homewardbound

I have a 12yo daughter who will go into year 8 when we arrive in feb/march - she is currently in year 8... She isnt the brightest girl on the block but she does excell in maths, french, PE and is massively improving on her science. She is average in English but works very hard. My 9yo son is very bright, in all the top sets but only down to hard work - he was in the bottom sets from year 1-4 and then the 2nd half of year 4 they realised he was very bright but was bored!

Anyway my point is this. I am baptised and confirmed catholic due purely due to my upbringing in australia. My children are not baptised as I felt they should be old enough to make a choice, I have lost my faith completely and feel a complete hypocrite sending them to catholic school. Add to this further a single unmarried mother! How hard will i find it to get them in catholic schools? will the interviews be as gruelling as they were when i was at school? Should i start going to church and make friends with the local priest?

I understand from year 8 onward intake the selection tests dont need to be done, they are selected from reports and interview only.

Your thoughts please

JAJ

It's not quite clear what you are asking. "Catholic vs selective" isn't really the choice you have. The real choice is "public" or "catholic".

The public school system in Australia is open to children of all faiths (and none) and is the choice of the vast majority. Some public secondary schools are selective academically (eg in NSW) but most are not.

Which state are you planning to live in? Some education issues are different from one state to another.

There is a separate publicly funded system of Roman Catholic schools in Australia. However, if you don't see yourself as Roman Catholic (irrespective of what may have been pushed on you as a child) and your children are not Roman Catholic, then it's hard to see why you would want them in that kind of environment at school.

Some private (ie non government funded) Roman Catholic schools are academically selective, but most are not. Some of the other denominations have their own private schools too.

As to whether you should go to church or not, that's a personal decision for you and your children but if you have fundamental disagreements with the Roman Catholic church that's obviously not the right place for you. Have you ever thought about whether being an Anglican, Methodist or similar might be the right choice for you + children? (most mainstream Protestant churches in Australia have quite a few former Roman Catholics as members and attenders).

Gems

Hello,
My kids are in a Catholic school in Australia and have not been brought up as Catholics. Its not something we ever planned, but found this was the best school in the town and could cater for my kids needs well.

I am a Catholic, and have to admit although my schools in childhood were over the top with religion(run by nuns) the education side was excellent.

However I have noticed that my kids school does not go over the top with religion like they did when I was a child. In my opinion seams more balanced.

We did look at every school in town! But the Catholic school, had excellent facilities, kids were well behaved and education standards were better.

The kids were worried before starting as they knew nothing of catholic religion. However they love the school and settled in well.

GEMS

Gems

Ps, my kids school does accept children who are not catholics, and think this is more common now. They said it was not a problem that my kids are not catholics. However some schools do give priority to practicing catholics, so you may have problems getting into over subscribed schools.

Gems

homewardbound

What i want is the best education for my kids i can afford. If catholic schools have changed in 20 years then that is a relief. My school was run by nuns too!

I'm looking at eithe NSW or Qld... cant make up my mind yet! I've done my nsw search and now onto my qld search.

JAJ

Don't assume that Roman Catholic schools are automatically "better" than regular government schools. And you shouldn't assume that every Roman Catholic school will be willing to deal with non-Roman Catholic children. Look into that in detail if contemplating this kind of school. (you don't want your children subjected to pressure to adopt Roman Catholicism).

In Sydney there are some good selective (government) schools, eg Sydney Boys High School in Moore Park.