DS starting school september 08!!!

nats3006

hi all sorry if in wrong place please feel free to move if in wrong place!
anyway just wondering if any1 has any advice DS1 is starting school september 08 i would like to get him in at the school across the road from me only thing is that its a catholic school and am just wondering if any1 knows if they have to be a catholic to get in!?? (sounds dumb i know) just asking as i know some schools dont have to be catholics to get in a catholic school if that makes sense
if so i know i will have to get him christened i would like him to be christened anyway but just never got round to it :rolleyes: does anyone know the price it would cost to get DS1 aged 3 in a few weeks and DS2 aged 4 months to be christened at the same time approx cost if any1 has any ideas!??
many thanks in advance
nats
x
:T

inkie

OK - as this this is a denominiational school they have their own selection criteria, and the priority will always be to baptised and practicing catholics - and generally needs a letter of suport from a priest. Many popular schools can fill their places on this criteria alone. If there are then any places for 'others', this will normally be for people of other christian denominations who are active members of their church. For example, my DD1 has just got a place in a catholic school for this Sept - we were in the category for 'other denominations', and as I am a minister and my child goes to my church I got a letter of support from the bishop equivalent as i could hardly write my own childs reference. For us this was the only choice, as we do not have a school in my denomination.
School are very well versed in spoting those people who maybe playing the system to get their child into a school (not saying that this is the case with you btw, but it does happen).

In response to your other question re: christening I have no idea about the catholic church, but I do not charge - I view it as as a service to the community and count it as a priviledge to do this for families - how can you put a cost on God's work?

Hope you manage to sort something out, but you may find that C of E school are more flexible than the catholic schools.

plane_boy2000

Here catholic schools are really oversubscribed. We went to look at one for DS who will start school in september 07. During the walk around the school the head teacher was asking probing questions about our background etc. I thought we were going to be struck down by lightning when she found out we were not married!!!!!

Anyway, we didnt even put it down as a choice in the end becuase of the selection criteria - first places went to children in care homes, then catholics with sibblings in the school etc etc, and we were somewhere around option 10. Given that they were oversubscribed by twice the number of places it didnt look like we would have a chance.

I think that catholic schools are very selective, and you will likely need a letter from the local priest to support your application and confirm that you are regular attendees.

nats3006

hiya thanks for replys just to let u know we are not regular church goers im afraid! we do believe in god and wouldnt just be doing it for the sake of getting him in the school i have always wanted to get him christened but i thought i will wait till he is walking then i got pregnant again it just seems the perfect time now!! i will give the school a ring 2moro and find out but on the actual admittance form it does say if not baptised at the schools church then please bring in the baptist form where he/she was baptised. i also believe that they could not be christened if i didnt go to or take them to church often??
thanks again
nats

inkie

i also believe that they could not be christened if i didnt go to or take them to church often??
thanks again

Depends upon the denomination - but, in my tradition if I had a family of non-church goes who came along and said we want to give thanks to God for our child, ask his blessing upon their life, and amke a public declaration that we want them to be brought up in the way that is right/keeping away from them anything that is likely to hinder them in body/mind or spirit, I would do a baby blessing regrdless of whether they come to church or not.
We need to meet families where they are at rather than expecting them to jump through loads of (man made) hoops.

Broken_hearted

It depends on the church and the school. Most will christen a child no problem yet with DS2 we had to attend church three weeks before they would even consider christening him. The christening in church cost nothing but they asked for donations.

benood

I'd be amazed if a vicar actually turned anyone down who asked for their children to be christened whether they were regular churchgoers or not, and I've not heard of any charging for the privilege either. It's all about bums on pews these days

bunty109

You really need to look at the school's selection criteria and get details of how oversubribed they are/are not. I think you have to be realistic and look at other schools and consider if putting this school as first choice might jeopardise you getting into another good school locally because you've put it beneath this school on your rankings.

You may find that given how close you live to the school, that you may satify the selection criteria, but the fact that this is a Catholic school may mean that you fit only the lower ranking criteria. I think the thing is with Catholic schools in particular, is that they cater for a whole diocese and that can be very large: you may live right opposite the school, but probably stand a lot less chance of getting in than someone who is a practising Catholic who lives a fair way away. There's a Catholic Secondary school near me, who admit children from around 15 miles away because they come from Catholic feeder schools.

Anyway, you really need to check with the school itself as school admissions vary from area to area, but I think you need to look at all the alternatives there are available to you. Good luck!

Spendless

I agree, you need to find out the schools selection criteria and how many pupils they usually have applying and accept each year. Not all the Catholic Primarys here are full, some were in danger of closing a couple of years ago. All the Catholic ones have had practising Catholics as their 1st criteria, and the definition here has been to attend church at least once a month in the 12 months before applying. Here you make the application a year ahead of your child starting, so you would already fail on the 1st criteria because you would have to start attending church last September IYSWIM. But everywhere is different eg our nearest Church of England school criteria is siblings.

Ring the school and make an appt to look round and ask the relevant questions then. Good luck