Church of England Schools

[gypsymummy]

Hi there ladies.I am sort of confused about just how much of a faith school a Cofe school is. Dh and I do not want our DS to go to a "faith school" of any sorts and some lady who answered my call at the school Admissions Team at our borough council tried to persuade me that the neighbouring school our DS would normally have to go to after he did his non Cofe junior school is not a "faith" school in the real sense of the word although it is voluntary aided and Cofe as stated in the website! So could we argue that we do NOT want our son to go there on the grounds that it acually is one and is that sufficient? I have been to see one of these before and it did have a very definitive atmosphere about it and so just because they don't teach religion does not mean they are not a faith school!
What do you ladies think and what experiences and or knowledge do you have in this area?

IME a CoE school is a school where the curriculum is taught with the background and sometimes the foreground of a CofE faith.

In other words, there will often be visits from a vicar, some considerable conection with the local church etc.

That said, an awful lot of primaries in villages in the UK (or England at least) are CofE and often the only choice (true of a lot where I live) so I would imagine they are necessarily somewhat diluted in their faith approach - if only because their intake must cover a big range. You don't necessarily believe in God and go to church just because you live in a small English village!

That's as opposed to for eg Catholic schools, where most/all parents have made a (faith based often) choice to go there.

Does that make sense? Are you talking about a junior school in a village?

There are two types of faith schools - voluntary aided (VA) & voluntary controlled (VC) (by the LA)

IME in our LA the VC ones are not as full on as the VA ones, but both follow the diocese curriculum for RE.

However you do know that in England there is no such thing as a "secular" school? Even community schools (those with no religious affiliation) have to (by law) have "collective worship" that is "broadly Christian in nature" (which you can choose to opt out of, but that makes your DC "different") and many have links to local churches etc.

The only way to know for sure is to visit the school & discuss your concerns/questions with the head.

thanks ladies. We do intend to pay them a visit to check it out. Clary the school in mind is in a small town yes and the one the majority of pupils from the next door junior school go to. What you say about limited choice but it does worry us that our DS may be exposed to a particular faith orientation. We will see about that when we visit but would you say we would have sufficient ground to oppose our DS going there and seek another state school when the time comes?
Thanks BetsyBoop for the explanation re.VA and VC that was ever so helpful. But say our DS did go there would we able to opt out of visits to church etc?

gypsy is it a CofE secondary school then? I have never come across one of those tbh, so not much experience.

yes you can opt out of stuff, it's just whether you want DS to be "different" to other kids - some kids don't like it. If we are talking secondary anyway, chances are DS will have made his own mind up what he believes by then anyway, and even if he doesn't believe may choose to go anyway as his mates do.

You can't "oppose" a school as such, but you don't have to include it in your preferences. Whether you get into one of your preferred schools, or get offered that school or a completely different school of course depends on how popular the respective schools are at the time of application & how far away you live from each of them. It's worth checking out, as in worst case scenario you could potentially end up in the most unpopular school (which could also be a faith schhol & be miles away), so you might decide to include your nearest school as option 3 say, just in case...

I hope that helps?

just to make it clearer

what I meant was you could potentially get none of your preferences & end up in the most unpopular school miles aways, just because it has space, so you need to think if the option of the local faith school is "better" or "worse" `than this option.

Bottom line is do your research very carefully, so that you have a fairly good idea of what schools you stand a decent chance of getting in to & don't waste options on ones with a 0.0001% chance of getting in & always try to include a school that you would be okay with & are pretty sure you will get in to as one option as a "backstop" position.

Clary the CofE school i am talking about is for ages 7 to 11 and is the one pupils automaticaly move to after completing the next door infant and juniour school ( which funilly enough is not CofE)..yes we could send DS to another school to complete his primary education but that would mean -yes- a school farther away..i guess we really have to weigh our options and do research into what is best !

Oh OK.

A junior school is normally ages 7 to 11 so I was a bit confused. Up to age 7 is infants.

I would suggest you go and visit the school and openly ask the questions you have. Different C of E schools can be quite different. Some far more Christian than others, see what you think it would really be like. It might be something you can live with, it might not. But all schools in this country (except of other faiths) are supposed to be "broadly Christian" in assemblies etc.
Also all schools have to teach a variety of religions in RE. Something I'm beginning to see real strengths in (as it is taught nowadays) compared to say the USA system.
My daughter's very "Christian" C of E school has children from Muslim, Jewish and non-faith parents, as well as all Christian groups btw.

thanks mummytime, I will keep that in mind when I pay them a visit!