Wimbledon and church schools

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can i ask a really stupid question?!? .. We live in the catchment area for holy trinity church and our DD attends there once a week for toddlers. However, given our families all live out of london we are never at home at the weekends - hence we dont attend the church! Does this mean we can effectively say goodbye to getting her into Holy Trinity School? ..Ive heard on the rumour mill that unless you reguarly attend church dont even think about applying - is it really like that? ..thanks!!

Probably. Check the Local Education Authority website, which should have details of admission requirements for faith schools. Usually it is two years' attendance required.

Yes, check the criteria. Also check whether any of the places at the school are 'open' or 'community' places for which the criteria on church attendance do not apply - the C of E school where I'm a governor has a third of its places as community places and this is something encouraged by the Diocese of Southwark (I'm assuming that Wimbledon is part of the same diocese).

But, either way, attendance at toddler group does not count as attendance at church.

I know for a fact that a friend got her daughter in at Holy Trinity without any church attendance. She got in on the basis of distance (she lived very close) but she also told me that all children who were in the nursery that wanted a place got one and in the September they even had a few places unallocated. They certainly have some places that are awarded on the usual council admission criteria ie special needs, siblings, distance etc. So I would not worry at this stage and just contact merton admissions or the school who will explain the criteria.

There are 30 open places at HT, I'm sure. How far away do you live? They went up to about 1km away in previous years for the open places. Definitely do apply!