Admissions Clarification (Covid-19) Our Lady of Victories Admission Arrangements 2021-2022

Parents and carers applying for places in the academic year 2021-2022 are asked to note the following statement in relation to the Mass Attendance oversubscription criterion set out in the Our Lady of Victories Catholic Primary School’s admission arrangements:

On the advice of the Education Commission of the Archdiocese of Southwark, the governing body of Our Lady of Victories Primary School has agreed the following statement in order to clarify how its faith-based oversubscription criteria will be interpreted while churches are closed or attendance at church is not possible due to Covid-19. This statement has been shared widely with parishes by the Education Commission in order to ensure that determinations made by parish priests concerning regular practice of the faith are being made on a consistent basis.

The suspension of the obligation to attend Sunday Mass was announced on 18th March 2020 by Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. If a parent/carer attended Mass at a certain frequency at a particular parish (or parishes) prior to 18th March 2020 then they will be considered to have attended Mass in that parish (or parishes) at the same frequency since that time. This will remain the case until the Sunday obligation is reintroduced by the Bishops.

It is the intention of the governing body to seek a variation from the Office of the Schools’ Adjudicator, in relation to Catholic practice. Granting of this variation is, at this time, pending.