We have asked friends how to choose a school and I've seen lots of posts on MN and the consensus seems to be to apply for the closest schools. Our closest is Catholic and is virtually on our doorstep. I have no problem with dd going to a faith school but when I phoned up for an appointment the woman seemed to be trying to put me off applying. She was emphasising that they are Catholic and give priority to Catholic children. Our next closest is C of E. We went to visit on Friday and they said that they are only allowed to give 50% of their places to children on religious grounds. Do Catholic schools work the same way? Having looked at admissions criteria, location is the only thing we have on our side so we don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot by not applying to the closest school. What would you do?