We have been given our 6th choice. There's something bothering me.

[Baggin123]

All,

I appreciate your help. My daughter has been given our 6th choice which we are unhappy with. Our first choice is a faith school. We have been members of the church for more than a year. It's this membership that permitted us to apply to the school. Not only that but our daughter also goes to the nursery of the school. She feels fully integrated into the church and nursery. She does not distinguish between the nursery and the school. My child has a real sense of belonging and her teacher states she is doing really well in school and is one of the more advanced, which shows she is thriving. My child will be upset if she does go to this school. She has made many friends. So I need to appeal. The school is oversubscribed and allows 30 children so I guess we're looking at infant class size appeal. I don't believe a mistake has been made by the admissions team although I will check for details. I also believe proving the decision will be perverse will be impossible. However, the school criteria states church members are those that attend church at least twice every month for period of a year prior to application. It also states church members must be accompanied with their child. I know for a fact that parents were using their grandparents to sign the book. I also know there were times parents signed the book while their children were not at church. Therefore I am wondering is this of any use to me? My view is that admissions team have followed a criteria set by the school and church which was not properly monitored by the church. This potentially means children have been places in the school when their parents did not fully respect the rules around what governs a true member of the church.

I don't know where we are on the waiting list yet but would appreciate some insight. Should I put forward a appeal? My view is focus on how well my child is doing there and how the school is well suited to continuing her development. I also want to highlight the holes in how the church sign off on which parents are true members.

Thanks

Faith schools normally require a supplementary information form to be included as part of their admissions process. This form is verified by the priest or vicar and is proof that the child meets the Faith criterea for that school.

One assumes that all of the children who have been offered a place at the Faith school you applied to were able to produce this, otherwise they wouldn't have been offered a place. In which case, I don't see your grounds for appeal.

Why not go on the waiting list instead and see what happen s. There is always movement between now and September and you may find yourself with an offer before the start of term.

But by only going to church for a year, you are as guilty as working the system as much as the others.

So I'm not sure that you can appeal on that basis.

Is it really the Church's job to monitor this?

OP, I suggest you put it down to experience and reflect long and hard on whether the ability to negotiate a complex set of "faith test" rules should detrrmine any child's priority for a state funded school.

Google "Fair Admissions Campaign" for starters.

So how on earth does a parish vicar or priest check who is signing the book and if it is actually a parent or grandparent during the service? Are they expected to provide someone to stand next to the signing book the whole time asking for documentary proof of who they are before they let them sign it?

After all, if you're truly a part of the Church, then signing a register ought to be unnecessary (although I understand why it has become so). The vicar/priest would surely know you, and your children, as you'd be involved in services/groups/Sunday school/helping on the flower rota and so forth.

I don't see the problem with grandparents taking them to church sometimes, actually. Surely that's a nice extended family thing to do?

Tiggytape, everything you said is correct and of course the OP hasn't done anything wrong. It is the system that is unfair. Legal, yes. Fair, no.

Its not legal in most other countries.

"embers are those that attend church at least twice every month for period of a year prior to application. It also states church members must be accompanied with their child. I "

It's not clear from this that there's any requirement for the church members to be parents, just that the child also goes.

What about "accompanied by THEIR child?"

Hmm, I took that to mean the child associated with them but you could be right clam

Twice a month for a year is quite a high requirement, isn't it - what about holidays.

It isn't unusually high. There are four Sundays every month and many churches have two or more services on a Sunday (although only one of them is really intended to be suitable for children).

I don't think it's high - in our RC parish weekly Sunday attendance is the norm

My DC school originally had a vague, unspecified church attendance criteria - you had to get the priest to sign a form but there are 3 priests and 5 Sunday masses, they were signing in the dark.

So one year they took a "census" on two random weekends over the summer, without warning and without calling it that. There was an announcement that there was something you could sign at the back of the church (type thing) and when it came to form signing time this register was used. Except only 2/3 priests used it and half the people who had been at mass on that day hadn't signed it because they didn't think it was important.

Then after a few years of losing multiple appeals trying different things out there is now a system where a sample signature is provided, registers are put out for a brief period at the end of each mass (then removed) and the supplemental form stays with the priest (so it cannot be changed) after it has been signed.

If church attendance is a criteria, it has to be measurable and fairly done so.

One church near us (school v v v oversubscribed) had a rash of parents turning up to sign the book but not actually staying for the service, so now (I hear on the grapevine) they hand out slips (colour changes weekly so you can't just use one from a previous week) at the start and collect them up signed at the end.