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.

You could view it as "controlled" (in a pejorative way). Or you could view it as an important opportunity for disadvantaged children to learn soft skills that their more advantaged peers have a better chance of picking upat home. Which is what it is intended to be.

Not to mention that it ensures no one is being bullied or left out at lunchtime. Which is also part of the reason, since the school's ethos is strongly anti-bullying.

Obviously those who dislike the schools ethos are likely to choose to view it in as negative a way as possible. Personally, I think the benefits for disadvantaged kids in one of the most deprived boroughs in the country outweigh any such concerns.

Intimidation in this case would be an ongoing, neverending process, and often under the radar. The school quite rightly has better things to do with its staff's time.

Seriously, @kesstrel? Schools shouldn't deal with pupils intimidating each other?

It's not as if banning prayer on site will automatically prevent it happening, is it?

Giving in to the bullies, while acting contrary to the secular ethos of the school. The reasons against this have been repeatedly stated. There is no reason why in a secular society we should not be able to have some secular schools.

No school in England is allowed to be wholly secular, because of the statutory requirement for a collective act of worship. Equally no school is allowed to ignore the basic right to freedom of religion, which includes making reasonable adjustments to allow people to practise their religion. Offering a space in the school for pupils of all faiths to pray in is an eminently reasonable adjustment as demonstrated by most other schools.

Anisette · Today 13:43

Intimidation in this case would be an ongoing, neverending process, and often under the radar. The school quite rightly has better things to do with its staff's time.

Seriously, @kesstrel? Schools shouldn't deal with pupils intimidating each other?

Oh, come off it, anyone who reads my post properly can see that's not what I meant. You know, you're not doing your point of view any favours by this kind of thing....

In my opinion, the school dealt very appropriately with the girl who instigated this, when she threatened to stab another pupil, suspending her for 5 days. Her behavior seems to be a pretty fair indication of the type of underhanded bullying that is involved - I doubt anyone would have heard of it if the victim hadn't decided to tell a teacher.

As for the rest of it, the question of whether schools are obliged by law to provide prayer rooms will be settled once court proceedings are concluded.

The head teacher was right to ban these.prayer meetings since they are accompanied.by so much.violence and threats. The parents of these thugs should be ashamed. After all they signed up to a secular school.
Take a warning from the French experience. Schools were harassed.about what the girls ('as usual it was the.girls targeted) wore to school. Some had adopted western attire but had to run.a gauntlet of angry young men at tlhe gates.of the school.The men wanted the girls to wear proper Islamic attire not.jeans and tee.shirts. The level of intimidation was appalling. Then one day a girl who stood up to them was dragged up an.alley and set on fire. The incident was.one of the reasons the hijab was banned.
I think it likely that if these girls win in court they will practise more intimidation and make more demands until they have created a strict Muslim environment that they can live with.

Yes it doesn't go with the idea of prayer does it

Well, no, you can't complain if people don't read things into your posts that aren't there.

I have no issue with any pupil who is guilty of intimidation being dealt with appropriately by the school, and that's my point, really. This school makes a massive deal of how wonderful its discipline is, and should therefore have been able to deal with this without deciding to discriminate against all children in the school who might want to pray. It is really odd that KB is claiming that the environment of her school is so fragile that it would be destroyed by some pupils expressing their religion for a few minutes each day.

The claimant isn't asking for a dedicated prayer room, so this case is not going to decide that issue. She's simply asking that pupils be allowed to pray for a few minutes during the lunch break on dates required by their faith.

I see that KB believes children of all ethnicities should be taught to sing the National Anthem. Yes, they're supposed to ask that God save the King. Just a tad hypocritical?

More and more the school sounds like a reformatory with a barely controlled ongoing threat and fear of violence. Banning Muslim religious practice is not going to change that

The problem with that school is that the head is obsessed with the idea that a) all kids must feel British b) they are all like little robots who need to follow a set of instructions
Michaela as far as I remember does not teach drama nor music because poor people dont need to learn those, they need to learn English, Maths and Science to be a part of obedient society where you dont question anything, just follow the orders. For a head to looks down on anything that is different with fear and as something that needs to be disposed of, I am not surprised she went after religion next.

She goes on about the fact that she thinks children need to be taught to be good.

How does she measure the success of this teaching children to be good?

It's measures by how obedient they are and not questioning the "British values" or anything else they are told to do. They are poor and can't afford to be anything else (and definitely not creative not thinking for themselves)- according to this school.

Except 'tolerance' is one of the British Values. Not much of that on show!

I appreciate this woman is total marmite but that is her point; you could send your children anywhere else. KB is determined to have a different kind of school - a free school - so it's that choice you have when you put it down, surely?

Yeah but we all know Convervatives onli like tolerance going one way, not when they have to be tolerant towards others.

It seems critical thinking isn’t allowed in this school and that’s dangerous. Children need to learn that people have different views to them, they need to learn how to respectfully question things and to learn from that. That’s how people develop into well rounded robots.

giving a prescribed list of topics that can be discussed and expecting all children to fit into the schools ideals doesn’t work to create adults who are able to think critically about the world around them.

Fortunately nobody is forced to go to Michaela. I’m sure there are plenty of alternatives available for those who prefer a different model of education.

I agree
I think KB is an industry plant who is paid to push Tory views in education. Notice how since the case has come to light, all right wing papers and 'journalists' have been singing her praises and writing articles supporting her. Her and they know what they are doing and it's all very strategic.
But I do agree with the point that you do not have to send your kids to her school. There are plenty of others schools that offer a good education.

The head teacher was right to ban these prayer meetings since they are accompanied by so much violence and threats

Exactly, and the same would apply no matter what the religion involved

Having read into this more deeply it's clear there's a lot more than just "give them a prayer room" going on, and that appears to include pressure being put on other pupils to toe the religious line

Not acceptable - but then I'm another who'd prefer all religious observance to be removed from schools

That's unfair.

It's the current crop of Conservatives.

Remember who they chucked out from their party for holding dissenting views?

Not what it says on the website.

We allocate two hours both to Art and Music, which is double the provision of many schools.

A Muslim girl was in the choir but forced to leave because other pupils said it was unislamic. The website also suggests music and art as extracurricular clubs. As well as a debate club.

Is that 2 hours each?

Is there no Dance and no Drama?

I know an outstanding school that does Art and Design, Drama and Dance in years 7-9. Music is only done by those learning instruments but if you can sing you can be in the choir.

In the London area it is rarely the case that parents have a realistic free choice of secondary schools. In a lot of cases, if you don't put your nearest school down as first choice, you risk getting neither that school nor your first choice, and end up with the local failing school miles away. So I wouldn't like to guarantee that every parent of a Michaela pupil necessarily put it top of their list.

Who decided that a sound knowledge of English, Science and Maths resulted in obedient adults?

They only do music for two years, and can't do it for GCSE. They also can't do drama, IT, DT, triple science, or any language other than French.