Finding a place in a Catholic school in Christchurch is so hard, some parents confess to “rediscovering” their faith to secure their child’s spot.
Catholic school rolls – like those of other Christian schools – are bursting in Christchurch. They’re seen as “desirable” schools.
Under pressure
The Catholic Diocese across Christchurch has over 7000 students. Besides these, non-Catholic Christian schools account for about 3500.
The difficulty is, the Catholic diocese’s 35 primary and secondary schools are at 91 percent of their maximum roll capacity.
Hundreds of potential students apply to attend these schools but miss out.
Several Christian schools across Canterbury are also near capacity; four have applied to the Ministry of Education to increase their student rolls.
Fixed allocations remain
Catholic school manager Mike Nolan said Christchurch diocese schools would not be increasing places available for non-Catholic students.
Parents who are non-practising Catholics were welcome to apply, but would be restricted to the five percent “non-religious” allocation.
“All people are always welcome to join us, wherever people find themselves in their faith journey” Nolan said.
Faith wins a place
In many cases, families have to provide evidence of their faith practice if they are to secure a place for their children at their Christian school of choice.
Depending on the school, applicants may need to produce statements of faith, preference certificates (effectively an endorsement from the church), letters from priests confirming church attendance and testifying that they will uphold the Christian character of the school.
Some anonymous Facebook posts from parents confess that they baptised their children to increase the chances of being offered a place at a desirable Catholic primary school.
Others offer tips about which primary schools feed into the best Catholic high schools.
University of Canterbury sociology professor Mike Grimshaw said it was “well known” that non-practising Catholic parents were rediscovering the value of their dormant faith, if that could open the door to certain schools.
“Most of these parents are not necessarily interested in a religious education, but are buying a non-state education.”
He said Christian schools offer a cheaper version of a private education while the state school system is not providing the required ethos, teaching, standards, student cohort and outcomes.
Choose the closest school
Families should attend the closest Catholic school to their homes, Nolan said.
The Ministry of Education supports this view, with recent changes to legislation saying siblings of current students no longer have the right to enrol at a school if they don’t live in the local area.
Changes to the so-called “grandparenting” clause were to provide a fair and transparent process for enrolment where there is more demand than there are places, the Ministry says.
Catholic diocese and Christian schools applied an “area of reasonable convenience” which should encourage families to choose the closest religious school.
“In our Catholic school context, parish boundaries and the Catholic primary schools within those parish boundaries provide a mechanism for ensuring this principle is met” Nolan said.
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