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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

School Place

71 replies

Boymama83 · 08/03/2022 20:43

So my eldest goes up to secondary in September and has had an offer of a place at a local Catholic High School. The issue is my family are Protestant, like move from NI (Ulster) in 1972 Protestant. I have appealed and will wait for that but I've been checking out the school etc and can 100% hand up say this is without doubt a faith led school. They state that sex and social education will be taught in line with Catholic beliefs.....what do I do??? There are 2 other schools, one which we applied and didn't get and the other is a Grammar but eldest hasn't done 11plus.

OP posts:

Babymamamama · 08/03/2022 22:15

Ok I understand your situation better now. In your shoes I would go on the wait list for the school you actually want, find out how high you are up on the list and then either send the child to the catholic school while you wait for a place to come up or otherwise home school while you wait. Good luck. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long.

EduCated · 08/03/2022 22:16

There are, presumably, more than three schools available to you?

You said you would be willing to drive further - you need to find out if any other schools have spaces and/or get yourself on the waiting list of any other school you would prefer.

As you only listed one, and were unsuccessful, you will have been allocated the nearest school with a space. Unhelpful now, but this is why it is important to use all of the options available to you.

Original poster

Boymama83 · 08/03/2022 22:21

@Largethighsbadeyes It may not be a big deal for others, I wouldn't presume that something I'm ok with shouldn't be an issue for someone else. For us it is a big deal.

OP posts:

Hercisback · 08/03/2022 22:25

This is why you don't put only one option down.

Get on waiting lists ASAP.

You have no grounds for appeal anywhere.

RoseslnTheHospital · 08/03/2022 22:28

By not putting any other schools down, you were essentially telling the LA that you didn't mind where you child was allocated a place, if they didn't qualify for your only preference. But that's irrelevant now it's been decided and done.

Are there other schools you would be ok with?

flipflopjump · 08/03/2022 22:45

If you are unhappy about the allocated school appeal for others.

BUT, your argument about religion sounds bigoted.

.

Largethighsbadeyes · 08/03/2022 22:53

Then you should have put more than 1 choice.

Every single year there are threads saying why didn't we get our choice?! We only put one school...

Fridgeorflight · 08/03/2022 22:54

I'm not religious and there's no way I'd send my DC to a faith school - so much so that we chose not to live in a location where the catchment primary is a faith school. I don't think anyone has a greater/lesser claim not to want a faith school.

But I definitely wouldn't just apply to one school.

MissAmbrosia · 08/03/2022 23:03

I'm abroad and my dd goes to a catholic school - v common here. We're definitely not catholic nor at all religious (though dh and I are both christened c of e). It's worth checking HOW much the religious side of things is pushed as our school has an "ethos" which means pastoral care is good, bullying not tolerated etc, but God doesn't really come into it. Even RE is mostly ethics/philosophy based.

ChairCareOh · 09/03/2022 06:49

This reply has been deleted

Withdrawn at the user's request

arethereanyleftatall · 09/03/2022 07:30

Where I live, we are bombarded with the message 'don't only put one school'. From school, it's on the council website, social media. There is a mistaken belief (despite everyone advising that it doesn't work like that) that by only putting one school you force the council to give you that school. Of course they don't, they fill up based on their criteria. It's as simple as that. Because if they did give you a school because you only put one, in front of someone who lives closer, that would be ludicrous. Do children normally get in to the school you wanted from where you live?

I know the horse has already bolted for you here op, so I wish you luck in your appeal, but for anyone reading who hadn't done their application yet - DONT ONLY PUT ONE SCHOOL!

axolotlfloof · 09/03/2022 07:40

How does your child feel about it? If it's more of an issue for you than him, and his friends are going there, I would try and make it work.

ChateauMargaux · 09/03/2022 07:59

Those who are suggesting that the OP's child will be fine in a Catholic school as a Protestant are looking at this from the point of view of someone who grew up in England, not someone who has a background of growing up in sectarian Northern Ireland.

clarrylove · 09/03/2022 08:10

You can only appeal for schools that you applied to, so in this case just the one school.

titchy · 09/03/2022 09:18

@ChateauMargaux

Yes but that applies to OP - and she's not the one going to school!

EduCated · 09/03/2022 09:56

@clarrylove

You can only appeal for schools that you applied to, so in this case just the one school.

But they can now apply to other schools, and appeal to them.

Only putting one school was daft, but there does seem to be some gleeful sticking the boot in now.

OP can apply to other schools and go on the waiting list. If she applies to a school with a space, her DS will be given it. Anyone can apply for any school at any time.

OP you can also then appeal to any of these schools. It would be a case of showing that the detriment to your son of not being given a place outweighs the detriment to the school of having to take another pupil.

The faith aspect won’t carry any weight at appeal (no matter how strongly you feel about it). But there are plenty of threads in Secondary Education about building a case for appeal looking at things the preferred school(s) offer that the allocated school don’t.

MyDcAreMarvel · 09/03/2022 10:00

If you have five choices then you put five schools. This is all your own doing.
Also don't be so prejudiced.

ChairCareOh · 09/03/2022 11:27

This reply has been deleted

Withdrawn at the user's request

prh47bridge · 09/03/2022 11:31

The fact you only listed one school meant you only had one shot at avoiding the Catholic school. From your posts, it is the nearest school for which your child is eligible, so you were always likely to get it if you didn't get your first preference. However, there is no use crying over spilt milk and some of the posts on this thread do seem to be putting the boot in unnecessarily.

What can you do now? Well, the first thing you should do is find out what schools in your area have places available. You won't get free transport but, given how strongly you feel about this, I'm sure you would find taking your child to a school some distance away preferable to having them attend the Catholic school.

Secondly, you should apply for any schools you would prefer even if they don't have places available. You will be turned down, but you can then appeal for those schools as well as your preferred school.

As others have said, your religious objections will not carry any weight at appeal. To win an appeal, you need to find things that the appeal school offers that are missing from the Catholic school and are particularly relevant to your child - subjects, extra-curricular activities, facilities, etc. You can use those to show that your child will be disadvantaged if they don't go to the appeal school.

Heckythump1 · 09/03/2022 11:45

I am totally with you OP, as an athiest I wouldn't my child going to any faith school.

I think if you don't apply for a faith school you shouldn't be allocated a place at one.

viques · 09/03/2022 12:22

@Heckythump1

I am totally with you OP, as an athiest I wouldn't my child going to any faith school.

I think if you don't apply for a faith school you shouldn't be allocated a place at one.

So what do you expect the Admissions people to do? The OP only put down one school and didn’t qualify for a place. How are admissions expected to understand that they didn’t want a religious school from that? Admissions offered the closest school with an available place, which is what they do.

Heckythump1 · 09/03/2022 12:42

There should be an option on the form to not be placed at a faith school!

ChairCareOh · 09/03/2022 12:43

This reply has been deleted

Withdrawn at the user's request

TeenPlusCat · 09/03/2022 12:45

You need to get your name down on waiting lists for any schools you would accept in preference for this one.

This thread reminds me of a chap I used to work with who came from Barcelona. He said he used to think how different Catalans were from the rest of Spain, until he moved to the UK and he saw how alike they actually were. I think your upbringing makes you think the differences between Protestant and Catholic are vast, whereas the 'rest of us' see the commonalities as much stronger (compared with e.g. if you were being offered a Hindu school).

viques · 09/03/2022 12:52

@Heckythump1

There should be an option on the form to not be placed at a faith school!

And maybe they could put an option to tick if you don’t want a school with a rigorous uniform policy, or one with a high proportion of SEN pupils, or a school with too many Muslim pupils ........ the possibilities are endless . Surely it would be easier if parents indicated the schools they were expressing a preference for , so if you gave them a space to include say four or five options in descending order the admissions computer would have more to work with and could use the information to allocate you a school from the list rather than randomly allocating anything, , oh hold on a minute, dang it, they’ve pinched my good idea already.

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