UK's strictest Headmistress taken to school over banning prayers in the playground

[cakeorwine]

Top London school taken to high court over prayer ban | London | The Guardian

I don't believe that schools should have a compulsory act of worship.
However - it seems that there has been a ban on prayer rituals on the premises.

"The prayer policy was introduced in March last year by the school’s founder, Katharine Birbalsingh – frequently described as Britain’s strictest headteacher – when the school found itself the target of abuse and harassment after pupils were seen praying in the school playground by passersby. About 30 students took part, some kneeling on their blazers as they were not permitted to bring in prayer mats, the court heard.
Before these events, the court heard that prayers were not expressly banned at Michaela, though it had no dedicated prayer room. The new policy had the “practical effect of only preventing Muslims from praying because their prayer by nature has a ritualised nature rather than being internal”, the court heard.
The pupil’s lawyer said it was in effect “a ban uniquely on Muslim prayer”, stopping pupils praying “at a time as required by Islam”. In contrast, it would not, she said, prevent a Christian child sitting quietly in the corner of the playground from praying"

I think it seems that prayer mats were banned - and I think it seems they were banned from kneeling on blazers.

If someone wants to pray in the playground voluntarily, then they should be able to. It's not an act of compulsory worship.

I can see why they wanted this kept quiet.

Indeed. Or the child who took her school to court because they said her natural hair was ‘too big’.

People can and should challenge institutions when they are acting unlawfully or unethically. Schools are not above being held to account by their service users anymore than the police or social services are.

This.^^

The lack of provision is thoughtless and easily sorted in schools across the UK. But KB doesn't do easy. She does attention seeking.

If extremist Muslims are targeting the school, then they should be arrested. No one should excuse those who seek to intimidate children or staff. They should not be allowed to run the schools. To blame Mrs B for the behaviour of Muslim extremists is outrageous. They are responsible for what they do, not her.
Did she stir up issues or did they? It seems to me to be perfectly possible that it was activist Muslims who encouraged silly girls to put on an exhibition in the playground.

There IS a requirement to have collective worship which is Christian unless the school is a faith school so a Jewish school does not need to have Christian worship but schools not affiliated with a faith do.

On the subject of having a prayer room, there have been problems in some schools where Muslim children have stopped other pupils from using the room as they see it as their space.

In which case you clarify that it's a shared space. You don't ban prayer.

My reading of the case suggests that the issue started when members of the public started throwing things/threatening the students who could be seen praying and the solution to this was to ban praying.

I think she is Christian.

In her view, children are born with original sin and must be taught how to be good

Headteacher faces calls for her job after sparking Original Sin debate | Evening Standard

"The headteacher at “Britain’s strictest school” says she has faced calls for her to be fired after claiming children are born with “original sin” and must be taught how to be good.
Katharine Birbalsingh, co-founder of Michaela Community School, in Wembley sparked a Twitter storm after writing that children needed to be “habituated into choosing good over evil”.

The lack of provision is thoughtless and easily sorted in schools across the UK. But KB doesn't do easy. She does attention seeking.

Exactly.

If they did, the quickest way to defuse it would be to provide a private prayer area so they could no longer put on any exhibition.

I'm an atheist.

My DD goes to a CofE school as:

1. It is the nearest school
2. She needs to learn to live with people who practise their religion to different degrees. This includes her own extended family members.
3. She needs to understand that there are many aspects of our country's culture including government and history linked to religion.

I should add I went to school with children whose parents were political refugees. Some of these children were religious. Their religion was one of the reasons that they stood up to their government, were persecuted and escaped to the UK. They were the ones who as teens tended to make use of the multi-faith/pray room at my school and then college.

Yes, @Reugny

I note that you belong to the freedom of thought brigade, fortunately enough.

The militant atheists here, though, would happily be the Atheist version of the Spanish Inquisition

You mean that the school should give in to extremists? Give them whatever they want?

You have dealt with some evangelical Christians have you?

Btw being Muslim (or any other faith) and wanting to pray in the day during your lunch break doesn't make you an extremist.

No the school should provide the children with a space to pray. It should be that simple.

by doing so then nobody can make a show or be causing issues because it’s in public. Students can do the same as they do in schools all over the world take some time during their own break times and go and pray in line with their own beliefs.

this whole situation has been created by the heads desire to have a school or robots rather than individuals with individual beliefs

The not allowing pupils to move around school on their own has really amazed me too. My son is in year 9 with an ehcp that comes with full time 1-1. One of his key targets this year is to increasingly be able to move small distances around school independently.

having 11-16 year olds having to follow adults around school like sheep all the time sits badly with me. That doesn’t help create rounded adults!

Age is trying reduce division and produce a cohesive school.Good for her

@Sirzy I think the issue is more being in a room without an adult, that doesn't always end well with a group of teenagers in a school

But the children are well disciplined, they have a 6th form where there must be a few pupils who are willing to help with the provision, and they will have RE teachers.

My own secondary school wasn't as well disciplined as the children in this school apparently are, but we were allowed to move around school on our own and go to the multi-faith/pray room.

How does not allowing some pupils being able to pray at lunchtime stop this?

Some praying and some not automatically creates a division

😂

A few pupils wandering to the pray room for 10 minutes over the course of a lunch break doesn't create a diversion.

It's like saying a pupil doing a club/art/extra Maths/whatever over lunch is a diversion.

Atheists are the only group who ever try to impose their beliefs on the rest of society? Do you seriously believe that?

This is about posters on this thread.

Not seem many people who say they want to impose atheism on the rest of the country.

Are you saying the whole school doesn’t have one staff member who isn’t willing to sit in the corner of a room doing marking/admin while pupils (exceptionally well behaved pupils) pray?