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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

catholic parents, non-catholic school.

15 replies

hairyyoni · 27/04/2013 20:33

Would you as Catholic parents make the decision not to send your child to a catholic primary school and why?

OP posts:

Original poster

hairyyoni · 27/04/2013 22:08

Anyone?

OP posts:

AngiBolen · 27/04/2013 22:19

Yes, for many reasons.

Although I would much prefer a Catholic school.

DalaHorse · 27/04/2013 22:22

Yes. If the local Catholic school wasn't as good as the local non-Catholic school I wouldn't hesistate. I would feel confident I could still bring DCs up to be Catholics without going to a Catholic school.

Original poster

hairyyoni · 27/04/2013 22:29

My little one is in a very popular over subscribed Catholic school. Its not exceptional in its grades. There are some worse and some local better schools. Most people rate it as its a feeder for a good secondary Catholic school. My heart tells me to move my dc my head thinks im crazy and should be thanking god he is in the over subscribe very popular catholic primary

OP posts:

Original poster

hairyyoni · 27/04/2013 22:31

Im also very confident that I could teach my dc about our religion. Unlike most of the parents at the school gate (I had to tell a group of them what ash Wednesday was)

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QuintessentialOHara · 27/04/2013 22:33

Will you want a Catholic secondary education? If so, what does the admission criteria say about Catholic primary education?

MerylStrop · 27/04/2013 22:35

I would be thinking about the impact on your secondary options before making any moves.

Springforward · 27/04/2013 22:43

Yes, have just made this decision.

The school DS is going to is within close walking distance of home, he loves the idea that he might walk there on his own when he's a big boy. Also DS, DH and I also got a really good feeling about the place when we visited and we felt it would suit DS well.

There's nothing wrong with our parish primary, but it's a drive away and we just didn't get the same feeling from it.

DH isn't Catholic so had no axe to grind, and I felt comfortable with the one DS couldn't stop talking about afterwards! Plus it will make pre-work drop offs much easier.

Being Catholic is only one part of my life, I guess I am not massively devout any longer so that swayed things, and once I established that sacraments were arranged by the church rather than the school I decided that I could still raise DS in the tradition.

ReallyTired · 27/04/2013 22:45

I'm not catholic but my family are do attend church every week. We are Church of England and have chosen secular schools. I easily could have sent my children to a Church of England school as we attend church every week. I am not sure how relevent my views are to this thread.

Religion starts in the home. Being a christian is a 24 hour, seven day a week existance. The faith schools I went to as a child had appauling religious instruction. I was not taught about the loving compassionate side of God in school.

I chose community schools because its nice having the children's school in easy walking distance. Both the church of england schools have poor OFSTEDs.

My children have benefited from mixing with children from different ethnic groups and religions. We don't have church of england/ catholic work places (unless you work for the church!) so why should we have faith schools?

Ironically my children's community school is far more religious than the faith schools I attended.

Original poster

hairyyoni · 27/04/2013 22:55

To get dc into a catholic secondary they are meant to be in a feeder school. But this is so far down the line im trying to not let it cloud my judgement. Im not to keen on how they teach religion either. It seems to be more god fearing than god loving. The sacraments are also organised by the parish and not the school.

OP posts:

DalaHorse · 27/04/2013 22:58

Well, there's a few things to consider.

Do you definitely want your DC to go to this Catholic Secondary school you mention? Is it the best secondary in the area? Are there any other just as good secondaries in the area too?
Could you move your DC to another (better) school even if you wanted to?
Could you afford extra tuition to ensure your DS is kept up to speed if you think his primary is lacking somewhat?

MNBlackpoolandFylde · 27/04/2013 22:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Springforward · 27/04/2013 23:01

The feeder school system is in operation here too, but I'm not convinced we wouldn't make the same decision again when the time came for secondary applications so decided not to worry about that for now.

AngiBolen · 28/04/2013 16:56

"It seems to be more god fearing than god loving."

I think you should follow your heart and change schools.

Just because lots of other people want their DC to go to the school, doesn't mean it's the best one for your child.

MerylStrop · 29/04/2013 10:42

Well I can see your concerns over the "god-fearing" bit. But guess this goes with the territory of some Church Schools.

But don't dismiss your secondary options as a big consideration, even though it seems long distant. The time flies and often once you are on a particular path it is very hard to change it.

Have you got other options at secondary level?

The secondary school is MUCH more important than primary. My advice would be to keep those options as open as possible, if you can.

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