11 Plus Exams Forum

An Oxfordshire example:

"Children with a Statement of Special Educational Need or with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan naming PQR CE Primary School will always be offered places. If there is then greater demand for admission than there are places available, the following criteria will be applied in the order set out below:

1 Looked- after children and children who were previously looked after

2 Families who have exceptional medical or social needs that make it essential that their child attends PQR CE Primary School rather than any other. These needs must be fully supported by written evidence from the appropriate professional person involved with the family.

3 Children with a normal home address in the catchment area and with a sibling on the roll of the school at the time of
application or whose parent has accepted an offer of a place at the school and who is expected still to be in attendance at the time of entry to the school.

4 Children with a normal home address in the catchment area

5 Children with a normal home address outside the catchment area and with a sibling on the roll of the school at the time of application or whose parent has accepted an offer of a place at the school and who is expected still to be in attendance at the time of entry to the school.

6 Other children."

semb wrote:In Catholicism, I think (very happy to be corrected) Canon Law states that Catholic parents have an obligation/duty to educate their children in Catholic schools. Rather than faith schools discriminating and giving preference to their own kind, perhaps they are just providing the places to enable Catholic parents to fulfill this obligation?

That's an interesting point, thank you.

My view on that would be that the Catholic church should build its own schools and fund them or run them as independent schools, where Catholic parents can send their children and fulfil their obligations to Canon Law. The state should not be funding that choice if the school is discriminating in its admissions.

tiffinboys wrote:Firstly, I think that it will build cohesiveness if all faith schools have 50% or more open places, on distance basis. School remain a local school. Secondly, faith based places should not require Church or Synagogue etc attendance. It will discourage fraud and as well, when child attends school of that faith, they will learn about the ethos of that faith, whether parents attend the relevant Place if worship or not.

Lounylou, your school made the changes in the right direction.

I agree, I think it was a good move. I forgot about siblings though. In both criteria, siblings came second to LACs...

An extract from the Code of Canon Law:

Can. 794§2. Pastors of souls have the duty of arranging everything so that all the faithful have a Catholic education...
Can. 797 Parents must possess a true freedom in choosing schools; therefore, the Christian faithful must be concerned that civil society recognizes this freedom for parents and even supports it with subsidies; distributive justice is to be observed...
Can. 800 §1. The Church has the right to establish and direct schools of any discipline, type, and level.

Presumably therefore from canon 797 the Catholic church must be in favour of grammar schools.
Canon 794$2 is the one which has caused all the difficulties. The Catholic church could not open a new school which would have an admissions policy which might mean that a Catholic child would have to be refused a place in favour of a non-Catholic. Therefore no new Catholic schools have been built recently, which is why government policy is being changed.

The provision, construction and maintenance of Catholic schools is paid for by the Catholic church. The state pays for the education itself (teachers etc).