Where do you send your kids to school?

willielovesall

Hi I am just wondering for all those Atheist parents out there, where do you send your kids to school if you want to avoid having any religious indoctrination. In England there is the option of educate together schools but I see little evidence of these schools where I live.

So my question, if you are an atheist/agnostic and you don't want your kids to have any religious indoctrination where do you send them to school?

Also I want to know what people think, should you send your children to the closest school regardless of faith so they can experience religious indoctrination and in turn learn to reject as some of us have?

amacachi

They won't be going to school.

robindch

willielovesall wrote: »

In England there is the option of educate together schools but I see little evidence of these schools where I live.

If you live in England, then the main reason you'll see no Educate Together schools is because it's an exclusively Irish schools' movement

willielovesall wrote: »

[...] should you send your children to the closest school regardless of faith so they can experience religious indoctrination and in turn learn to reject as some of us have?

Nope. No more than I'd send them to spend their evenings down the pub so that they can learn how to reject alcohol.

Pushtrak

willielovesall wrote: »

Also I want to know what people think, should you send your children to the closest school regardless of faith so they can experience religious indoctrination and in turn learn to reject as some of us have?

I'd figure if an Educate Together school is too far away and isn't really an option, you can try rationalize the only option you have as being better than it actually is might be helpful for some.

ShooterSF

amacachi wrote: »

They won't be going to school.

Agreed. I'll be having them on rye bread with some mayo and lettuce.

Hotblack Desiato

Our daughter will be starting in Sept in the local CofI school (it's actually the closest school to us - and we're hoping they can be trusted to respect our wishes more than the RC would. The RC schools are gender segregated as well, which is a PITA when we have one of each.)
Our children are not baptised into any religion, although both my wife and I were baptised RC as babies.
We're hoping it'll work out well and we can get our 1-yo into the CofI school when his time comes.

We'd prefer a school without a religious patron, but even in Dublin there are huge areas with no ET school within reach.

ninja900

ninja900 wrote: »

Our daughter will be starting in Sept in the local CofI school (it's actually the closest school to us - and we're hoping they can be trusted to respect our wishes more than the RC would. The RC schools are gender segregated as well, which is a PITA when we have one of each.)

CofI schools tend to be mixed gender because the lower population density means that even if they want to run separate schools for boys and girls they don't "have the luxury" of doing so.

ninja900 wrote: »

We'd prefer a school without a religious patron, but even in Dublin there are huge areas with no ET school within reach.

You can imagine what it was like back in the mid 90s, when there were only 7 in Dublin and only two outside. :eek:


Anyway, 220-plus views so far, and you're the only person who has actually answered the OP's question. Fair play to you. In our case, it was ET for primary and is Protestant secondary.

MrPudding

We live in the UK now, so things are slightly different. My kids go to non-denominational "broadly christian" schools.

When we lived in Dublin the two kids that were old enough to go to school went to the French school in Foxrock. It was great as it was completely secular. The first communion preparation happened in a neighbouring school outside of normal school hours.

It was a very good school, which I would highly recommend, though it is fee paying, so perhaps not ideal for everyone.

MrP

iguana

If we are still in Ireland in a few years we are planning on sending our children to Drumnigh Montessori in north Dublin. It's the only non-denominational school in the country afaik, ET schools are multi-dom, and it doesn't adhere to the national curriculum. As such it receives no state funding so will cost us about €3500pa per child, so we've had to be planning for this financially for quite a few years before we decided to start trying to conceive. (All schools that receive state funding must give religious/ethical instruction for a set number of hours a week.)

I wouldn't necessarily mind sending my children to a multi-dom school but I prefer non-dom. Not so much that I'd pay for it if I wasn't convinced of the overwhelming benefits of Montessori education, it's just a happy coincidence for me that one of the few schools I'd be happy sending my children to, from an educational perspective is also one that believes the ethical and religious instruction of a child is the parent's domain.

MrPudding

iguana wrote: »

If we are still in Ireland in a few years we are planning on sending our children to Drumnigh Montessori in north Dublin. It's the only non-denominational school in the country afaik, ET schools are multi-dom, and it doesn't adhere to the national curriculum. As such it receives no state funding so will cost us about €3500pa per child, so we've had to planning for this financially for quite a few years before we decided to start trying to conceive. (All schools that receive state funding must give religious/ethical instruction for a set number of hours a week.)

I wouldn't necessarily mind sending my children to a multi-dom school but I prefer non-dom. Not so much that I'd pay for it if I wasn't convinced of the overwhelming benefits of Montessori education, it's just a happy coincidence for me that one of the few schools I'd be happy sending my children to, from an educational perspective is also one the believes the ethical and religious instruction of a child is the parent's domain.

The French school I mentioned is also non-denominational. If you are already considering paying it might be worth checking out.

MrP

WolfgangWeisen

I won't/wouldn't raise a child in Ireland personally, however if I were to I would certainly seek to have them in an Educate Together or at worst, a Church of Ireland school.

I know people with a number of children who sought to send them to Educate Together schools, however were told that they (the school) couldn't guarantee entry to their siblings. Forcing people to trek around the city delivering their kids to different schools is entirely out of the question so I truly hope the schools in question change their policies on this, as the children in question are now being sent to the local catholic schools.

lazygal

We are very lucky as there are two schools close enough to us that we are happy to send our children to. One is Catholic and the other is Educate Together. I think you have to be a bit pragmatic. Okay, I'm not mad on the Catholic ethos but I went to a Catholic school, was an alter server and did all the churchy things and I'm now as atheist as they come. If we don't get into the ET they'll go to the Catholic school. I'd actually favour the Catholic school in terms of academics if it came down to it, but the multi-d ethos is a major factor. I think there's a lot to be said for kids going to local schools where their friends live around the area and they can meet up, play sports etc.

I have a lot of problems with the current religious nature of the vast majority of our schools but as I don't foresee massive shifts in patronage before our children have to go to school, I'm taking a realistic view of the situation. We as parents plan on having a lot of input into their moral and atheist education at home.