Catholic School - Will It Be A Problem That She's Not Christened?

[Mrs Jak]

Hi,

DD won't be starting Prep/school until 2010 but I was just wondering if anyone had experience with this issue.

DH was christened Catholic and I Uniting Church, but it doesn't mean anything to us and we decided it would be hypocritical to christen DD.

The only problem is that the local State School is a bit rough and I would ike DD to go to the local private Catholic school in the hope of a better education. It also goes right through to year 12 and is nice and close.

I don't have a problem with her learning about the religion as it will be her choice one day when/if she wants to pick a religion and I don't think they get too 'heavy' with it all.

Will she be on the end of the waiting list because she's not christened or Catholic, and/or will us living close by in the area help her chances?

[Kazbah]

Far as I'm aware, the private / catholic schools need to maintain a certain % of non-catholic students to get government funding, so it shouldn't be a problem. But you may need to put yourself on the waiting list now ...

[Mrs Jak]

Thanks Kazbah!

That would be great if it is the case.

They aren't taking enrollments for 2010 yet but I will keep on to them as to when to apply.

[Trillian]

I know my local Catholic school isn't fussy about that - my sister attended for her final year of school and we aren't baptised at all. She did have to take the religious classes though. I think someone mentioned on here ages ago though that some catholic schools will take preference for catholic students over non catholics if they have already met their quota's, but each school would be different with how they approach that

[sushee]

I believe they are expected to take on a certain number of non-catholic students, as Kazbah has said, but a popular school will have these quotas filled early, and after which, I understand they will take a catholic student over one that is not catholic, as Sherie has mentioned. And, in my experience, they even require the catholic parent/s to prove devoutness by way of a reference from their parish priest etc.

[Bathsheba]

Yep, if we want to send our son to the Catholic school in our area (a very popular one) we will have to get a signed form to say that he attends our church... which he has know for over a year. We are not Catholic (Church of England) but preference is given to children who attend any Christian church on a regular basis in our area I think... plus, like the others said there are also a certain percentage for non-denominational students. Problem is though.... because this school is so popular I guess some Catholic students will have to miss out so that the non-denominational students can attend.

[rolymogs]

........

[Visitor9]

My MIL is a teacher at a catholic school, we often have this conversation as my local area has only a few primary schools and the flavour of the month is to send them to the local catholic school. We also have a problem that we have 2 very large single sex secondary schools (catholic) that turn hundreds away each year. The catholic schools have to make available to non-catholics about 10 places each year level per yr...with siblings they are first taken and then a few odd places available for first time families.
It gets up my goat that many of the families near me realise that not having your child baptised is an issue and the amount of older children entering the church where they attend once or twice and never seen again just so they might get a placement at the school.
Bec

[*Belle*]

Hi there firstly if you send them to a Christian School they all may ask if the child is christening, I have to mention we got our 1 year old chistened and its now "Christian Christening" covering a few religions not just catholic. I didnt go to Catholic primary however my brother did, I guess the only issue you may run into is when they do first communion as a group or they go to mass as a class every week. Julia is christened as I am catholic but honestly we are not sure whether we will send her to catholic/private or public at this stage. My hubby is not religious and had a good public education and I hated my catholic private school so we are undecided! Maybe the rules are differrent in different states also? I havent checked them out yet.

[widdly]

At our local Catholic school the list goes like this

1. Catholic children from the local parish
2. Catholic children
3. non-catholic children

[Pretty Butterfly]

My kids are in a catholic school and they are Anglican. You dont have to be catholic to go, but they do have to be christened and they take a copy of there baptism certificate. Its a popular school, and it just keeps the numbers down.

[Kitt3n]

It all depends on the schoold policies - you will need to check with that school alone.

My aunt is the librarian at an orthodox school and they wont take anyone who isnt orthodox - neither will the new muslim school that is being built.

So just check with the particular school - most office ladies are pretty friendly!!

[Indadhanu]

I used to work for a Catholic family, whose daughter attends a Catholic school, and they needed the priest to confirm their Catholic status and attendance at Church and all that, and also they needed a 'sponser', a family who attended the Church whose child was already at the school, to ... I'm not 100% sure what they did, but they needed that 'reference' I guess. I also remember my boss stood in line for 4 hours at the school to get the application papers and fee in... and that wasn't even to get in the school, just to apply!

I think some schools are really popular, so they'll take Catholic students first, and if you aren't Catholic you just hope that there aren't as many Catholic students as there are places at the school.

[Antheia]

I went to a caltholic high school(only left 4yrs ago, so pretty recent) We had catholics, anglicans, non-baptised students. i even had a friend who was buddhist there. They first took people who were from a catholic primary school, then people who had siblings at the school, then catholics, then non-catholics. The only thing that erked me though was if you weren't catholic they really pushed it onto you. Everyone had to study religion as a subject and if you were catholic they worked on you the hardest which i think is a bit wrong but anyway. You also were not allowed to say that you weren't catholic because it 'looked bad' WT?

[ajm mum]

Hi my dd started in year 4 i was worried as she isnt chrisened but was tols no child will be denied a catholic education no matter what religion as long as there is room

[Jacqui]

My kids are in a catholic school and they are Anglican. You dont have to be catholic to go, but they do have to be christened and they take a copy of there baptism certificate. Its a popular school, and it just keeps the numbers down.

Thats our story too. We too have a popular school.
I think it depends on numbers and vacancies. Our school has 3 classes per grade of 25+ kids.

Goodluck with your decision.

Jacqui

[Pandora]

It depends on the school. The Catholic primary school that we are zoned to requires that both parents and all children in the immediate family, as well as the child, are baptised or they wont take them. I was discussing the whole funding thing with someone who's a retired primary school principal, in our area, and he said there are loophole that can be used, and indeed the schools can choose to turn down the funding if they want to.