The "Religion:" question on application forms...

[lily3]

I've been looking at the application forms for the pre-prep & prep schools in London. I have noticed that nearly all of them ask what religion the child/family is. Well, DH and I are atheist and I'm wondering if this might not go over well at these schools. I was born Jewish, DH Catholic but we no longer affiliate with either. Could this be a huge hindrance in getting DCs into prep schools? We are American and the religion question doesn't come up at all in private schools here.

Don't know about prep schools but the question is standard with the application in my area, can't vouch for others. I simply ticked the "none" box. Hopefully, and I REALLY mean that, this is just a standard question. Religion should not make a difference for a prep school.

I agree, I also thought that the UK was far less religious than America! I even noticed on some of the forms it asks for the child's "Christian name" - hmm...what does that mean?! Hopefully there is no bias there

Lily it is the monitoring all places have to do, you will find it on applications for housing, jobs and numerous other forms.

The 'christian' name thing is an old thing, my mum uses it and I hate it, you only have a christian name if you are a christian, and even then it might not be your actual name.

But then she crosses out anything on a form that says 'partner' and writes 'wife'. Not this is when she is filling in forms that she then hands to my dad to sign!

It won't be hindrance unless the school is a religious one and gives priority to people with a particular religious affiliation.

Many private schools were "church founded" but in this day and age the affiliation is loose and means nothing.

IMHO you should put down whatever is the truth/what you feel comfortable with. There is no shame in writing none or no affiliation for example.

I wrote "none" in this box on my DD's application to a catholic senior school. She got in! I don't really think it matters, and you should just put whatever you feel comfortable with. If the school require you to be of a particular religion before your child will be accepted, they will make it quite clear in their prospectus/website, and most private schools which would appear at face value to have a particular slant (eg St John's Catholic School) will usually say in their prospectus that they welcome children of all faiths, or none.

'Christian Name' just means 'First Name' - I suppose it's a bit like the UK will ask for 'Surname' rather than 'Last Name'. I'm about as militantly atheist as they come and I still say 'Christian Name' as it was what I was brought up with.

Unless you are applying to a Faith school, it really doesn't matter what you write in that box. I imagine it's for monitoring purposes or some kind of statistics rather than anyone thinking 'Blimey and this lot are xyz religion, can't have that.'

The UK is pretty secular these days so unless it's a school that positively discriminates in favour of certain religious groups then don't worry.

FWIW, DH and I write 'Humanist' in those boxes - it avoid the negative-ness of atheist but states our position. If it's something you don't care about either way then 'None' is fine.

I've always written none and one my children is at a very fancy school, it didn't seem to mind.Usually, they're asking to see if they can trick you into coming in to host a Diwali/Hannukah/Easter assembly etc.