feels like my son is being punished for our religious stance

[LiloLils]

...this is a bold statement but its how I feel.

There isn't any point to my post but the subject is keeping me awake so thought it might help to write it down on a public forum and see if I'm not the only one who is saddened by this.

Basically my DH and I are non religious. I was brought up catholic and he was brought up church of England but somewhere along the line we both lost our faith and sided with reason. Myself particularly...I have a bit of a problem with organised religion. there are personal reasons for this.

Long story short. If we stick to our guns and don't get our boy christened into either Catholicism or church of England, he is going to have to attend the worst school in the borough.

It just really angers me. Why in this day and age do we have to jump through hoops, lie about our beliefs, and subject our children to learning fairy tales as fact, in order to get them into a "good" school?

I have never been so torn about a decision in my life. I'm being pressured by family and friends to get him christened just to get him into a good school. They make me feel guilty by saying things like "do it for your child. I'd do anything for my child...wouldn't you?" It just feels all wrong.

[JakeBullet]

OP have you checked out the OFSTED report for the school your DS will attend? There are big changes and it's no longer good enough for a school to score "satisfactory"...they have to be achieving "Good" or "Outstanding" and as such I think there are going to be improvements in all schools.

It IS hard, was just on another thread where the OP is considering moving and renting for a year just to get her DD a place at a good school. She is being roundly condemned for this but it is easy to judge if the local schools around other people are good and they have choice.

[LiloLils]

Sorry for lack of response on my part. I've been reading with interest but I'm unwell so haven't replied. Thanks all for replying. It's giving me food for thought.

The school is graded a 3 in the ofsted report...

[specialsubject]

" I said church goers (or those who want a church school) are more likely to have strong family values and good discipline at home"

so those who don't spend time with fairy stories are more likely to be feckless individuals with kids running riot?

[seeker]

Oversubscribed faith schools are selective. Any selective school gets better results than a non selective school, regardless of the selection criteria.

Faith schools which are not oversubscribed do no better than a non faith school in a similar catchment.

[LizzyDay]

It might be that religious families tend to have better-behaved children than badly-behaved children (to make a gross categorisation).

But it doesn't therefore follow that non-religious families will tend to have badly-behaved children, does it? The thing about faith schools being 'good' because of their 'ethos' makes me angry.

Also, on another point, I would bet that there are more faith school places than there are genuinely religious families. So the other places are taken by people playing the game, or by those who happen to fulfil the criteria (baptism etc) but actually aren't that bothered about the faith element in schooling, they are just happy that their children qualify to get into one of the better schools in the area in an 'I'm all right Jack' kind of way.

[mummytime]

Lots of faith schools, especially C of E ones, are full of non-C of E families. Its only in places like London where they enforce/try to enforce such strict criteria.
However if parents have to jump through hoops to get their kids in, then they are likely to be more "involved" parents once their kids are there.

There are also Faith schools which are not desirable; in the town I live no-one from my children's C of E school applied to the local C of E secondary (some do go regularly to the Catholic one though).
In my LA, the school which pretty much no-one wants their child to go to is C of E.

[LizzyDay]

I also bet that organised religion (to put it broadly and crudely) is rubbing collective hands in glee about the fact that a shortage of school places gives them the opportunity to practically force bums back onto pews (which otherwise would not be there).

[backonlybriefly99]

LiloLils, mostly it's not the school, but the child that matters. If you send him to the non-religious school and give him your support he will be fine. The fact that you are agonising over it means that you are a parent who cares and that is the the magic ingredient, not the school.

You will also be in a better position with his teachers than at a religious school where you may always be an outsider.

[PedroPonyLikesCrisps]

Lots of faith schools, especially C of E ones, are full of non-C of E families. Its only in places like London where they enforce/try to enforce such strict criteria.

Not entirely true, they do it where I am too and I'm nowhere near London.

[technodad]

I really feel for you, and this situation makes me massively angry. My DC go to a non-selective local C of E school, but we would much rather that they went to a non-faith school, but there are none locally. However, your situation is much worse.

If I were you I would be very very angry, but personally I wouldn't compromise and get my DC christened because I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Not an easy decision though. And the only solution is to make all our state schools secular. Sadly this is very unlikely at the moment!

You want the best for your kids, and the only way you can achieve it is to compromise on your values. You are damned if you do, and damned if you don't (but I suppose you will only be damned by other people's imaginary friends and not by anything real).

[seeker]

"Lots of faith schools, especially C of E ones, are full of non-C of E families. Its only in places like London where they enforce/try to enforce such strict criteria."

That is not true. They enforce them anywhere once the school becomes over subscribed.