Faith schools -any info about admission policy

[twinsmom11]

Hi members

I have recently came across this info that there are quite a good number of faith schools around Birmingham area where we can gain admission even though we are not Catholics by religion. Being a devot hindu and having two kids who are shortly taking up their grammers, what is the fair chance for us seeking admission into one of those schools?

Obviously i do not have much information which schools are there and what is their admission policies, etc... if you can share any such knowledge, it would be really helpful to me!

Thanks in advance

[hermanmunster]

really depends on the school! the admission policies for the catholic schools tend to go similarly to the one linked here:

http://www.st-peters.solihull.sch.uk/Do ... iteria.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

others have "other practising trinitarian religions" between 5 & 6

[anxious_mother]

Hi twinsmom11,
I don't mean to disappoint u but there is hardly any chance of getting into a good catholic school unless u are really lucky. Be it primary or secondary what these people are doing it is that they are giving seats to children who are catholic but are not in their parish or near to the schools I even know of my friends who were catholic and live as far as 5 miles for a primary and 7 miles for a secondary who got a call from the school saying that a place is available. So what they are doing is that they are trying to fill as many catholic as possible.

[um]

Yes, and to be fair the growing Eastern European community in the West Midlands does mean that there are more Catholics to fill the places in Catholic Schools now. And Catholics will always be prioritised.

Some do offer places to non-Catholics who attended their Catholic 'feeder' Primaries.
Do your dcs attend a Catholic Primary?
If not, their chances may be slim but you could always call the school(s) you are interested in and ask for further information from them.

[UmSusu]

Yes, Catholic secondaries often have primary feeder schools, from where they offer non-Catholic children a place after offering to all Catholic applicants. This is quite far down the list but you might still have a chance. The secondary schools I know of are Bishop Challoner and St Thomas Acquinas: the first would be virtually impossible to get in to from where you are but when I visited the latter, the map they had on display showed some pupils coming from quite afar - one from Kidderminster I think But it was not clear whether they were Catholic children or not.

The admissions person there did suggest that they went as far as category 5 last year and anticipated that they would go at least that far, if not further next year due to it being a low birth year (Sorry to mention the low birth year issue, I know it just gets everyone wondering whether they have a better chance, but you never know!). I know of several non-Catholic children who got in there last year - with my DS's grammar school chances looking quite bleak I am looking for alternatives too.

[anxious_mother]

If non catholic children are getting in, it means they are very lucky. Some of my son's seniors did not get into Bishop Walsh school although they were a part of catholic feeder schools and we could not secure a place for our DD in our son's catholic primary school.

[mike1880]

As far as I know, all the RC schools in B'ham have the same admissions criteria:

1. RC children in care
2. RC children at feeder primary
3. Other RC children
4. Non-RC children in care
5. Non-RC children at feeder primary
6. Other non-RC children

St Thomas Aquinas got as far as the last category this year but it's the first time I'm aware of for many years - but I don't know how many places they offered or what distance they went out to (the ones I know of live practically at the school gate). I don't know about any of the other schools.

Mike

[UmSusu]

Hi Mike
We would come under category 5 and I was considering putting them on the form. I liked what I saw on the open day, although it seems the 6th form has some issues.
Do you have any opinions on the school? Any comments would be appreciated.

UmSusu

[mike1880]

It's three years since we went round so I'm not very up to date on it but...

I'd choose it above Kings Norton Boys if it was a practical option, imho the only better school in the area is Kings Norton Girls. I don't know how it compares to slightly more distant places like Colmers or Bournville.

It's been on our form both times (category 6 so no real chance of getting in - but any slender possibility of avoiding KNH has to be grasped...) and we liked it at open day (we did tend to get stuck to the floor in classroom doorways because of all the gum, but at least that means they're not chewing in class, unlike in the publicity video for one "outstanding" comp that I saw!). As best as I can judge behaviour is pretty good, results are tolerable at GCSE.

There's always the opportunity to move at 6th form, so that needn't be an issue providing GCSE results are good enough.

Mike

[UmSusu]

Thanks Mike
I think I will put them down. I am not keen on KN boys and don't have any girls. The bus services to St Thomas are very regular so DS can get there within 20 minutes of leaving. Their results are average but the behaviour seemed good and they were very ordered and calm as they moved between classes. With 4 boys to worry about, discipline at school is always high on my list. I know schools only bring out their best as guides but the ones we had there were the most engaging of all the schools we visited. I suppose we can leave the 6th form issue for now and just try to get him through the next 5 years first.

I must say I didn't notice the gum - maybe they remembered to cleanup before their guests arrived this time!