Applying for faith schools when we haven't been to church for ages

[WildWombat]

We're a C of E family, and before we had two DCs we'd go to church regularly. When our eldest was the only one we'd take him at least once a month. Then covid happened. Then DD arrived. Apart from her baptism we haven't been to a service for over a year now, because daily life is just so chaotic and it's so hard to get organised and out of the house. I really worry that this will be held against us when we come to apply for faith schools. We really want DS to go to a C of E school because of the shared values, but I worry they'll just think that we are fibbing when we we say we are a religious family because we don't have a track record of regular church attendance in recent years. Posting here rather than the primary schools board because I'm interested in hearing from people who are genuinely religious like us who may have found themselves in the same position. Should I be worried about this, or are C of E schools likely to take into account our long-term history?

Honestly school won't care if you don't go to church or not. As long as the child is baptised and lives in the defined area etc then you'll be fine. Obviously if the school is oversubscribed there is a chance your child may not get in. It's normally kids in care first, siblings who already attend the school and then the children who are baptised and live in the area.

What does their official admissions policy say? Many church schools do not have a religious requirement for entry. Can you ask the school or the local authority?

It depends on the school. Some oversubscribed schools were doing sign in sheets for parents to prove attendance in the pre school years. Seems extreme to me.

Locally you just have to send baptism certificate. I didn't go to church at all until my eldest did first Holy communion then I got into it.

Just apply. What else can you do?

C of E schools are NOT faith schools, they are church schools - open to all in the community, regardless of faith.
check the admissions criteria - they will be really clear. Attendance generally is current not historic

Our CoE school has dropped the church attendance form the past two years. They were finding, in common with lots of church schools, that families found attendance during covid almost impossible. Either their church was closed or zoom services just didn't work with little ones.

Perhaps try to make an effort to attend once a month from now on if that's what you want to do.

It depends where you are. Actually a lot of primary schools are CofE and in some parts of the country it is hard to get a place at a school that ISN'T religiously affiliated. There are patches where there's a really good school that happens to be CofE near to a larger capacity school that isn't. My SiL got my nieces and nephews into a CofE school with a church that absolutely had to keep a formal attendance register because there were so many families competing for the limited places. However, all the CofE primary schools near me admit on distance alone, without a religious category in their admissions process despite their Christian ethos.

If the school has an entrance criteria for religious affiliation it can has to be on the basis of measurable, provable fact. They can't base it on an arbitrary assessment of the strength of your beliefs. It has to be things like whether or not the child has been baptised (sometimes with a specification that this must be within x months of birth, sometimes with a specification that a religious dedication ceremony without baptism as practiced by Christian denominations that believe in adult baptism) and how often you have been to church in the last x years. Due to covid most churches are counting "participation in church online" as being the same thing and there will be records from those online services about who participated if its a church in an area where this matters. It would be wrong for them to treat your family any differently from any other family with no recent history of church attendance.

Some prioritise those baptised, others if baptised and regular attendance (evidenced by priest in charge), others baptised, practicing regularly and living in parish.

Baptised is generally all that’s needed.

As PP have said, is faith attendance part of the admissions criteria? If so, you need proof such as a letter from the priest (the admissions policy will specify the evidence required). If not, it doesn't matter whether you attend at all.

The problem is we're going to be moving house, and so the chances of there being a place mid-year at a C of E school in exactly the catchment we move to are probably not good. We'd have to try and get his name of the waiting list of various c of e schools round about our new house, and so we have the disadvantage of not being regular attendees at ANY church let alone the local one, AND we won't necessarily be in catchment 😞

You need to check what you mean by c of e school. For example, our local primary is a c of E school but it takes anyone - catchment area is far more important. There is a nearby secondary c of e school however that lots of people are desperate to get into. They allocate a certain number of places to churchgoers. In their admissions policy it says you may get one of those places with a recommendation from the vicar plus 3 years of attendance (doesn't have to be yours or their local church).

check tje admissions policy of the schools!

If there are several in close proximity you may find demand for faith spaces is not so high. How old is your ds? If there is an in year vacancy in the right year group they have to offer it regardless of meeting criteria.

That's interesting! He'll probably be at the end of reception, maybe just starting year 1. Depends when we complete.

We moved areas and needed schools with in-year places. Tbh, they either had them or they didn’t - churchgoing criteria wasn’t relevant at that stage, it’s more for oversubscription in admissions at Reception/Year7 that it counts. As PP say, if the school has a place they are obliged to offer it. If not then you’re on a waiting list and I think religious affiliation will be well down the list of criteria that affects your place on the list.

That said, the CofE village primary school we ended up at had one transfer place available for one child and their sibling would need to be admitted on appeal/over their numbers and they told us that a churchgoing or statement of ‘sympathy with Christian aims’ from our local vicar in the place we were moving from would be helpful. My DH doesn’t believe (& therefore doesn’t attend church!) and I only did sporadically with/without young kids but the vicar where we were was happy to write a general letter of recommendation saying our family was ‘known to the church’ or something like that.

I hadn't considered that about mid year places having to be offered regardless. That's really encouraging! I just want to move and get him settled now!

You need to check the specific school’s requirements. Lots of people saying there’s no church attendance requirement anymore and it’s not the case at many schools. C of E infant school near me gives highest priority to those with a years attendance - and signed form - at one particular church. C of E secondary school I went too now asks for 2 years attendance with proof and highest priority to those at C of E churches, and most places go to those who can prove this. Though lower priority to those from other faiths or none.

Some misinformation in this thread.

There are many variables here.

The main thing to keep in mind is, generally speaking, if a school has spare places then any child can have one. Churchgoing, catchment, distance etc. are only relevant if the school is oversubscribed. And even then, you must read the individual schools' admissions policies, which should be on the website. They vary a lot. Churchgoing in CE schools is not always in the oversubscription criteria.

I hope you get what you want

It really depends on the school. We used to live near a school where the vicar or whatever would check regular attendance. If you just baptised your kids, you didn't stand a chance.

Check the criteria

If you will be moving away from the Church that you have had a history of involvement with I imagine there would be no harm in asking an appropriate member of their staff to give you a short letter describing your attendance and service etc. Obviously I have no idea of their criteria but Christian or not all the schools we have been part of appreciated families that are active participants in their community.

I have never heard of needing to be baptised or attend church regularly to get into a C of E school. Round my way they are just the local primary/infant/junior village schools and everyone goes there.

I think that you are more likely to get a place mid year than at the start of the school year, that is my experience anyway.