Grans Moral Maze

I don't see we can complain is a school is oversubscribed and we don't meet the admission policy for whatever reason. Our C of E high schools are both oversubscribed and families who don't reach the Church admission and involvement in community issues policies, don't get in. The schools give priority to looked after children, children with special needs etc .

Religion shouldn't be a criteria at all. No child chooses their religion.

Parents make all kinds of choices for their children, faith/no faith etc being one of them. It's one thing to believe that Religion should not be a criteria for school admission, another to suggest that parents don't have the responsibility and duty to do their best by their children. Providing religion isn't used to control children it isn't going to harm them. Children can make choices in their mid childhood, early teens and adult life if they're given the opportunity to consider the faith issue in a balanced and caring manner.

I wasn't aware that I'd suggested parents don't have the responsibility and duty to do their best by their children.

I'm merely saying that religion or lack thereof shouldn't be a factor in state education and I know I am not alone in thinking that.

So why do you think the school your GS wanted is over subscribed SueDonim and why did his parents choose it?

They didn't choose it, in the end. My GS isn't due to start school until this summer. They went to an open day and were told by staff that there'd be no point in them applying because GS didn't fit any of the criteria except it was their nearest school. My DIL isn't white, British or Christian and she felt very unwelcomed by their attitude, that her face didn't fit.

I live nearly 600 miles away so I don't know the ins and outs of it all but I think places go to children of people who belong to the church, those who attend other CoE churches in the area, siblings, cared-for children (though there will be vanishingly few of those because there's a lot of money in the area) and who live closer to the school. People want the school because it has good reports and provides out of hours care but thankfully so do other schools in the area and they've found somewhere else for him, further away.

I probably should say that I live in Scotland, where every child is entitled to go to their nearest school, irrespective of who or what they are.

Parents have a duty to "educate their children otherwise", if they are not in a recognised school.

If those unregistered "schools" can't be touched, because they are not officially schools at all, why can't the parents be investigated re providing their children with an adequate education?

If children at those "schools" don't even know the English language, they can't be said to be getting an adequate education for the country they live in.