Islington Tribune - News: Church

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

Islington Tribune - by SIMON WROE
Published: 10 August 2007

The Rev Stephen Coles

White, middle-class parents find God, and a school place

Vicar says ‘divisive’ system separates Christian children from neighbours

GOD might be infinite in his wisdom, but can he tell the true believers from those earning “God miles” so they can get their children into one of Islington’s prestigious faith schools?
As competition grows for church school places, a Finsbury Park vicar has criticised as “divisive” white, middle-class parents who do not necessarily believe in God but “know how to operate the system”.
From buying improbable amounts of raffle tickets at the church tombola to volunteering to serve on the parish council, desperate parents trying to “out-church” one another to curry favour with schools’ admission boards are nothing new.
But the Reverend Stephen Coles, of St Thomas the Apostle Church in St Thomas’s Road, believes mushrooming demand for places in well-regarded Catholic and Church of England primary schools is sidelining vulnerable and disadvantaged families.
He said: “The church should be serving those people from tricky backgrounds who need help. But there is a higher percentage of middle-class, white children than is reflective of the congregations in Islington.
“Christians are not being educated alongside their neighbours and this makes the children in those schools deprived.
“One parent told me that in her child’s non-church school ‘Christian’ has become a term of abuse.”
St Thomas’s is one of three churches linked to St John’s Highbury Vale, a Church of England primary school in Blackstock Road. The school was praised in its last Ofsted report for its pupils’ “uniformly high standards”.
Although admission policy differs from school to school, at St John’s parents must live within the parish and attend a parish church once a fortnight for at least a year prior to applying for a school place.
Revd Coles said: “Parents do know how to operate the system now. I had a couple who failed on the 12-month rule and they stopped going as soon as they didn’t get in. I got very sheepish ‘hellos’ from them when I met them in the street.”
He added: “If I think people are coming for calculating reasons I’ll tease them – God has a greater sense of humour than anybody else.”

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment:

Your Comments: