Hi all,

We received an email yesterday from the head of St Bernards, amongst the info was the following
"School Expansion from September 2019
The school has been approved to increase our Pupil Admitted Number (PAN) from 120 to 150 in Year 7 from September
2019. Both the Diocese of Northampton and Local Authority have recognised the unique opportunities provided by a Catholic
Grammar and I am very pleased that we can now offer this to more pupils, year on year. Our Admissions policy is available on
the existing website and from September, on our new website."

So yup, they are looking at expanding, plus the admissions policy has changed for entry from 2019:
"Over-Subscription Criteria
Should places be oversubscribed, the Governing Body will consider children for admission following the
criteria set out below. These categories relate to the child, not to the parent(s)/guardians(s). Please
refer to the endnotes indicated for the following terms: Practising, Catholic, Looked After, Staff and
Other Christian:
1. Catholic Looked After children.
2. Practising Catholic children.
3. Catholic children.
4. All other Looked After children.
5. Children from other Christian Churches.
6. Children from Other Faiths who attend a Slough Catholic Primary School within St Peter’s Pastoral Area, (Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Our Lady of Peace Catholic Primary School, St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, St Bernard’s Preparatory School and St Ethelbert’s Catholic Primary School) and live in Slough with a permanent home address.
7. Children from Other Faiths who attend a Slough Primary viSchool within St Peter’s Pastoral Area Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Our Lady of Peace Catholic Primary School, St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, St Bernard’s Preparatory School and St Ethelbert’s Catholic Primary School).
8. Children of Staff.
9. Any other children.

For comparison, this is the admissions policy up until Sept 2018 entry:
Over-Subscription Criteria
Should places be oversubscribed, the Governing Body will consider children for admission following the
criteria set out below. These categories relate to the child, not to the parent(s)/guardians(s). Please
refer to the endnotes indicated for the following terms: Practising, Catholic, Looked After, Orthodox,
Staff and Other Christian:
1. Catholic Looked After children.
2. Practising Catholic children.
3. Catholic children.
4. All other Looked After children.
5. Practising Orthodox children.
6. Orthodox children.
7. Children of Staff.
8. Practising Other Christianvi children.
9. Other Christian children.
10. Practising members of Other Faiths.
11. Members of Other Faiths.
12. Any other children.


Ps - I have removed the Roman numerals next to some of the numbers. More info on the website.


So not a massive change - though as a local I actually like that they are giving priority to local dc (non- Christian Faith). [Just to add it doesn't effect me, both my dc are Catholic and will be attending the school from Sept this year].

Thanks for the info, really helpful to see it.
Though Um... Other Faiths.... doesn’t that imply practicing?
Agree it’s good to have local non-Catholic dc have a chance, but if it only includes those who practice a standard religion it is still discriminating against those willing to stand up and certify that they are atheist, humanist or agnostic. So a lapsed person who does not follow a religious lath but is willing to fib that they are still practicing may be offered a place above a morally upright but honest atheist family...

Also, (playing devil’s advocate here) will they let in children practicing non-standard religions eg Pagan, Ba’h’ai, Rastafarian, Jain, Scientologists?

In answer to the last, presumably, if the school wants to exclude any of those (or other) faith groups, they will stipulate somewhere exactly whose faiths which are acceptable?

And as for atheists, why on earth would we want to go there anyway?

_________________
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

Parents still have to fill in the supplementary form A and B.

It states the following re faith as well as being at one of the local schools:
Practising means a member of a church who attends mass regularly, as evidenced by a Priest’s (or minister’s) reference including the parish priest’s (or minister’s) signature and the parish stamp or seal completed on the Supplementary Form B. For members of other faiths, the person who most closely takes on the equivalent role of priest will complete the priest’s reference.
Children from other Christian Churches refer to a member of a church that belongs to “Churches Together in Britain and Ireland” www.ctbi.org.uk. A baptismal certificate will be required as evidence of belonging to that church. The only exception will be for those Christian denominations where infant baptism is not practised.
Children on roll at one of the Catholic Primary Schools in St Peter’s Pastoral Area when the application is made and live in Slough (Verification may be requested to show you pay your council tax to Slough Borough Council). The Catholic Primary Schools are Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Our Lady of Peace Catholic Primary School, St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, St Bernard’s Preparatory School and St Ethelbert’s Catholic Primary School.
Children on roll at one of the Catholic Primary Schools in St Peter’s Pastoral Area when the application is made. These are Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Our Lady of Peace Catholic Primary School, St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, St Bernard’s Preparatory School and St Ethelbert’ Catholic Primary School.

I wonder what the Orthodox church has done to get removed from the list ? Are they just including it with "other Christian faiths"

They seem to be part of the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland grouping?

http://www.ctbiarchive.org/24

http://www.ctbiarchive.org/691/

_________________
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx