In year admission application in a faith school - baptism?

[vkyyu]

We want to move our dd to a school that is closer to home as it happens now one of the local schools got a space for my dc's year. However it is a faith school and we are nor religionist family although I went to a faith school long time ago. If the school has no one else to take the place will it let my dc fill the space or will it just rather left the place empty. I like to hear from parents with relevant experience and particularly faith school governors and teachers. Thanks

Do you know for sure that they have space available?

Faith schools usually have entrance criteria along the lines of

1. baptised/practicing children in the parish
2. siblings
3. baptised/practicing children outside the parish
4. non- baptised children in the parish

etc.

Admissions (and the waiting list) are based on their entrance criteria - if there are children waiting for a place in categories 1, 2, 3 and you are in category 4, they will get the place first. If there is no one above you waiting for a place, you'll get it.

Either call the school or look on their website - it should say what the criteria/categories are.

Governor of a church school.

If there is a vacancy and you are the only applicant, they must offer the place to you. If there is a waiting list and/or more than one application, the applications will be ranked in the same order as the school's admissions (oversubscription) criteria.

Assuming it's a state school and your DD is next on the waiting list, the place is yours. The faith criteria will be used to order the waiting list, but if there isn't anyone on it that meets those/you meet the other admissions criteria higher, you will get the place. They won't leave the space open just because you haven't baptised your DD.

Have you been told by the LEA that there is a space? How do you know it exists? If it's been offered to you, it's yours!

(If, for example, you have heard on the grapevine that someone has left a Yr1 class which had 31 kids in it, there isn't actually a space free even though someone has left as the class will need to go below 30 for this)

The school has informed me by email that a place is now available. So they asked me to submit the application for the governors to consider. I know there are four other families on the waiting list but they have been waiting for three or four years now so they may not necessarily still want join the school at this stage.

Thanks PatriciaHolm that s useful to know.

Governor at faith school - we would happily take people with no connection at all to the church rather than have the place empty.

Our local rural CofE school has been undersubscribed for so long, I doubt the faith requirement has been used in living memory.

In fact given so many local schools are CofE it would be pretty impossible to impose it. The local council would not be happy providing transport to a school 7 miles away in a different county (which is full)

Thanks for your info ladies.......
In fact the chance for my dc getting in the faith school is quite possible as i ve been in touch with the school again there is only one child on the waiting list. Normally how does a school help a new child settle in a new school? My dc is so used to a big school where it has 3 classes per year but going into a small school that only has one class per year.