To secure Foundation place at a church school, parents must show that they are a ‘regular attender’ for a period of time such as 3 years, 18 months or 1 year, prior to their application, depending on the school.

St Mary’s will be asked to verify this and so we need to be able to confirm you meet the relevant criteria. There are different ways you can help us with this.  You can see the criteria for the relevant schools at the bottom of this page

There are two ways:

a)      if your child attends Sunday morning groups, make sure their participation is recorded on the group register **

b)     Sign the parental attendance book whenever you attend a service – you only need to sign if your child is not attending a group

You must be registered on ChurchSuite for us to record your attendance

** Don’t forget that children’s groups only take place on 2nd, 3rd and 4th Sundays of the month during term time. If you attend all age services and during the summer, you will need to sign the book to record your attendance .
Group attendance alone may not meet the relevant criteria so please make sure you are recording your attendance in the correct way every week.

Speak to one of the welcome team at service, email the church office , click ‘I’m New’ in the top righthand corner of the website, or scan the QR code below

In the church, the book is on a podium at the back of church, on the righthand side.

In the church centre, it is by reception as you enter the building.

Yes. Just ensure they are signed into their group. If your child is attending, we will assume that you were also there! It will be the primary parent named on your child’s registration form that this applies to.

Don’t forget that children’s groups only take place on 2nd, 3rd and 4th Sundays of the month during term time. If you attend all age services and during the summer, you will need to sign the book to record your attendance.

Group attendance alone may not meet the relevant criteria so please make sure you are recording your attendance in the correct way every week.

If you are unsure who the primary name on the school application will be, it is best if you both record attendance.

No. The attendance of one parent will count towards meeting the requirements. We would recommend that you can both register your attendance if you are unsure who will be the primary school applicant.

No. Even if you are on a rota for a Sunday, you still need to sign the book if your child is not attending a group. If you are in the church centre and not able to make it over to the church, you can sign the book by the reception.

Make sure that you update ChurchSuite with any rota swaps, just in case we have to confirm any attendance at a later date.

It is helpful if we have your child is registered as this will ensure that you receive all the relevant communications. They are not obliged to attend groups (though we would encourage it). You can register your child here

Fill in a registration form the first time your child attends Sunday morning groups, email the church office who can send you a link to the electronic form to add their name to the system or scan the QR code below

We have to be entirely fair to all parents and completely transparent and truthful in our school application reference process so we ask everyone to record their attendance, irrelevant of how long you have been attending.

The specific school admissions criteria will still apply, but we are very happy to discuss any special circumstances with you to see how we can still support your application. Please do let us know if you are going to be absent for a period or of any exceptional circumstances and we can then discuss this with you when we come to the time of application.

This does not apply to extended holidays.

Yes. Scan the QR code below or email admin@stmaryreigate.org

When the  school application period comes around, we will email parents of children with the relevant age on our system with details of how to request a reference.

We will then check your record and confirm whether or not are likely to meet the relevant requirements and can therefore support your application for a foundation place.

If you are relatively new to St Mary’s, you will need to seek a reference from your previous church to show that you have been a regular church attender for the full period.