Supporter comments

"My own (atheist) children were taught creationist beliefs in their village primary school (there was no non-faith school we could choose), and that other faiths were essentially primitive. At secondary level, in our nearest town, there are three non-selective schools, two of which are faith schools. These faith schools don't accept children from families with no faith unless the families lie about their lack of faith. Our 'choice' was restricted to one school, therefore, unless our children passed the selective tests for the non-faith grammar schools. The faith schools' admissions criteria therefore massively distort the secondary system here."

My son will enter reception next year. We are an atheist family and he's already being discriminated against by local faith schools, he's not even four! How can the UK let this happen?

"My village school is C of E - most who attend do so because it is the village school, not because of its religious affiliation. My children attended for this reason but have been shown pictures of God's garden presented as fact, been given alcoholic wine without my consent and it has been a challenge to keep their minds open and objective about religion. I've now removed my children from the school."

"We decided we couldn't live with our son being indoctrinated in the Catholic faith, a religion we don't follow, and the alternative of excluding him from classes and religious activities is just not acceptable. The appeals panel said they understood our decision but said they couldn't guarantee a place at an alternative school by September."

My daughter cannot attend her nearest state funded school as she does not follow that religion. Even if she were to be given a place, she would feel excluded. Please make all state funded schools secular.

"We have taken the very hard decision to remove our children from our local but C of E school. The attempted indoctrination and divisive nature of the school became too much."

"Certain parts of Cheltenham are in the catchment area for just one non-religious school, with four religious schools nearby who select children based on the parent's availability to attend church on Sundays. How is this fair on anyone?"

"In my area I have a choice of one primary school for my son if he wants a non-religious education. It's upsetting and discriminatory that the vast majority of non-religious people, and religious people who don't believe that belief is a public matter, in this country aren't catered for."

"I went to Church of England schools all my life, meaning I was forced to go to church. Religion should only be through choice not indoctrination. I knew I didn't believe from a young age and was still forced to go by older people up to the age of 15!"

I was forced into putting all 3 of my children into a Catholic school. My choices were of three schools. One was a terribly performing C of E school, the other two. Catholic schools. Disgusting. Whilst the staff are generally nice, the air of eternal damnation hangs over those kids and the volume of hard work that's attributed to a god makes my blood boil.

I had no choice over sending my children to a faith school; that was the catchment school with other nearby schools also faith schools. We are a non-religious household. When the vicar came every Monday for Christian religious assembly, I made the difficult decision to have my children removed. I do not believe it is right that religious leaders are coming into our schools regularly as part of our children's' education.

"I believe that it is harmful for children to be segregated by their parents' beliefs. As a person without a religion, who had not been to a religious school, I was surprised at and disturbed by the level of religious indoctrination in our local state C of E primary school when my children were young, and at the amount of time that was devoted to religious themes."

I can't get my children into a local school because we do not follow the schools faith. How is this fair or right that my children are being discriminated against in this way?

"Both our children have had to go to faith schools because they were the only local schools available. We are an atheist family, and this was not at all what we would have chosen. In country areas the local faith school is effectively compulsory. Politicians bend over backwards not to offend faith groups, but by far the largest 'faith' group, atheists, are ignored."

"My son recently started reception at a faith school. Not because I'm religious, but because I had no choice. This is our local school; most other local schools are also faith schools. As a result, I will be forced to navigate challenging conversations with a four-year-old whether I feel he is prepared for them or not. Religious families will already be speaking to their children about religion at home, and non-religious families will not appreciate having to contradict what their children are taught at school."

"We were unable to go to our nearest secondary school, because it was a Catholic school. Our children's infant and primary schools were both C of E, which caused them a great deal of confusion - their teachers telling one thing, when they knew we didn't believe."

"Everyone should be entitled to have their children educated at the school that is nearest to them, regardless of whether or not they subscribe to a particular religion or other superstition. No one should be discriminated against on the grounds of "faith". I object to having to contribute to funding the local school to which my own child was denied access on religious grounds while also having to pay for him to be educated privately as a result."

"I'm a Christian but I believe faith schools cause big problems in society. They cause segregation and reduce school choice for parents. It is so much better for all children to learn together, mixing with all the children in their community. It is wrong that children are turned away from a school or prioritised for entry based on what their parents happen to do on a Sunday! I know a number of people who've told me they faked faith to get a school place, and I know one rather corrupt C of E primary school that helps out children who fail the 11-plus with their secondary application, so they go to a faith school not a regular high school. These sorts of problems are avoided by having all schools open to all local pupils."

"People should have the right to send their children to a non-faith school. In many villages/areas this is not practically possible. Segregating children by religion cannot help society."