Church of England schools and baptism

[moomoo22]

Just wondering if anyone knows if having a child who is baptised as a Christian makes a difference for Church of England schools admission? I couldn't find any information anywhere. Interested in knowing both about children baptised in a Church of England church as well as other christian churches ie catholic. Thank you.

At my child’s CE school it has no impact.

It should be in their Admissions Policy. If it’s a popular, oversubscribed faith school then places are likely to be filled by children baptised in that faith (with a record of attending church, usually)before most other categories (excepting Looked-After children). If it’s not popular, places can be filled by any category of child from the admissions policy.

I don't think they specify baptism as such, possibly because there are a significant number of anglicans who aren't keen on infant baptism (or possibly to stop people having a baptism just for a school place). You'd be more likely to be asked for a letter from the incumbent verifying that you attend.

Depends on the school. Some faith schools set their own admissions criteria, which is often church attendance or may include baptism (I think this is more common in Catholic schools). I work in a C of E school and my DC go to one and neither of them have faith-based admission criteria, just the standard LA criteria.

You would need to look at the admissions criteria for the specific school you are interested in I'm afraid, there is no overall "policy". Some schools will have very strict criteria, others won't.

It might, you need to check Admission policy of the relevant schools. Catholic schools may expect it within a specific time frame. Attendance at local church and/or living within a particular parish/parishes may also affect the priority order.

There are only four church school in my county that even mention religion in their admissions criteria, the rest use the same criteria as community schools.

The CE schools near me are oversubscribed, but church attendance and baptism are not listed in the admissions criteria. The catholic school takes it into account though.

If it is a VC CofE school,then there are no faith categories

If it is VA, then you will have to check the individual school's admissions policy.

Baptism may or may not be mentioned - it rather depends on whether priority is to CofE specifically or the wider Churches Together group (includes denominations which have different baptism traditions). Proof of regularity of attendance isvery frequently required

Our local C of E school (highly oversubscribed) has a very loose clause in the admissions policy which says priority is given to those who show a commitment to the Christian faith and you had to provide this as supplementary information to the school.

I just wrote a letter saying she was baptised at x church on x date but that we do not attend church regularly. DD got a place.

thank you everyone. very useful

@Wearywithteens it's also "quite a thing" for a school, which gets the majority of its funding from taxpayers' money to be able to discriminate on the basis of belief.
All children are born atheists.

Most VA schools pre-date the start of state education, and are church schools currently operating in cooperation with the state.

Not state schools being 'allowed' to have a faith identity

(OK - I know the Blair govt allowed the setting up of new faith VA schools, but they are not that numerous)