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Anyone looked at primary schools yet?
I wanted to find out what I am in the catchment area of, and the only one is a really pikey school with low results! I'm really peed off about it as there is another school the same distance away (less the 5 mins) and we are just out of the catchment area. This school is rated 58 in the top 500 primary schools in the country. H2B thinks we should still apply when the time comes but it is oversubscribed so there is every chance she would get the crappy school even if we don't put it down on our choices. She is NOT going there!! I will have to home school!!!!
I'm thinking we will have to move. We knew we would need to as we are in a very small 2 bed, too small for 2 kids, but this is just an extra reason in my mind. The issue we have is that we are in shared ownership. We live in Bucks which is very expensive and we can't buy a house outright (in my town a 3 bed semi is about ??350k- our old town 10 minutes away is about ??100k less but schools are not much cop there either). We can get another shared ownership but there are none available at the moment really. And the other difficulty is that we would have to sell the one we are in, rent somewhere, then reapply for a new house. What a load of rigmarole!
Of course this all means I will have to put my plans of my Midwifery degree on hold because I can't get a mortgage on an NHS bursary. We will have to do it while I'm working in the same job as the wage is okay, so this also means we will have to move before baby number 2 because I can't go back to work when we have 2 LOs
Anyway, sorry for the ramble, I'm just really at a loss right now as to what to do. I would really like to sell up now and rent, but the rents around here are so much higher that our mortgage
xxx
I'm thinking we will have to move. We knew we would need to as we are in a very small 2 bed, too small for 2 kids, but this is just an extra reason in my mind. The issue we have is that we are in shared ownership. We live in Bucks which is very expensive and we can't buy a house outright (in my town a 3 bed semi is about ??350k- our old town 10 minutes away is about ??100k less but schools are not much cop there either). We can get another shared ownership but there are none available at the moment really. And the other difficulty is that we would have to sell the one we are in, rent somewhere, then reapply for a new house. What a load of rigmarole!
Of course this all means I will have to put my plans of my Midwifery degree on hold because I can't get a mortgage on an NHS bursary. We will have to do it while I'm working in the same job as the wage is okay, so this also means we will have to move before baby number 2 because I can't go back to work when we have 2 LOs
Anyway, sorry for the ramble, I'm just really at a loss right now as to what to do. I would really like to sell up now and rent, but the rents around here are so much higher that our mortgage
xxx
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However, we got married at the local church and are having the christening there next month. The church is linked to a really fab school next door so we have been taking LO to church regularly. Wrong? Maybe but you gotta do what you gotta do to make sure your child gets the best possible education.
Our nearest school, looking at performance tables & ofsted reports, isn't doing well at all and so I do not want to send Alfie there. There are a couple of other schools I really like about a 5minute drive away but they are voulntary aided 'religious' schools which means when over-subscribed, preference goes to children who attend church and who have been baptised. Hubby & I are not religious at all and so our chances of getting Alfie in are pretty slim seeing as the schools have been over-subscribed for the past couple of yrs
I don't knock anyone who follows a religion and think it's a good thing to have something to believe in but I have chosen to be non-religious and so sometimes I feel it a little unfair that religion dictates the quality of education.
Kimmy - that's such a shame you having to put your study plans on hold. Come & move up north where it's cheaper to live, he he. Honestly though, I do hope things work out for you.
Shell xx
Sorry to hear about your troubles
Floss78 - I am deputy head at a Catholic school and frequently hear comments like yours ' I feel it is a little unfair that religion dictates the quality of education'.
This really isn't the case at all.
Faith schools (any faith) tend to perform better because the children, staff and parents tend to have the same ethos and value systems. The emphasis isn't usually on league table results but on a child centered education. This in itself tends to lead to better results academically but this is not the first target.
What usually happens then is that when parents who are not in that particular community see how well the schools perform in league tables etc (though that usually isn't the aim of faith schools - it happens as a result of the excellect parental support, excellent behaviour due to a shared ethos and generally caring atmosphere where children feel 'safe' and able to do their best) they want to send their child there but without buying in to the 'whole faith thing' without realising that that is what makes it the school they want to send their child to.
So if the school were to open their doors to everyone without giving preference to members of that community it would become just like every other school in that area. The ones they don't want to send their children to!
I am sure you will find a school where your child is happy and being the suportive parents you obviously all are, your children will be just fine. Particularly in the Infants, it is home support that makes al the diference
All the best.
I completely accept and understand the points that you have made. I honestly wasn't aware on the whole faith schools perform better than community ones. Be it a faith school or not, I just want my son to have the best education possible.
In the area I live, virtually all the closest schools to me are faith schools. Some of which currently (as you say things can change quickly) aren't performing well at all and so, faith or not, they would not be on my list of choice. We have a nearby community school that has had excellent reviews/results and so will most definitely be on my list. Our nearest school performs badly and my concern is that should I not get any of my three choices of school due to faith reasons then I would automatically be given the nearest school to me.
Whilst doing my internet research on schools near me I was surprised at one school's admission process; it's a points system based on how religious you are. For example, the more often you attend church (daily/weekly/monthly) the more points you get and so the better chance of getting in at that school. I had no idea that admission procedures could be so specific. Or am I just being naive? Being a first time mum, I've never looked into this kind of thing before.
I just want the best possible start in life for my son and just feel that my choices are limited because I don't believe in God. I have known people personally who have had their child baptised solely for school admission purposes. I'd like to consider myself an honest individual and so I can't do that; I'd be a hypocrite. I just hope I get my first choice (the 'excellent nearby community school') as my next two choices would both be faith schools.
Having babies/children can be such a worry at times! But they're worth it aren't they?
Shell xx
As you have said yourself, some parents get their child baptised purely to send their children to catholic (or other faith) schools. I agree with you - this is hypocritical. Unfortunatelty there is nothing we can do about this. Admissions procedure is set by the diocese and as you have said the criteria is points based eg practising catholics in the parish point 1, practising catholics out of the parish point 2 etc.
I can understand that if your nearest school is outstanding and is a faith school it must be so frustrating that you can't send your child there. I was just trying to say that if we didn't have this admissions procedure then we wouldn't be the schools we are. The very fact that it is faith based and the community shares the same values is the reason they tend to do well-not always- (much in that same way that local village schools where the whole village is part of the school community do well) . So diluting this with 'non faith' (and therefore families) would mean that the schools would just be like any other.
You are lucky that your nearest school is open to all and you want your child to go there. Fingers crossed they will get in. I applaud you for sticking to your own values and not doing the whole 'baptism and attending chirch every Sunday' thing just to get your child into a faith school where you don't even agree with what it is teaching!
As I said before, your child will be fine. It really is the case that in KS1 in particular, parents have so much influence on a child's sucess. You are obviously a fab parent already and your LO will be just fine.
Sorry if it appeared was ranting, just trying to explain a liittle about why it wouldn't really work if faith schools were open to all. There is so much opposition all the time that I am used to hearing (as an aside, we teach about respecting all faiths and for children to do as Jesus taught and respect and love everyone - no judgement)
As you said Shell, babies/children are a worry but soooo worth it. All the best xx
Anyhoo, will need to cling on to job until can sort out move to better school catchment area.
Will come back tomorrow when better rested (hopefully) Night all x
Andi, basically the way it works is with shared ownership you can't have interest in a property and buy another, so we would have to sell first before buying again, which is a real bugger.
Floss, honesty, I have considered moving elsewhere but I don't think it is fair on Haiden moving her away from all of her family!!
Happysmurf, out of interest, how much emphasis is put on religious eductation in a faith school?
xx
In a Catholic school it is 10% of teaching time so in effect one full two hour afternoon a week.
The two hours focus mainly on new testemant stories, so what Jesus teaches us to do. The children are basically being taught to love, share, respect those who are different to them, be kind ... We discuss morals and ethics, how we can apply our learning - so going into the playground and following through:not leaving people out of games etc.
I think all this emphasis on RE makes the children more rounded, caring individuals and it is an absolute pleasure teaching them.
We could be doing more maths/literacy in that time but I think the learning the children do in RE is just as (if not more) important.
One lesson in six the children learn about another faith (we cover Islam, Judaism, Hinuism and Sikhism), the children also visit other places of worship so Synagogues etc. We have partner schools of other faiths and the children learn about each other's cultures.
It really annoys me when people say faith schools encourage segragation etc. In my opinion from teaching in faith and non faith schools, the children in faith schools actually have a far greater awareness of other faiths and cultures and the need to be respectful of them. It tends to be the children of no faith who have no understanding and respect of any (not always, some parents are fab at filling the gap) because the teachers do not have any time to address the issue in an over crowded curriculum.
floss78 -I felt like the meanest mummy in the world last night, I thought it can't still be teething as 2 had come through over the weekend so I didn't apply teething gel, 2 more popped up this morning!
Kimmy, at least you have plenty of time before you have to move. If it came down to it, could you rent out your house and rent out a better one in a different catchment area? Hopefully the market will pick up a bit soon x
There had been a load of stuff recently in my area about housing targets and how loads more have to built. I was building my hopes on this but I have seen something today that says that they have to be built in the next 20 years. So that scuppers that plan! We are going to have to move out of the area I think
Thing is, it's so difficult to pursuade H2B that we need to move within the next couple of years. He is very much "in the moment" and refuses to think about the future, but 2 years really is a short time so he really needs to think about it! xx