Closest schools all CofE

[PrettyInDecadence]

DS is due to start school in sept 2013 so we're checking out the local primary options and I've noticed that of the 6 schools within a 5 mile radius of our house, 4 are CofE. Is the religious aspect a big part of life at a CofE school? Would our DS be the only child not being a practicing Anglican or will there be many non religious (or followers of other faiths) families at the school? Would you go for the closer religious school or the further away non religious one?

I had same problem - but went for closest CofE -both were village school and pretty much all the kids in the village went - so by no means all religious or Christians -
you can get non-CofE school which are pretty Christian as well
I would visit all and also consider come application which ones you have a reasonable chance of getting into - depends on the area very much

We had this problem too - all the primary schools near to us are CoE. My DTs (in Reception) have had a couple of visits to the local church for special school services - harvest festival, xmas and easter - and a couple of times have come home spouting nonsense (eg, Jesus got shot but then he came back to life...)

As an atheist I was worried that they'd have bonkers religious dogma forced on them every day but I can honestly say that it hasn't been an issue at all. I have done a bit of a number on them at home, saying some people believe in Jesus, some people don't and they can make up their own minds when they're older. They understand that mummy and daddy think that the bible stuff is an interesting story and we can learn a lot from it, without actually believing that it's a true story...

And don't forget that ALL schools have a duty to provide a daily act of collective worship - though in practice I'm not too sure this actually happens.

yes that trut tiggytape - at least one of the CofE schools gave preference to children in the parish before those who went reguarly to church - so it was more about being the local school

Ds goes to a CofE its fantastic, not overly religious at all. I have no complaints at all about it.

Although I'm suprised we don't all hiss as we cross the threshold as we've not been to church in years as we like our sleep sundays

Pretty - I don't know how much it has changed, but when I went to a CofE school we had muslim and hindu kids in our class who would just not go to the bits that were religious.
I was an athiest from an early age - but loved all the stories and songs about the bible. Didn't believe a word of it, ever! I think it's pretty tricky to transfer those values onto your DC if the parent is not a practicing Christian.

HTH

We traipse a mile and a half past 5 other schools to reach the nearest non-faith school.

Two of the schools are Catholic so wouldn't contemplate allowing us heathens through the door, and one of the CofE schools is always heavily oversubscribed and lots of people feign belief to get in. The other two are more inclusive in terms of intake, but quite heavy duty in terms of the way that faith permeates teaching and curriculum.

It's not the main reason we chose it, but it was a factor. To us it was important that we as parents were able to get behind the ethos of the school, which wouldn't be possible when they are all taking their teddies to be baptised and singing songs about being sinners etc (as agnostic friends whose kids attend report).

It all depends on the individual school, though so you need to go and see and speak to some other parents. Your choices at primary might also affect your choices at secondary level too.

That's put me at ease a bit! Will definitely go and look at all of the schools and also see the admissions criteria.

Same situation here all local schools CofE, not uncommon in rural areas.

Ours claims a Christian ethos, but except for having Xmas and Easter special assemblies in church it doesn't make much odds.

Not sure church attendance is even mentioned on admissions criteria. At the moment they are so desperate for pupils I don't think they'd care if pupils worshiped the devil and live 20 miles away.

We're in a similar situation and opted for a faith school that claimed to be on the lower end of the religious spectrum.

A year on I am pleased with the school and dd has made great progress. but we have just had to accept that she will come home saying things that we don't believe and wouldn't teach her ourselves.

There has been one church visit, not many prayers but lots of bible stories. I don't have a problem with this in theory but some of them have been told in too much graphic detail IMO for a reception class. She also piped up that Jesus died for our sins when we attended a Catholic baptism.

However, although the religious side doesn't sit easily, I am certainly not prepared to send her to a poor school simply because it is non-faith. We have had lots of conversations about respecting people's beliefs and coming to your own conclusions!