Do I have to put faith schools on my primary application?

[AnonyRat]

We’re planning on moving house and want to make sure we’re in an area with some decent primaries for when DD starts school in a couple of years. We’ve found a potential house and the nearest primary (0.2 miles away) is outstanding. But I realise we won’t automatically be allocated this school, especially as it’s over-subscribed.

Unfortunately the next four nearest schools (within 0.5miles) on the list are all religious (Catholic, 2x CoE and Jewish) - we’re not religious, and I really want to avoid faith schools if possible.

After the faith schools, the next two nearest schools are out of our catchment area, which is annoying as they are only about 0.5 miles away. They are also ‘outstanding’ and over-subscribed. So I’m guessing there’s no point applying for these.

So if I rule out the faith schools and the over-subscribed out of catchment schools, the next two schools in our admissions area would be the ones we’d have to put on our application form. They are a ‘requires improvement’ school 1.5 miles away, and a ‘good’ school 3 miles away, which would take ages to get to in morning traffic.

So I guess my question is, do I have to put the faith schools on my application form? If I don’t, do I have an argument for selecting the nearby but out of catchment area ‘outstanding’ schools? I’m guessing not! But any insights would be greatly appreciated.

No, you don't have to put the faith schools on your application. However, it won't do any harm to put them in as your lower choices in case you don't get one of the schools you want. If your first choice has a place you will be offered that place regardless of what other schools you list. And you don't need an argument for selecting an out of catchment school. You don't have to justify your choice. You just apply.

Note that you won't be entitled to free transport if you choose to put the "good" school as your first choice and get a place there.

Before making a final decision I would recommend visiting the schools. Some faith schools are less religious than some non-faith schools.

We chose local non-faith "good" school. The amount of Christianity it oozes at every opportunity was a massive surprise. I suspect the head is an evangelist.

It's otherwise ok so I guess we stick it out. But seriously it's like a religious svhool

Visit all the schools and have a good look around before you decide. I went to a CofE funded school because it was closest and there wasn't a huge emphasis on religion.

DS goes to the local county primary and they have done stuff about Christianity (mainly as part of Christmas and Easter).

Just because schools are over subscribed, if you like them then still apply. DS1 school was oversubscribed the year before he went, so we applied for a different school as his first choice and his current school as second. That year, his first choice was over subscribed and he got into his second choice (the nearer one).

No you don’t have to put anything you don’t like as your choices - but remember if you don’t get into any of your choices you’ll be allocated something else.
If I were you I’d visit all schools in area. I’d then include oversubscribed schools you’d like along with good schools (whether they’d be religious or further away) in whatever preference order. I’d rather be offered a local religious school I’d checked out and was happy with than a school that I’d never seen, was crap and was Further than I’d like!

Thanks all. I suppose I won’t rule the faith schools out. Maybe the ‘outstanding’ catholic school would be better than the ‘requires improvement’ non-faith school. I guess it depends on how they deal with religion on a day to day basis.

Unfortunately I think the over subscribed school will stay over subscribed for the foreseeable. But maybe it’s worth a shot.

The faith schools in our area are very popular as they are good/outstanding schools. There is a waiting list for these. I moved us to an over subscribed area and listed all 3 schools in the nearby area and one faith school as number 4 and much further away. All 3 have waiting lists! and still managed to get into one I did not think we had a chance with so I am very happy. Spots do open up, it is all down to luck and chance really. Find the schools you like a put them on your list, get on the lists for the schools you want to join asap.

Halve you looked at the admission statistics on the LA website? From those you'll get a sense of the likelihood you would have got a place at the oversubscribed 0.2 mile away school. Work out which admission criteria you'd fall into and see which criteria they admitted into (plus last admitted distance) LAs normally have 3 or so years of stats so whilst not clear cut for your admission year it may help. Also the RI school may well be on upward trajectory when you come to apply so perhaps do keep an eye on it

I think you also need to "play the game" here in terms of the admission criteria of the school. So you mention an outstanding catholic school. You need to look at the admission criteria for the school because it will almost for sure have as its higher priorities, pupils who are of the catholic faith, in other words baptised. As you have no faith, you will only fit onto the distances criteria of the school and being outstanding I would guess that in all probability the only pupils who will get the offer of a place will be those who are baptised and are regular attenders at church.
If you look at the CoE admission criteria, they may also have some kind of church attendance as a criteria but they may also only have a priority criteria of living in the parish boundaries before distance. That to me has a greater chance of success than an outstanding catholic primary school.

You need to look at the admission priority list. It doesn't matter if you live at the doorstep if they prioritize baptised /church attending children. Some schools even insist on local parish, then other parishes, then siblings in parish etc before they come to distance.

You can also inquire how many non-faith children attend the school.

Each state school has to have a daily act of worship included in their school day. It differs A LOT, DD's infant had it in their daily assembly, the juniors (now a merged primary) had a lot less. I think they merged the requirements into once a month.

RE is a subject also taught in each school, most will cover Christianity on the same level like Islam, HIndi, Judaism. Some faith schools put more effort in Christianity.

You need to look closely at CofE schools. They are not all the same. Aided ones may well have tighter admissions based on Faith and Church attendance. Controlled ones possibly just have normal criteria based on looked after children, siblings, distance from school or prescribed catchment area. You need to read every admission criteria for each school.

I apparently went to a faith secondary school (voluntary aided, not even voluntary controlled). I literally had no idea of its faith status until I recently had cause to look it up online.

That is not necessarily typical of faith schools but don't rule any out off pat.

Havig said that looka t admissons carefully. For some faith shools in London or other urban areas, in particular, you have almost no chance of a place unless you are card-carrying members of the faith in question.

If you gwt none of the schools nominated on your form, the LA will give you a school of its choosing - usually the nearest one with spaces but not always.

Faith schools can have v different attitudes within those categories. My school was CofE at primary and secondary. We sang some hymns, got taught to treat others as we wanted to be treated and had a morning in the church a few times a year.

I’m an atheist but the vicar at my secondary school is still one of my great role models. He viewed Christianity as a method of ensuring a semi-virtue ethics based philosophy which he believed could overall increase the net amount of good in the world. He encouraged prayer as a method of taking time to sit and think about our problems; to step back from them, to view them externally and to make peace with what we couldn’t change and find solutions for what we could. I’m pretty sure he didn’t believe in god in any literal sense, but rather as a metaphor for the goodness in humanity and the beauty in nature.

There were some clashes with the School, around RE teaching on abortion for example. But it was always accepted with good humour, and I really valued my time there.