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Direct quotes from emails and web comments

As...a Catholic I am committed to an education system which is inclusive and values all young people equally. Both of my children have benefited from an excellent education in Richmond state schools and I have found the community spirit and tolerance engendered in these schools leads to a much more harmonious society. I am completely opposed to education which excludes young people on any basis and do not believe this exclusivity to be a very Christian principle.
My son has been excluded from a faith school despite attending the nursery for 18 months at that school, despite having an elder brother at the same school and despite living in the catchment area, in fact only a few hundred yards away. Appeal was dismissed, supposedly independent but all panel members were appointed by the diocese. Reason given is that he is not a Catholic! In this day and age it is disgusting! Put on waiting list but same rules apply that he can be dropped down the pecking order in favour of a Catholic child. Why is government allowing this to happen?
I am Catholic but do not support state funded sectarian education. Most people I know who send their children to church schools do so to benefit from de facto selection and higher standards and have no particular interest in a faith based education. I even know of non Catholics who have managed to secure a place by joining the church choir, so the system is definitely open to manipulation and should not be supported by the council in such a time of stretched resources.
We are parents of two children, and are beginning to think about primary schools... In order to attend one of the good local primaries we've started attending church. I would estimate that about 50% of the congregation is made up of parents of 2 - 5 year old children. Hypocritical of us it certainly is but "Don't hate the player, hate the game" is our motto at the moment. Worst of all is I'd imagine we now appear in statistics for 'regular church-goers'.
I am forced to pay for private education for my daughter because the excellent local schools both admit only church-goers and refused her entry. I am not prepared to feign belief in Christianity as many do to secure places in these schools. As someone who works hard in the NHS, I am disgusted that my taxes are used to fund schools that exclude my children on the basis of their lack of religious beliefs.
I want my children to go to a fully inclusive school in the borough please. And I'm a Christian.
I have several Catholic friends with children at both Catholic and non-Catholic primaries. None of them would consider only a Catholic choice for Secondary School, but if that was the 'best' option academically, then they'd be happy to ramp up their church attendance to make sure of a place. The system is a farce, and serves only to bribe people into going to church more often than they otherwise would. People will do what they can to gain an advantage in areas where all of the good schools are over-subscribed.
I would like to support the campaign for an inclusive school. The Borough's schools are already oversubscribed. Why set up a school that caters only to a small minority; allowing children who do not live in the Borough to attend, whereas local children need to look elsewhere? It is absolutely shocking in this day and age!
My children go to a faith school. However, I chose it because it was a good school, with lots of good facilities, and very close to my home, not because it was a faith school. Just because our existing faith schools are oversubscribed, doesn't mean people like the admissions policies. I have lost count of the number of conversations I've had with people about how they are "doing their time" at church, attending Alpha courses etc, in order to have more choice of primary school. How can the council defend a system where attending one kind of church (Catholic) gives you a choice of 3 local schools (Catholic & CofE), attending another gives you a choice of just two, and attending no church at all, or the 'wrong' church gives you just one choice of school (so, by definition, no choice at all!). The policy doesn't give parents choice over schools, the choice they have is much more fundamental than that - to practice religion or not to practice religion. I know people who attend Catholic and CofE church on alternate weeks, just to maximise their options. I also know genuine church goers who are mortified when other people assume they are only attending church to get their child into a certain school. Other acquaintances have fallen out with friends and neighbours over their decision to temporarily attend church, and I've known parents at school who have taken it upon themselves to "name and shame" people whose church going has lapsed. This is all incredibly divisive, and the council should not pretend that it isn't happening. How about a survey to find out what people really think?
I am deeply concerned at the council's current policy to promote religious schools. I am appalled that a sectional interest such as the Catholic church can make a claim on public funds to pursue its own ends, the promotion and continuation of a particular religious belief.
I am the product of a Catholic school, and I remember back then disliking people of other faiths because they didn't believe in the same god I did (not that I understood the concept of 'god'). This went as far as not paying attention to a Protestant teacher, which had a detrimental effect on my maths skills. I know 'faith' schools do nothing to enhance social cohesion, as you are taught you know the truth and everyone else is going to hell, even family members. The idea of more faith schools turns my stomach, as I can see yet more divisiveness in our society in the future as a result. You absolutely have my support with this campaign and I hope it works.
A borough that supports sectarian, segregated education is not one that any open minded liberal person should want to live in. I wholeheartedly support your campaign.
Strongly opposed to new faith-based school in an area where secondary provision open to all is required in view of rising primary numbers.
I believe that religion has no place in school. All schools should be all-inclusive and secular with a commitment to equality thus encouraging our children to dismiss the indoctrination of their fathers and treat all peoples fairly and without prejudice.
I am a 16 year old living in Richmond. Someone just told me about the Catholic charity being given a contraact to provide services to young people here in the borough. Being gay this concerend me a lot and now I find that the council is trying to pay for a school which will teach that I am an evil person! I can't believe this. It is 2011 for crying out loud.
[The church's actual teaching is not that homosexuals are "evil" but that "homosexual acts" are "acts of grave depravity" and gay people are "called to chastity" - see here.]
I lived in Belfast some years ago. A colleague had returned from a five-year stint in the M. East, where his son was born and spent his first five years. After his first day at school in Belfast, the boy came home and asked his father, "The other boys want to know if I'm Protestant or Catholic, daddy. Which one am I?"