If my child were educated in the UK I can choose either academic excellence and a faith school, or a poor education in a non-faith school

Teeny bit of an exaggeration MrsT?

MrsTP- they're hardly decent if they lie, and fake faith to cheat the system!

I do always wonder how parents explain the dishonest shenanigans to the DC. Not just church attendance that stops as suddenly as it started but rented flats, fake addresses.....

Excellence was probably an exaggeration.

Yes, decent. If the system is rotten and discriminatory, lying is perfectly fine.

I thought you'd had the good sense to emigrate MrsT?