Time to change church schools?

[straggleyway]

Ive noticed a lot of threads on here discussing the complexity of getting into a church school. Why do we have this problem? If people want to go to church, fine let them. But why do we have religious organisations in charge of our schools when the country has become secular? Around 10% of the country go to a church, so (therefore) around 10% of schools should be religious - the rest should be secular.

im very impressed with the ideals of the Accord campaign www.accordcoalition.org.uk/

pls take a look and get your mp to consider this.

scienceteacher - agree with you all the way. People would not be riled ref selection criteria if the schools were not consistently higher performing than others. Most do (but do not have to) take 10% non Catholic or CoE children each intake to continue receiving some aid from the government - the rest comes from the church. Their approach, teaching and all round drive for success for the school is admirable. Example - I went to my DD1's inter school atheletic competition yesterday for years 3/4 - ONLY 14 school competed, and the top three were all church schools (Catholic if you're interested). Some schoold did not even bother to enter!. They have to have a selection criteria to ensure those children who attend are supported by their parents/carers in the christian way - which directly influences the overall success of the school.

littleolwine - I like you am very grateful for the church schools in this country and I have a DS at a c of e aided school.

However in your last line you have suggested you think Catholic schools should only let in children supported in the Christian way. I have noticed that the difference between the c of e school in my town and the catholic school is that the c of e school takes community first and then church places. If your DCs school takes only catholics it doesn't seem right to me. Surely the aim of a christian school should be to give a good education to a broader section of society than just catholics.

If a school has good teachers and the majority of children are from backgrounds where the parents care about their children education the school should be strong enough to take in a proportion of less well off children or children from non religious families without compromising the schools success.

happywomble I agree with you - I just didn't explain myself very well! yes they do take more than the min 10% and they celebrate nearly every religious festival there is - it is so encouraging and teaches the children to respect all faiths - its just that the faith for mass is Catholic. Their recent outstanding ofsted inspection report specifically mentioned how overwhelmed the inspectors were by the christian aspect of the school, and the many faiths represented.

Sounds a very good school littleolwinedrinker..do you think they would approve of your user name?!!

I don't think that church schools should be selective on family religious background. I can understand it in the case of Catholic schools, if catechism is on the curriculum, but in general I don't think selection really serves the community well. A mission-shaped school would look beyond the Christian community and reach out to everyone.

I teach in a Catholic school which is welcomes pupils from all or no faith, and all we ask is that they are sympathetic to the values of the school (which are all very heartwarming - respect, friendship, service, doing your best, looking out for less priviledged, etc.). We have lots of non-Christian families of faith (Muslims, Sikhs) who choose us precisely because we are a Catholic school - not for lessons on the Christian faith but because of our common values.

My boys are at a different Catholic school which accepts children from Christian families sympathetic to the Catholic faith (they don't check up). I think their criteria is too narrow and does not share the faith which should be a priority for all Christians.