Supporter comments

"My daughter can't go to her local school because she hasn't been christened. This is discrimination, no matter how it is dressed up!"

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.

"Parents attend church just to get them into their most convenient school, not because of their devotion to the religious orientation. We have a school five meters away from our house, but our son can't go there because we refuse to attend the local church. This should not be happening in today's society. Children should be able to make their own choice when they are able to make that choice."

My son is been placed into a faith school at the secondary school allocations. This was not one of my 6 choices, but no other school is available. The school say that they must attend all Catholic services i.e. Mass, even if they don't pray!

"I am an atheist raised by atheists, the only school in the village I lived in was C of E. I had to go participate in Christian rituals in a church several times a year, was regularly told off for not praying and was taught that Hindu and Muslim legends are "myths" whilst Noah's ark literally happened. Aside from the obvious issues of indoctrinating impressionable children and encouraging tribalism and exclusion, when state schools become faith schools, they actively impinge on the right of anyone who is in that catchment area but not of that faith to raise their children with their own beliefs."

"Faith schools leave non-religious parents with a difficult choice. Too frequently you have to either send your child to a school miles away from your home, or send them to your local faith school and have them be educated about things you do not believe in. I went to church as a child, my mother is a church warden, I understand some of the moral advantages of Christian teaching. I just don't want it in my children's schools. Religion belongs in a church, or place of worship."

We are a non-religious family, but I sent my son to our local village school because we could walk there. Like all in the area it was CofE. I told him to be respectful of other people's beliefs, but they were not the same back. He was forced into prayers. A couple of years after he started at this school, they changed the admissions criteria so that you had to go to church to get in and we would never have got him into our state funded village school. This is absolutely outrageous.

"I was gobsmacked and outraged when they told me I didn't get any of my six chosen choices of schools… I didn't want her to go to a Hindu school so I am surprised the council would think I would accept a faith school which I didn't even apply for."

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.

As a British born Sikh, the first time I felt excluded by society was when applying for primary schools. Despite having faith and regularly attending our local temple, my children were excluded from a primary school that we meet the distance criteria for. This segregation adds to the modern racism, prejudice, and discrimination in our workplaces.

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?

"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."

"I had never looked into the rules of faith schools and admissions before. Now that I am expecting a baby soon, I have searched locally - I am shocked to discover that unbiased education free from religious dogma is not an option."

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.

"As a teacher I see a lot of schools, often in areas where there is no educational choice, adding the weight of respected adult support to a set of beliefs they expect very young children to follow. This should not be done using public money!"

I'm looking at moving to a village, but the only school is run by the C of E. I scroll across google maps and the next 2 villages in a row are also only C of E! Where are the options for a non-religious education?

"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'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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Parents are forced to send children to faith schools as there is effectively no choice due to lack of school places and/or the need to move to a new house and area to avoid them. A faith school should not be forced up on us."

"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 a former parent and chair of governors of a faith school I have seen first-hand how a school that was good in so many ways could exclude members of the local community and discriminate in employment practices."

I am currently looking in to schools for my children and horrified at the level of religious indoctrination that seems inescapable in the village school settings. I feel this is a breach of our human rights.

"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."

"Why is my child facing such blatant discrimination due to the beliefs of her parents? I have always encouraged her to learn about all religions and decide for herself when the time feels right. So, I haven't had her christened or baptised because that isn't my choice to make for her. But now we need to apply to high schools and it seems she isn't worthy enough to even be considered for half of the faith schools in my area based on religious criteria."

"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 children have no choice but to attend a Church in Wales faith school, as with all our local council schools. It indoctrinates and teaches biased religious education. This is religious discrimination. Other faiths and atheism are dismissed. Rather than allowing more faith schools to be setup, existing faith schools funded by the taxpayer must be converted back to be secular schools free of religious discrimination and indoctrination.

"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."

"Over subscription in our area means the catchment area for us is tiny. We have a Catholic school and a C of E school, both of which require additional forms signed off by priest or vicar and church to confirm your attendance. The school we got for our child is a 40-minute walk from our house, so we have to drive every day.

"Although it's a wonderful infant school, it feeds into a C of E junior school which for the sake of my son and the friendships he has made I will send him to. I feel I have no choice and I can't believe more parents aren't outraged that our taxes majority fund a school that actively discriminates against our children based on religion. Our local Catholic school has 13 levels of entry. These were Catholic looked after children from local parish, siblings of children in the school, other children from parish. It then went through these three groups but anywhere in borough, any Christian children, any other religion and at the very bottom non-religious children."

"My child had no choice but to go to a faith school - all of the state primary schools near us are faith schools. We eventually placed him in a private school in order to get out of the faith system - not an ideal solution. I really object very strongly to the stranglehold that religion is taking in our children's education. The state system is forcing non-faith families into religious obligations around our children's education. This is unacceptable and contrary to the freedom to follow and practice any religion or none!"

I and my children had no choice but to attend church of England primary schools and, in my case, a grammar school with compulsory worship, compulsory church attendance and compulsory education in Christian mythology.

My wife and I are strictly secular, when it was time to send my child to school in the rural West Midlands it was impossible to find a non-faith-based school in our area. He is constantly being educated to believe what the school want him to not being left to make his own, informed choice.

"I live right by a school (2 min walk) that I would like my daughter to go to. But as we are not a religious family I'm told she can't go there and will now have to drive my child to school as the others are 5-10 minute drive from our home."

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.

I am currently in the process of researching primary schools for my daughter. We are an atheist household, though my daughter will be free to follow any religious she choses, or none, when she is old enough to make such a choice. As such, I would prefer for her to attend a secular primary. Additionally, I do not want to give her the message that access to education for any child should be affected by religious beliefs.

However, I find myself in the catchment of a catholic school and a CoE school in my London borough. In order to find a non religious school I am having to apply to schools in a different borough, which we are less likely to get into. Despite living in a place with plenty of local state funded schools, I find myself in the position of looking to move house, at great expense and emotional upheaval, in order to secure for my daughter a secular education, despite living in a largely secular community in all other respects. In no other area of life do my religious beliefs limit my daughters options.

"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."

I hate the fact that our local secondary school is a faith school. I have little choice but to send them there. The result is that they get evangelised to. It's awful but it's a choice between that or a horrible commute every day.

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?

"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."

"My son has to go to a local RC school because of SENS needs - his timetable includes five periods of RE every two weeks. This is more than any other subject and is straight up evangelising. Education should be secular, faith schools severely limit the choice of pupils especially in areas like mine which is a grammar area."

"Not being religious ourselves we think this school is completely inappropriate. We've been told we can withdraw our daughter from worship and RE but there's no alternative provision, and sitting outside a classroom feels like punishment. Why should our daughter be punished for not being religious?"

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.

Our closest secondary school is a Roman Catholic school. It's the only mixed school we are in catchment for. It's a ten minutes walk away but my son won't get to go there because we are not Catholic.

"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."

"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?"

"Having a daughter due to start school next year, there are few options other than faith schools locally."