Supporter comments

"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."

"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 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 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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

Why should people of a particular faith have more school choices than people of other faiths or none? Teaching faith is the responsibility of parents, not the state or state-subsidised facilities. In these days of intolerance, surely children benefit from being educated alongside those from all faiths and none.

"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."