Church of England school- letter from vicar

[Venus2010]

I 've found a lovely school for my little boy and I really want him to go there. We are not in a catchment area, but reading carefully an admission I've found out that they are rating attending their church even higher than leaving in area. I am not a big church goer but to get to the school I am well prepared to sacrifice a couple of week-end mornings and attend church. In admission it's clearly says " Practising is defined as attendance at church for a minimum of once a month for a minimum of six months immediately prior to the application". If you follow this rule are you guaranteed that your church part of application form will be signed or it's still up to vicar to decide if you are "practicing" or not. I know that for some people it may sound mean to do things like this, but I am sure I am not the only one parent who becomes "believer" for the sake of a good schooling.

I would suspect that attending church 6 times (ie once a month for 6 months) won't be enough for the vicar to notice you and therefore he;s unlikely to sign the form. The CofE primary school my son went to (he's just done his GCSEs) banded church attendance into weekly, monthly and Christmas & Easter. The weeklies got priorities over the monthlies etc - but that was clearly stated in the admissions criteria.

I know that some Catholic churches have a system where you have to sign a book each week to show you were there - that stops the problem of a busy priest not noticing you when he's got several hundred people around each Sunday. Does the church you're thinking of have a similar system?

Also, some church schools state that you have to attend the school you're linked to, others you can attend any church (our form was signed by the Pastor of the Baptist church we attended).

What I'm trying to say is that you need to find out a bit more. And when you go to church you need to make sure you get noticed. Take your son with you so he becomes part of the Sunday School, for example. And a lot depends on how big and how busy the church is, and how many other people are playing the system in the same way as you.

If that is what the admission criteria says then that is what should be followed. It is how you can guarantee that you are noticed in the congregation that is the issue unless there is some kind of signing in book!

If you can evidence going to church 6 times in 6 months, once a month, and the vicar does not then sign the form then you can take that to an admission appeal as the school have broken the admission criteria for the school. Would love to be there at the appeal when the school are arguing the case not to admit, when it is the vicar who is being criticised and also quite possibly the chair of the governing body. It would be well worth finding out who is chair of governors as frequently VA schools it is the vicar- you can normally find out from the school website or prospectus.

Thank you for your replays .Yes, that exactly what adm.criteria says. Will try to make sure to be noticed :). I know that it wont guarantee me a place, that school is very popular and oversubscribed. But you never know, and if you dont try you definitely wont get there..

And... you never know.... you might find you actually enjoy attending the church services!!

Wasn't there a thread on here a little while ago where the OP was appealing as the church had stated she missed one month, when in fact she hadn't?

Does anyone remember?

downton yes that sort of thing can and does happen quite often - OP I would advise that you make sure you have a big margin-of-error in your attendance - i.e. go twice a month for 8 months - so that there's no chance that you'll be accidentally just below the threshold.

If you take your DS along each time, and he goes to Sunday school, they are supposed to keep proper records of children - this will almost certainly be part of their child-protection-policy so it's easier to have proof. You may have issues if he comes sometimes and doesn't come other times.

Another way to ensure there is proof is to make sure that you use a Gift Aid envelope for your gift into the collection plate each time you go. Then they will have an official record that you were there.

Oh and don't wear a Richard Dawkins t-shirt, or you might face religious discrimination for being a closet heathen.

(That's not a dig against you by the way, it's a dig against the ridiculous and DISCRIMINATORY schools admission system).