Catholic schools admissions

[Claifairy]

I was just wondering how Catholic schools admissions can vary from school to school even though they are under the same diocese.

I am looking at our local Catholic school ( I am Catholic) which is not putting looked after children as it's 1st admissions criteria only christened looked after children. Non christened looked after children are number 6 on the list and would probably not get into the school.

Most of the other Catholic schools are following the new guidelines and all looked after children are number 1. It seems to be the over achieving schools that have not changed their admissions.

My problem is that our adoption order may not be granted in time for the deadline and we would not be able to have our little one christened therefore unable to meet the guidelines set.

I am delaying my application to the last possible moment in hope that we get our court date and hold our little one's christening but am also wondering if there is any way of letting the school aware of our situation?

Can you ask the priest that will christen your child to write a letter addressed to the school, explaining the situation?

Good luck.

I suggest you write to the school admissions and let them know your (highly individual) situation. Also, let your parish priest know your situation.
Of course you can't get your LO baptised until the adoption is official so just keep everyone as informed as can be...
Good luck...

Why can't you have your child baptised? Is it part of the adoption process?

I'd be inclined to baptise myself and write to the school/priest that you have done it at home because you can't have a shurch do.

You won't be expected in your circumstances to have child baptised.

Faith schools set their own admission criteria. They are required to "have regard" to guidance from the diocese or similar but they are not required to follow that guidance. They must give priority to looked after children of the faith as a minimum. Looked after children who are not of the faith must be given priority over other children who are not of the faith but the school does not have to give them priority over children who are of the faith.

As this school is its own admission authority it is worth talking to them and explaining the situation. They may be willing to bend the rules a little for you but equally they may be concerned that failure to follow their published admission arrangements could lead to successful appeals from other parents, in which case they may not feel able to be flexible. I certainly would not be as confident as rainbowinthesky that the school will accept the child as baptised in this situation.

And I wouldn't follow sashh's suggestion of baptising the child yourself. Firstly, you need the agreement of all those with parental responsibility before having the child baptised, although in this situation that probably isn't a problem. Secondly, I'm pretty sure the school would not recognise a home baptism as valid, so it would be a waste of time.

I know of a very difficult to get into catholic primary that accepted a child who had been adopted so unable to be baptised till they were 3. This school only accepts pupils baptised within 6 months of birth.

Sashh - Till the adoption order is given little Claifairy is known by his birth name so is little man 'Jones' for example not little man Claifairy. We will get his new birth certificate after this and we will have full parental responsibility -it is presently shared with social services.

I was just hoping to carry on from his pre-school as the one attached to the Catholic school bend over backwards to get in him even though we applied late due to placement where the one attached to the state school just put up barriers and I felt were really uphelpful! I know this doesn't reflect the school but I would like him to carry on with the friends he has started to make.

I am hoping that as the pre-school stated is that 2009 was a quiet birth rate in this area as they were able to give all the children who applied to them the places they ask for compared to last year where they struggled to give everyone the hours they asked for.

I suppose I am a bit disappointed that the majority of the Catholic schools in the area have adapted their admissions to comply with the new guidelines for looked after and adopted children but this one has not. The new guidelines are meant to support looked after children and improve their potential from what may have been difficult starts in life!

I am just hoping the courts get a move on so I can sort all this out!

To which new guidelines are you referring? The only relevant change in the Admissions Code is that adopted children are now included in the looked after category. In all other respects the requirements for faith schools regarding looked after children have not changed. Has the Catholic church given guidance on this subject?

Only the one you have mentioned. Looking at our local authority admissions it seems all the other local catholic schools except one other have changed to allow non christened looked after children to become 1st priority. I just have to live near the one that hasn't!

It is no use to you I'm afraid, but I always thought it was spectacularly un Christian that some faith schools only place looked after children of the faith first. I know you must do what is best for your son, but the temptation to tell the school how you feel about this must be very strong. I wouldn't really want to send them there (but then I havent a faith....).

As they are a faith school they are in charge of their own admissions. Therefore they are permitted to do this as long as they administer their own criteria fairly.

The admission code does allow "catholic" looked after children to be given priority over non-catholic looked after children and there is no way around the admission criteria that has been set for the school.
As it stands little Claifairy is a non-catholic baptised looked after child and would be in category 6. Most oversubscribed catholic schools insist on seeing baptismal certificates and they have to be from a catholic church.
What you need to do is to stack the odds more in your favour. Firstly you obviously need to get the adoption completed as quickly as possible and definitely before the cut of date for applications. If you are late then you will get no priority. You need to get the adoption people fully aware of the timeline and the issues if they fail to meet the January deadline.
I am presuming that you are an active catholic and do go to the church associated with this school on a regular basis. If you do, then you need to talk to the priest about a "certificate of reception in to the catholic church". This is in effect for the kind of situation you are describing, a catholic family with a child that for some reason was not baptised as expected in the first months. It is not well know and therefore you need to act quickly to get firstly the priest on side and then the school governing body acknowledging that this is the equivalent of being baptised as catholic. Then your adopted child would be considered as a child baptised into the catholic faith and presumably also be considered as top priority as they have been a looked after child prior to adoption.

I suggest checking with the school to see if they accept children that have been registered for Baptism. This is the case with my the primary school that my DS attends. The supplementary application form is accompanied by a letter from the Parish Priest indicating that the applicant comes from a practicing family and has been enrolled for Baptism and will be Baptised at a future date.

If this is the case then you could apply to the school and enrol your son with a view to having the Baptism ceremony when the legalities have been completed.

I hope things work out for you and enjoy the new addition to your family.

Sorry - i have written son. I meant son or daughter