Faith School Menace? Page #2

---

St Phillip and St James,

there's St Aloysius,

a Catholic school, and there's St

Barnabas, another Anglican school.

But if we want a non-faith-based

school, we've got to go miles here,

here or here, or here.

Parents who wish to exercise

their choice

of a non-faith-based education

for their children

are, effectively,

discriminated against.

They're excluded

from one third of British

state-funded primary schools.

How do parents feel about this?

I've come to Mumsnet.

Justine?

Richard! How nice to meet you.

Hello, Justine,

thank you very much for having me.

Welcome to Mumsnet Towers.

Mumsnet is a web forum where parents

get together online using pseudonyms

to chat freely about issues

involving their children.

I'm here to ask about their

experience of faith schools.

Slug is saying it's not that

we were forced into a choice,

it's that we were excluded

from state-funded schools

because of our lack of faith.

It would be unacceptable, of course,

to exclude people on the basis

of their race, but somehow it's OK

if it's their parents' religion.

Joe Bauwens's son is excluded

from all three of the local

primary schools,

two Anglican and one Catholic,

on the grounds that his parents

are not churchgoers.

Oh, God, there's so much going

on, I can't keep up. Hang on.

If parents don't want their children

to be excluded, the other option,

of course, is to fake a faith.

"Our neighbours trot along to church

every Sunday,

"rolling their eyes as they go,

"all so their children

can go to the local school. "

We seem to be hearing that

again and again.

I went to meet one couple

who wanted to send their daughter

to what they thought

was the best school in their area,

a Catholic primary.

But the problem was they

weren't practising Catholics.

The SATs was 100%.

So, first child, you just want

the best for your child.

Yeah, we spent four years

going to church,

you know, doing the right thing.

You went in order

to get the child into the school?

Yeah, we went to church every Sunday.

Yeah, that's part of the criteria,

attendance.

The parish priest

has to sort of sign you off.

He stood at the door and ticked

your name off as you went in?

Not quite, but almost. After church,

everyone was crowding the priest

to say,

"Hi, look, I'm here, I'm here. "

Helen converted to Catholicism.

Didn't you?

Converted to Catholicism? From what?

From Protestant.

You were brought up...

Plymouth Brethren.

Plymouth Brethren in Scotland.

Yeah, so that was my commitment

to my daughter.

Did you have to do anything else?

Any other hoops to jump through?

Be nice to the priest.

Be nice to the priest

in what sort of way?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes