Options after being denied place at nearest secular primary school - home ed or attend faith school against our wishes?

[Outdoorsmammy]

not sure if anyone can help as it’s quite niche but looking for any advice. We live in a fairly low population area and generally everyone here gets their first choice of primary school regardless of catchment area (I’ve never met someone who hasn’t). We put the school my son already attends preschool at as our first choice but unfortunately he just missed out on the last spot to our neighbour. The school were as shocked as we were and advised us to appeal which we have but I don’t have high hopes. This school is the second closest school to us but also the nearest secular school. Pretty much every other school near us is a faith school (including the one he’s been offered a place at) but we feel very strongly about him having a secular education. We did have faith schools as our other choices but only because it was so unlikely that we would be faced with this issue that I definitely downplayed it. I feel very stupid about that now and wish I’d just listed every non-faith school within a 20mile radius. I have contacted a couple other schools that are further away than we would have liked just to see but they are full for September.
I know children can be removed from collective worship in school which was originally my backup plan but the school he’s been offered a place at seems to involve religion in everything which makes me very uncomfortable.
If the appeal is unsuccessful then I feel like my only option is to defer his start date and hope a place comes up at some point. I don’t mind the idea of home ed except that I’m also expecting another baby in late Sept/early Oct AND also have a 2 year old who’s only in part-time childcare so it would be a lot.
I believe children can legally stay at preschool until the term after they’re 5 but I’m worried this wouldn’t be fair on him as he’ll see all his friends move up to reception.
looking for stories of people managing to get places at secular schools when originally denied, or being forced to attend faith schools against their wishes and finding it ok, or ideas for doing home ed with other small children in tow.

thanks :D

@Outdoorsmammy I have not commented but was watching this thread as, like you, I am not a fan of faith schools.

So that's great news, happy to see it. Was it accepted bc of the faith issue? or do they not say? Either way all the best to your DS.

Fabulous news and I hope he has a great time at the school.

That's great news! Congratulations!
Yes, its really sad that every school seems to have big compromises, it's such an important environment for our children so it's frustrating to have to compromise so much.

This!

My dc have been to cofe schools where it has been v light touch and my friend's kids go to a non denominations school but everything is quite Christian based.

All schools here have to have an act of daily worship etc.

This is not true. My child is just about to leave state primary and has never done prayer (thankfully).

That's not the point though @FlatStanley50 (besides being a sample of one). The point is, if they did, you couldn't object.

There is legislation requiring schools to comply

https://assembliesforall.org.uk/about/law-on-assemblies/

From the link you provided - ‘Finally, the law on the subject of collective worship is not enforced, and not inspected by Ofsted in England. In practice, many schools choose not to follow the law in this area, and hold faith-based assemblies less frequently, if at all’

But the point is as @Phineyj says.

You can select a non religious school but if they have a very keen religious HT for eg then your child may be exposed to a lot of religious assemblies, daily grace etc. Anyone complaining would be referred to the legislation.

I understand that, but you may also, like us, select a non-denominational school where you KNOW the HT is not religious and the school does not do daily prayer. They are trying to imply that all schools in the UK do daily prayer, which they don’t.
I’m also aware this can change if the HT changes.

Why on earth did you list faith schools if you are so against them? You definately should've just listed every secular school nearby if thats what you want for your child and it means so much to you. Even if a place would mean changing house/ job to accomodate it.

You moved to an area with lots of faith schools, listed them in your preferences, and are now claiming its discrimination to be allocated one of your choices? What did you expect to happen?

Other parents will have made sure they get their preference by being very much inside the catchment of their prefered school (and presumably that means a smaller house) and listing only schools they would be willing to accept.

The element of choice isn't really there in a lot of cases though. Our nearest primary is not affiliated to a church but was massively oversubscribed when we were needing to apply. Of the three next nearest, two are CofE and one is community but known to have a religious head.

A family member is a vicar and when their DC were in primary, they took over the local failing secondary, gave it a religious name, got some CofE funding and sent both kids to it. Now it is massively improved, but all the secondary age DC in that area are now getting lots of religion at school unless they send them right out of area, partake in the grammar system, or go private. Did they do a good thing or a bad thing? Not sure, but it was a perfectly legal thing!

I can’t help but assume you’re choosing to be intentionally inflammatory here as I have clearly already explained all of the ‘points’ you are making.
a) we are military - we did not choose to move here and cannot simply ‘move house’
b) there are no other secular schools within a reasonable distance
c) we did not expect him not to be offered a place at his first choice as it is not usually oversubscribed and we know NO ONE here who has ever not gotten their first choice
d) lastly, because the chance of him attending a faith school was so slim, we initially convinced ourselves it wasn’t a huge deal.

Please read answers fully next time you choose to bash another parent online

Being military so unable to pick where you live is a massive drip feed OP. You well know it changes things completely, making your initial post pretty misleading.

Round here theres loads (8) of secular schools in big town. But many villages only have 1 school which is sometimes coe/ catholic. You should hear the complaints! Like it hasnt been that way for decades before they bought the house.

Loads of schools prioritize military families already. Surely thats a better national policy than trying to stop other parents getting choices.

@Phineyj The only way the CofE takes over a school is via the academy route. A vicar doesn’t make that call. The LA needs a sponsor and it was the CofE who came forward. Certainly seen this in my LA but no one is breaking down doors to get into it though.

If the schools have spaces around the op, I’d take CofE over RC. I’m not sure military families can make the numbers over 30 in YR but I’d look into that and appeal. The faith grounds are a bit besides the point.

Id love to know where these schools that prioritise children from Military families during admissions are.

At one point, my DD didnt attend school for two months while the council found her a place. Apparently not an uncommon situation (although an extreme one). Usually its just siblings sent miles away in opposite directions. They didnt care about school denomination either.

The school gets token extra funding once the child is admitted, but its not much.

Being military isnt enough to go above ICS either (but OPs case wasnt ICS, snd im happy for her that she won it)

As the attached shows, its families returning from overseas. Not ones established here already with an address.