religious independent schools, do we need to be religious to go?

[frootloop]

we have been looking into independent schools for ds and found a few that we like, but they are nearly all C of E or Catholic.

we are not religious so does that mean he won't be accepted if we apply or does it not matter that much these days?

I would imagine most will be happy to accept your ds (our local Catholic independent is probably 2/3 Catholic, then mostly C of E, then a few other religions too) but just be aware that they are likely to want you to accept the ethos of the school - whether that means prayers each day, or attendance at school services, or whatever. Probably depends very much on what you would accept as well, ie are you not particularly bothered either way about religion, or would you object to your son actively participating in prayers etc? Good luck.

ta muchly, i have no objection to him attending services, praying etc, i just didnt want him indoctrinated (if thats the right word)

If you are willing to pay then I don't thin they would mind really. Be aware of what gobbledy said though, a new head bought ds's school last year, he's a devout catholic and the only re that goes on there is the one where he's pretty much trying to convert all the children to the catholic church IYSWIM. We're going as I'm pagan. Not my cup of tea.

What do you mean by indoctrinated? I would suspect that a Catholic or CofE school will refer to the existence of God as a fact, for example.

The CofE schools might not mind so much. They do prayers at assembly and teach them about world religions. Every now and then they have a service and they are taught things like the Our Father.

However the catholic schools are more strict. If it's a good catholic school then there will be jostling for places and the school will prefer catholic parents above other parents.

Some parents do get their children baptised to get them into a religious school, even going so far as to go to church just to show their faces. But be aware that if you choose to do this you will be making promises you don't believe in and your children will be taught how to pray and to believe in not only God, but Jesus as God's son too.

Have a word with them. The CofE one might be more relaxed. But if they are good schools then every parent will be fighting for places.

If you show an interest in your child and encourage them in their schoolwork, then it doesn't matter what school your child goes to, they will do well with your support behind them.

I don't think any (reasonably mainstream) independent school would have a requirement on you to be members of that church, but it means that the school will do things in assembly, RE, services etc which are based on that denomination. And if you've accepted a place there on that basis, you will be expected to accept that's the way they do things, so you need to be broadly sympathetic to that denomination or you'll find it awkward.

The catholic one might also do preparation for the sacraments with the pupils. Obviously you can opt out of this, but if the majority of pupils are catholic then your child might feel left out whilst this is going on. They will expect parents and children to attend church services and join in religious ceremonies. So be prepared to answer a lot of questions if this is what you choose to do.

As a practising catholic I am against faith schools, I think faith should be kept in the home, for the parents to teach children, and schools should concentrate on education. I send my two to a CofE school but it's not particularly religious at all. They get their religious upbringing at home.