What happens if you are not of a particular faith but you are out of catchment for non faith schools?

[wasabipeanut]

DH and I are house hunting at the moment and of course the nearby primary schools are always going to be part of the equation.

We have seen a fab house that we can actually afford but according to the council website it falls into the catchment for a C of E school and another Catholic school. Given that we are not religous would DS be refused a place anyway? I knwo some parents go to any lengths to get their kids into a faith school but I don't want DS to.

And does that mean we have to travel for miles to the nearest non denominational school?

Any advice most appreciated.

Phone up the council and ask. And look at the school websites for admissions criteria.

Most CofE schools, in my experience, tend to just be the local village school and have to take local kids, regardless of religion. DD1 starts at our local CofE school this year, and we're Jewish. The school prides itself on never having turned a child from the village down for a place. Catholic schools, I think, tend to be a little more selective and expect you to be a part of the church.

Phone the schools and ask them, or like Edam suggested, ask the council.

Most village schools seem to be attached to teh local church and so will nominally be a "faith" school. If you are looking in villages for houses you may struggle to find a non faith school (I think 5 (maybe 6) of our nearest 6 villages have nominally faith schools)

From personal experience it just seems to be "THE village school" not the C of E school. I think the local catholic schools are slightly more "catholic" IYSWIM...and I know that the catholic schools do attract more pupils from outside catchment as some parents specifically look for a catholic school - and as there aren't as many round here those that there are a sought after.

At the end of the day though it is the catchement school and I don't see anything special about it.

in our LEA you would prob end up with a place at the local c of e school, if the schools you prefered did not have a place for you

Hmmm ok thanks for that. I will make a few calls! The thing is this isn't a village - its a market town (Newbury actually) so I had no idea there would be so many churchy schools.

In my area the catholic schools have a policy of taking a certain percentage of children in the catchment area who aren't catholic

My dds are muslim (my husband is Muslim)and wil be going to the local C of E school. It is an excellent school and people choose it for different reasons, not just for the Christain aspect.