Catholic Schools

WiseKat · 2022-08-31T02:57:02+00:00

Hi All - We are relocating in 2 months from Asia back to the UK (very nervous about the move) and I have been l looking at potential schools for DD, including on Locrating site. I can see some Catholic schools in the area I am interested in. Apologies , I don’t know much about this , but do you need to be a practising Catholic or Christian to get into such a school? And what is their main difference from ordinary mainstream schools ? Are they smaller in size perhaps ? Many thanks in advance !

allow · 31/08/2022 04:53

www.cesew.org.uk

It seems 68% percent of students in UK Catholic schools are practicing Catholics. I can imagine being part of the other 32% would issues for the children if they aren't sure of their own beliefs and confident in standing up for themselves. What makes you want to choose those schools if you aren't practicing Catholics yourselves?

Original poster

WiseKat · 31/08/2022 05:04

allow · 31/08/2022 04:53

www.cesew.org.uk

It seems 68% percent of students in UK Catholic schools are practicing Catholics. I can imagine being part of the other 32% would issues for the children if they aren't sure of their own beliefs and confident in standing up for themselves. What makes you want to choose those schools if you aren't practicing Catholics yourselves?

Actually we are currently in Asia and here it’s quite common to send kids to Catholic schools (even though families are not Catholic) as these schools have quite high standard of education.

So I was just wondering what is the situation in the UK…

So far one of my friends also has her child in Catholic School in London (the family attend Protestant church so were accepted into that school).

My preference would be of course good mainstream school in the UK (my DD attends British school here in Asia at the moment), but I am quite scared that she will not get in straight away and there are long waiting lists in the UK , so wanted to keep options open and find out more …

OP posts:

allow · 31/08/2022 05:19

This explains the process for state-funded schools:

www.gov.uk/schools-admissions

Situations where your children would be left without any school place are very rare. If it's the academic performance of the Catholic school that attracts you then I suppose you also need to consider if it is the 'true Catholics' that fit in well that are getting the good grades or all the pupils whatever their background.

Original poster

WiseKat · 31/08/2022 05:22

allow · 31/08/2022 05:19

This explains the process for state-funded schools:

www.gov.uk/schools-admissions

Situations where your children would be left without any school place are very rare. If it's the academic performance of the Catholic school that attracts you then I suppose you also need to consider if it is the 'true Catholics' that fit in well that are getting the good grades or all the pupils whatever their background.

Yes this is definitely a point , I did not think in those terms before . Thank you for your thoughts and for the info .

OP posts:

Hulahoops78 · 31/08/2022 08:59

It really depends on the school. Our local Catholic school had more children who were non-Catholic than Catholic. Catholic children will get priority when it comes to admissions so that is worth considering. If you join Locrating you can see whether the school is oversubscribed.

DH is Catholic and would have liked DD to go to the local Catholic school. I just didn't feel it was right for DD when we viewed it and also some of the Catholic religious views don't sit comfortably with me.

Yellowmellow2 · 31/08/2022 21:40

As others have said, any child can apply, but Catholic children get priority. This means that, in very popular schools, it tends to be the case that the majority of the children are Catholic. The admissions criteria, which should be on their website, should explain more. At the moment, depending on the area, numbers are relatively low in schools (certainly in London) so you’ll have a better chance of getting into a preferred school.

OakleyStreetisnotinChelsea · 31/08/2022 21:48

Mine are in the Catholic system but we're not Catholic. Plenty of non Catholic kids at school with them. Lots of Catholic primary schools around here due to traditionally large Catholic population so you do get a lot of non Catholic kids in the system.

MardyBumm · 31/08/2022 23:10

I'm a teacher at a Catholic primary school and I'd be wary of sending your child to a Catholic school if you are not Catholic or at least Christian. A significant amount of time is spent on RE teaching. Our diocese makes us teach 2.5 hours of RE a week. On top of that we have a Gospel assembly, hymn practise and 2 collective worships a week. Homophobia seems to be swept under the carpet and not dealt with effectively. There are many positives to Catholic education but I just want to make you aware that many (not all) Catholic schools can be quite extreme. I think Church of England schools have a better balance.

Original poster

WiseKat · 01/09/2022 02:14

Thank you all for your views , it's really useful .

OP posts:

Hulahoops78 · 01/09/2022 08:42

MardyBumm · 31/08/2022 23:10

I'm a teacher at a Catholic primary school and I'd be wary of sending your child to a Catholic school if you are not Catholic or at least Christian. A significant amount of time is spent on RE teaching. Our diocese makes us teach 2.5 hours of RE a week. On top of that we have a Gospel assembly, hymn practise and 2 collective worships a week. Homophobia seems to be swept under the carpet and not dealt with effectively. There are many positives to Catholic education but I just want to make you aware that many (not all) Catholic schools can be quite extreme. I think Church of England schools have a better balance.

This. 100%

prh47bridge · 02/09/2022 00:00

but do you need to be a practising Catholic or Christian to get into such a school?

Yes and no! A Catholic school cannot refuse admission to non-Catholics or non-Christians. However, they give priority to Catholics for admissions and many have so many Catholic applicants that non-Catholics will never get a place.

And what is their main difference from ordinary mainstream schools ? Are they smaller in size perhaps ?

MardyBumm's experience is not universal. Some Catholic schools are less religious than many nominally non-religious schools. And her school is actually breaking the law if they only have two collective worship sessions a week. The law requires all schools to have collective worship of a broadly Christian nature every day, although many schools ignore this.

The main differences between Catholic schools and community schools are that the land and buildings are owned by the Catholic church, the admission criteria are set by the school and the staff are employed by the school whereas the local authority does all these things for community schools. Those are the main guaranteed differences. Beyond that, it depends on the school and the diocese.

allow · 03/09/2022 04:15

All I really know is that most of the people I know in their thirties who have been to Catholic school talk about their struggles ‘getting over it’. Things may have changed but I would imagine they are still very skilled in passing on their core hang ups to the young. If you are just after better GCSE grades then interested parents, books, tutors etc etc are other less psychologically invasive ways of achieving the same kind of results.

avamiah · 03/09/2022 04:29

Why should religion have anything to do with a school and education ?

sashh · 03/09/2022 04:38

WiseKat · 31/08/2022 05:04

Actually we are currently in Asia and here it’s quite common to send kids to Catholic schools (even though families are not Catholic) as these schools have quite high standard of education.

So I was just wondering what is the situation in the UK…

So far one of my friends also has her child in Catholic School in London (the family attend Protestant church so were accepted into that school).

My preference would be of course good mainstream school in the UK (my DD attends British school here in Asia at the moment), but I am quite scared that she will not get in straight away and there are long waiting lists in the UK , so wanted to keep options open and find out more …

Show quote history

Catholic schools are mainstream schools, I think in Asia you pay for them but in the UK they are part of the state system so if you move into an area and there are no places you will be put on the waiting list for all the local schools RC or not.

Now fee paying / private schools are a different thing.

Earlybird00 · 03/09/2022 05:10

Priority is given to children baptised in the Catholic faith. There are also some places for children Christained in other faiths. There is a huge emphasis on religion however in my children's school I feel this creates a caring and nurturing environment. You need to consider secondary school as well as that in our area is almost all Catholic as very over subscribed. Meaning if they do get a place in Primary they may not move on with class mates to secondary.

MardyBumm · 04/09/2022 10:53

prh47bridge · 02/09/2022 00:00

but do you need to be a practising Catholic or Christian to get into such a school?

Yes and no! A Catholic school cannot refuse admission to non-Catholics or non-Christians. However, they give priority to Catholics for admissions and many have so many Catholic applicants that non-Catholics will never get a place.

And what is their main difference from ordinary mainstream schools ? Are they smaller in size perhaps ?

MardyBumm's experience is not universal. Some Catholic schools are less religious than many nominally non-religious schools. And her school is actually breaking the law if they only have two collective worship sessions a week. The law requires all schools to have collective worship of a broadly Christian nature every day, although many schools ignore this.

The main differences between Catholic schools and community schools are that the land and buildings are owned by the Catholic church, the admission criteria are set by the school and the staff are employed by the school whereas the local authority does all these things for community schools. Those are the main guaranteed differences. Beyond that, it depends on the school and the diocese.

Gospel assembly, hymn practice and well done assembly count as a collective worships as they all have a prayer and a hymn! The two separate collective worships I meant are like a mini mass we have twice a week that the children plan for the rest of the class. So we do have 5! Our school never misses an opportunity for a bit of worship and prayer 😅

LucyReynolds · 09/08/2023 00:52

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prh47bridge · 09/08/2023 07:18

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LadyLapsang · 09/08/2023 11:13

Each school publishes their admissions policies and RC schools vary in how stringent they are regarding faith. I know of a very oversubscribed school that will only consider the child if they are baptised by six months of age. Many schools require the family to attend Church on a regular basis and give points, e.g. weekly for many years, top points, monthly for a few years, not many points.

However, if there are vacant places, they have to take any child, of a different faith or no faith; this applies to all faith schools. You also have the right to withdraw your child from collective worship and RE, even if you have applied to a faith school.

prh47bridge · 09/08/2023 14:46

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