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Supporter comments
Page 2 of 6: Three in ten families across England live in areas where most or all of the closest primary schools are faith schools and thousands are being assigned faith schools against their wishes.
Parents' perspectives on the Choice Delusion
Displaying 11 to 20 of 56
"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."
"As an atheist, my children are automatically not eligible for a great number of local schools in my area because I refuse to attend church to get them in. I am paying for these schools as a taxpayer but am not allowed to benefit from them."
I have my eldest child entering the school system in September and it makes me uncomfortable to feel that she will be indoctrinated into a religion we do not share and not given the ability or choice to make her own mind up in regards to God and Religion. We find it disheartening that we were unable to pick a secular school for our children.
"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."
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 work in a village VC school and have seen the pressure to evangelise to children rising. It's even worse in VA schools. I wouldn't want my child to attend a faith school but might have no choice if I lived in a village. They claim to be for children of all faiths but it's clear that their main concern is with propagating the faith. It's time to end the segregation of pupils by their parent's faith and build a more cohesive society."
"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."
"It is appalling that in this day and age children continue to have religion forced upon them. A child should be allowed to make their own mind up when in possession of all the information and when they are able to fully assess their options. There are no non-faith schools where I live and consequently my children have to go to school in the neighbouring town."
My eldest just started Year 3 and has already chosen her secondary school, which is a local, but unfortunately, faith school. We are Christians but not church goers and as the admission policy stands, she would have no chance of getting in. I have briefly considered 'faking' it, getting her baptised and started attending church. But what exactly would I be teaching my child? Hypocrisy? Using religion as a tool to get what you want? I can only hope that change will come soon enough for as many non-worshippers children to benefit, mine included.
Our children are discriminated against in our potential secondary schools. There is no choice, only one we can apply to (without having to jump thru hoops of entrance tests). We refuse to begin attending church to get our "Stamps" Schools should be secular across the board and parents given full opportunity to bring up their children in the religion of their choosing outside of the education sector.
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Are you locked out of your local school based on religion? Have you been assigned a faith school against your wishes? Are faith schools your only option?
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