Catholic Primary School

[mabelandivy]

We need to start considering which local primary school we wish to send out DD to later this year.

We are very fortunate and 3 out of the 4 schools within our town are good schools. The one that isn't a good school isn't within our catchment area and we are are the opposite side of town.

So, one of the schools which is literally a stones throw away is a 2 form entry - good reputation. Another one is 3 form entry and most parents select these two as their first choices and get them. We also have a Catholic school in town.

DH is a Catholic and when we were discussing schools he said we really should consider it. We have had DD Baptised and I know we would get a place at the school based on the fact that she is a Catholic. I, however, am not a Catholic. Reading up over the weekend, the Catholic school is a 1 form entry and last years intake only had 22 children in the class. It's also got the best results out of all of the local schools and in the top 5 within our County. This is obviously very appealing.

Whilst I know I have to visit the schools and find the right fit, has anybody else here sent their children to a faith school when they're not religious?

My concerns are that given it's a 1 form entry, DD isn't going to forge as many friendships, the feeder secondary is about 40 minutes away but she would also have the option to attend the High School, which is currently Ofsted Outstanding.

I know it's difficult to answer the question, but what are people's experiences of faith schools generally? Secondly, if you were presented with a faith school being the best performing one would you go for it?

Depends on how catholic it is. Are they are practicing? (rare) . They can go to any high that they are eligible for later

I’ve had two dcs go through Catholic school. They do obviously teach and generally run the school to a Christian ethos. RS lessons will teach about other Faiths - they have to follow national Curriculum. They will have Christian assemblies and possibly Catholic mass now and again. The local Priest may visit the school. But there will be other non practising children there.

However I’m slightly confused as to why you had your child Baptised if you didn’t intend them to follow the faith?

Bear in mind, a primary school feeding into a secondary school does not mean you’ll get into that secondary school. You start again with school apps & its catchment or distance based from your house. Not the primary school they attended. If the Catholic school
is out of catchment or further away, consider you secondary catchment and where your kids friends from primary might go.

My friend taught in a catholic school and I’m in a C of E.
It’s much the same as any other school really except they will do mass every so often. Also, RE will be more focused on Christianity.

I recall hearing that there are more Muslim children in catholic schools that catholics.

I live in a city where I the white middle class areas the RC schools are full with practicing (ish) catholic's . The mid affluent areas RC schools are full of less affluent catholic families. Lots of Eastern European catholics. Lots on non / less practising families. In less affluent areas some schools are full of non practicing RC families and/or families of any faith or non

I work in schools (peripatetic) and that includes a few faith schools including catholic. In our area they are well regarded and other than there being a bit more focus on RE I don’t think they’re enormously different (my dh is atheist so never really an option for us).

That said are allocations for this september not already sorted? Do you mean Sep 2022 entry?

if you were presented with a faith school being the best performing one would you go for it?

In your circumstances, ie you not being Catholic or religious and your husband (presumably) not practising, what other reason would you have for sending your kid to a Catholic school?

I don’t know what your objections would be. I can see what other parents’ might be, though.

Would you be taking a place that would be wanted by practising Catholic families for their children? If so, you are unreasonable. Would you be the type of parent who complained about school masses and Catholic education at the school? If so, you are unreasonable. You have to take the rough with the smooth.

@HolmeH

Bear in mind, a primary school feeding into a secondary school does not mean you’ll get into that secondary school. You start again with school apps & its catchment or distance based from your house. Not the primary school they attended. If the Catholic school is out of catchment or further away, consider you secondary catchment and where your kids friends from primary might go.

I'm sure in our neighbouring LA feeder RC primaries get priority for one RC high. Most don't though

@HolmeH

Bear in mind, a primary school feeding into a secondary school does not mean you’ll get into that secondary school. You start again with school apps & its catchment or distance based from your house. Not the primary school they attended. If the Catholic school is out of catchment or further away, consider you secondary catchment and where your kids friends from primary might go.

As @stressfuljune says, some Catholic secondary schools have "Children attending X, Y or Z Catholic primary schools" in their admissions criteria. Some I know of do.

Where we live every primary is a 'feeder' for a specific secondary school. It depends on local admissions arrangements.

I taught in a Catholic school for a while as a non Catholic. Academically it was good. The parents were very supportive. But religion was a big part of the day with multiple prayers daily, retreats, church calendar etc.

@Frazzled2207

I work in schools (peripatetic) and that includes a few faith schools including catholic. In our area they are well regarded and other than there being a bit more focus on RE I don’t think they’re enormously different (my dh is atheist so never really an option for us).

That said are allocations for this september not already sorted? Do you mean Sep 2022 entry?

I was thinking that too, we got allocated our spaces on 16th April?

I'm not sure what catholic schools some of you have experience of but, speaking as a Catholic who went to Catholic schools and has children at them, there is a huge emphasis on religion. Prayers said three times a day, hymn practice, religious assemblies, multiple masses (in normal times) and, contrary to previous posters, lots of RE lessons exploring all faiths, not just Christianity.

In fact, DD1 who is now at a non Catholic high school and hates every lesson, loves RE because she's so confident in the basics. Of course there are children who aren't Catholic at the schools but the vast majority will be.

contrary to previous posters, lots of RE lessons exploring all faiths, not just Christianity.

Yes they do explore all faiths but in a Christian school C of E or Catholic you are expected to teach a higher percentage of lessons with a Christian focus than you would in a non religious school (which still have daily worship, by law)

I went to a C of E school and there's no way I would send DC to any church school. My family aren't Christian (but more in a 'don't really talk about religion at all' way) and going to a church school really confused me with messages about God being real, Bible stories being true, singing hymns every day but not getting any discussion at home. If you choose the Catholic school, you either need to be consistent with discussing faith at home, either by going to church and really being part of that community or telling DC that you need to respect what people say/do at school but my viewpoint is X because Y, and if you have any questions about the Catholic stuff taught at school, let's talk about it.

You really do need to go and look at it. Lots of posters here saying oh it’s just the same but with the odd mass. Some are, some really aren’t. Would you be happy with your child coming home and saying that Jesus loves us, or he died for us because we’re sinners? It can sound really cringy consign from a 5 yo if you don’t believe it yourself. And it’s not fair to tell them at home that it’s nonsense when they then have to go back into school and act the opposite.

Also, you need to look at the admissions criteria for the secondarys if you’re thinking about long term impact. Some do have specific feeder schools that take precedence.

I think you probably need to go and visit the school at some point if you can. It’ll depend a lot on the school and your attitude.

I’ve got a friend whose DS is in a Catholic school because it was the only one with spaces. They both love the school and much prefer it to the non faith school he was in reception for. I suspect that undersubscribed catholic schools or ones where a large proportion aren’t actively practising catholics can have a very different feel to the heavily oversubscribed ones.

I agree that some schools are very catholic... Prayers 3x day, masses, hymns etc and some much less so. Our closest local one discusses other religions but the massive emphasis is on catholic teachings. It has quite a % of Irish & European catholic families who go to church every week. Social life all evolves round it. Our next closest one is much less so. And I've visited others where only maybe 30% of families are catholic

My DC went to Catholic primary. My DH is a practising Catholic, I am not religious. Virtually all the children in the school were baptised RC. I know this as the vast majority of my DC's classes did their first Holy Communion.
I found the school to be very caring, with generally well behaved children and an emphasis on kindness. I remember having a huge birthday party for DD when she was seven and the entertainer said the children were lovely. He asked which school they went to and when I said, he replied that the children from that school were always the best behaved out of all of the hundreds he did parties for.
There was a lot of religious activity, but the children loved it when they were little. I didn't ever feel I had to tell them I thought it was all rubbish, why would I? As they got older they questioned it more themselves and now both are at non faith high schools and not particularly religious. They like going to Mass for special occasions. I am honestly glad I sent them there as I think it gave them a lovely grounding and it felt like a real community.
In regard to high school, my DC chose not to go to the Catholic high for different reasons, but got in to the schools of their choice (both out of catchment). Probably depends where you live I guess. We are North East.

I think schools get funding per pupil, so if there's only 22 in some years it might affect funding

DTs are in a single form entry catholic primary.

The results are skewed imo when looking at a single form compared with a 3 form entry, and look at where those cohorts are drawn from.

It's pretty religious as in prayer morning lunch and home time, they (pre CV) were off doing stuff at the church quite a lot, regular school mass and then HDO masses too and a termly Sunday year group Sunday mass.

The pastoral care is excellent but I think some of that comes down to it being such a small school.

Depends where you are but our local Catholic secondary is in an area I would never ever send my kids to, and there is another Catholic school but it is super selective so mine will just go to the regular girls' secondary which thankfully is a great school.

Thank you all for your replies.

To answer some of the questions. My DH is a Catholic and having DD baptised meant a lot to him, hence why I went ahead with it. I am not overly religious, but have some belief. We wouldn't be taking a place from another child more worthy as DH does attend church.

We plan to visit the school, but I am drawn very much to the smaller class sizes and the groundings in love and kindness, which I think is important.

Only 30% of the schools intake are Catholics with approx 70% non-Catholics and I can see from their website that they teach about other religions. They also have a forest school and have invested heavily into the school with a brand new reception and play area and library.

I have gauged opinion on our local community page and parents speak very highly of the school.

I'm open-minded about it all, but really just wanted to gauge opinion from others who weren't particulary religious what their experiences have been.

It does sound like you should consider it an option. If nothing else and there’s nothing very off putting when you visit it sounds like an option for a school you would definitely get into to put somewhere on your application form.

I went to a catholic primary and we were C of E as a family - although my parents weren't hugely religious (we went to church a few times a year, once a month when we were with the brownies and had to). Personally I loved all the religious teaching - even though I was very aware that it was different to my families'. We only had blessings from year 3 when everyone else had their confirmations and we weren't allowed to take confession. There was a lot of prayers and lessons were focussed on Easter, Harvest and Christmas around those times (and a lot of the build up).
Long term impact? My sister is an aestheist - I am C of E although there are parts of the catholic education that I found very reassuring at the time. I would raise my children as C of E but would not have an issue sending them to a catholic school if it was academically / pastorally superior to local alternatives.