Religion to Get Into School?

Tlg1991

I am getting to the age where i can see myself have kids with my partner and myself am an atheist i suppose although i have been christened i do not follow the religion what so ever, my partner is catholic and she is the same as em she is a non believer / atheist.

i have seen a lot of things about getting your kids christened to get into a good school, to be honest i really would like to avoid that and let them mainly make up there own mind when they are older. but at the same time education if very important to me for my kids as im sure it is with the majority, so i want them to get into the best school possible.

I would just like to know peoples opinions on this. near our house is a school that is in the nations top ten (primary) but it is a catholic school.

Lily-Rose_3

Tlg1991 wrote: »

I am getting to the age where i can see myself have kids with my partner and myself am an atheist i suppose although i have been christened i do not follow the religion what so ever, my partner is catholic and she is the same as em she is a non believer / atheist.

i have seen a lot of things about getting your kids christened to get into a good school, to be honest i really would like to avoid that and let them mainly make up there own mind when they are older. but at the same time education if very important to me for my kids as im sure it is with the majority, so i want them to get into the best school possible.

I would just like to know peoples opinions on this. near our house is a school that is in the nations top ten (primary) but it is a catholic school.

My opinion is that people have a flippin' nerve pretending to care about any religion JUST to get their kids in a religious school.

They will slate and berate and mock Christians, but will USE Christianity when it suits.

Disgusting.

PeacefulSlumber

My husband is catholic and I have no religious feelings at all. We lived close to a very good catholic school when my dd was little and we had her baptised because my husband wanted to and to improve her chances of getting into the school which she did. When my ds was born we also had him baptised and hoped he woukd go to the same school but they introduced a loyalty card scheme and you had to get your card stamped at church every week to prove attendance for it to have any impact on the school application. We now live abroad so it's a non issue for us but what I would say is schools are getting wise and you need to be prepared to attend church regularly and participate in the church community and I would not have been comfortable with that myself.

PeacefulSlumber

As an extra thought my dd became very religious as a result of attending catholic school. The school was fantastic and very caring and supportive but as a non religious person it was hard to accept some of the stuff she would come out with, my husband was obviously fine with it as a Catholic himself but for me it was weird!

Tlg1991

personally i don't want my child going to a religious school, my partners little sister is in a catholic school at the moment and spends more time in religious classes rather than science and maths. and she has not been told anything about sex education yet they have been told about prostitutes & rapes and all kinds. I find it very disturbing how science classes can be affected because it is a religious school, it is disgusting.

*~Zephyr~*

As a committed Atheist, it's not something I would ever consider doing, but I understand why some parents would, especially if the religious school is by far the best performing school in the area.

But I think if you are going to do it, you have to do it 100%. You have to go to church regularly and you have to get involved. You can't just make the token gesture of baptism and then never set foot in the church again. That's really taking the proverbial!

If you are prepared to become a committed church goer, then fine. Most parents make much more significant sacrifices for their children than just getting up early every Sunday. And I'm very sure you won't be the only non-believer in the pews.

Gloomendoom

Tlg1991 wrote: »

personally i don't want my child going to a religious school

Then send them to a non-religious school.

Tlg1991

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Then send them to a non-religious school.

There are also 2 parents.

reehsetin

Whatever you do please please contact your MP about this dilemma, it's something so many parents have to go through and it will only become more prevalent as faith schools grow.

I personally wouldn't want my (future) children to attend any form of religious schooling but realise that I may not have much of a choice when the time comes.

Be aware however that even non faith school still require acts of compulsory collective worship (another thing to contact your MP about)

TonyMMM

Getting your child baptised as catholic is unlikely to be enough on its own to get into such a top performing school. They will require evidence of the children being brought up in a practising catholic family environment and will also probably ask for references from the parish priest to confirm it.

More an issue for your and your partner to come to agreement on.

Pixie5740

I'm a staunch atheist and think faith schools should abolished so there's no way I'd ever send my children to a religious school.

What makes a school top rated anyway? I went to a school that year after year is in the top 5 schools in Scotland. The majority of my peers had tutors getting them through exams which improved the exam results and bumps the school up the list so I take any school rankings with a big pinch of salt.

If I was really concerned about my children attending the local school id either move or send them to a private school.