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.

I wonder what she thinks of the values of some of the people who have posted on Twitter in support of her banning Muslim children from praying in the playground?

I have always wondered what KB's end goal is
I have never seen a teacher so starved for attention

She is literally another Katie Hopkins.

Agree.

Katharine Birbalsingh defends ban on school prayers in high court | Schools | The Guardian

She talks about harassment other Muslim children were getting and it led to poor behaviour in a school famed for its discipline.

So instead of finding a compromise, she banned it.

"But the governing body had to take the decision to stop prayer rituals when some people started them, against a backdrop of events including violence, intimidation and appalling racial harassment of our teachers. Our decision restored calm and order to the school"

The playground sounds depressing

"Coppel said the head, who founded Michaela in 2014, was dedicated to promoting social cohesion in the school. To that end, pupils eat at a “family lunch”, food is vegetarian so that it is acceptable to everyone regardless of faith, and teachers supervise “guided” socialisation in the playground to ensure that groups of children mix."

Don’t be narrow-minded. She has done a huge amount for disadvantaged children and we should really admire her for that.

She is a serious educator. Look at the outstanding P8 results of her school. She is giving great educational opportunities to deprived children. No wonder parents want to send their children to her school.

I truly hate the way that she uses the ethnic diversity of her school as part of her conservative posturing. This is absolutely ridiculous, there should be no reason the kids shouldn’t have a prayer room.

That being said, I do firmly believe that school should be school and not a social club. Her methods work, the discipline is good for the kids and while I don’t always like the subtext of what she says the outcomes are most important here.

There are other ways of getting those outcomes. The curriculum they offer is very limited and if any other school did it you can bet it would cost them outstanding in OFSTED. There is nothing 'broad and balanced' about it.
And there are GCSE Shakespeare options that don't include ghosts so it really isn't a big deal to accommodate that. I've changed texts to accommodate all manner of needs in the past. You choose the right text for the group in front of you.

Do you work at her school? Is she paying you extra to defend her online?

Her logic seemed to be that the praying children attracted negative attention from public, therefore it was a child safety issue. But surely that is punishing the victims? A better approach would have been to ensure that they felt and were safe and that the playground was screened. Ironically now the school is being targeted by extreme Muslims and she has stirred up more issues. It's a very ill thought out rule on her behalf and discriminatory. I can't see how she can win the case and then the tables will turn on her.

From her twitter posts, she seems to be the kind of person who is very sure of herself and who will not back down. She will defend her position - no matter how she comes across.

That must take a certain personality of staff to work there.

The thicker section of her supporters all seem to be convinced that the Muslim in question was demanding to be allowed to go out of lessons in order to pray. I guess they have to make the facts up in order to validate their prejudices.

Education is an awful lot more than P8 results.

The reports about the court action seemed to be saying that her defence is that she is not discriminating because she doesn't allow any child of any religion to pray. That doesn't work, of course, because Islam is the only religion where followers are adversely affected as they believe in the need to pray at set times.

That apart, I struggle to believe that she really does ban prayer for everyone. There is still the requirement for an act of collective worship, and would she really punish a child who was found to be offering up a quick prayer in the corner of the room every morning before registration?

She talks about harassment other Muslim children were getting and it led to poor behaviour in a school famed for its discipline.

As the pupils of the school are "highly disciplined" if there was a multi-faith pray room I'm sure there wouldn't have been that problem.

would she really punish a child who was found to be offering up a quick prayer in the corner of the room every morning before registration?

Or the child who is quiet and motionless/mumbles a few words for some minutes before eating the "family lunch"?

Or the child who mouths a few words before crossing themselves?

There were Christians like that at my secondary school.

None of the defence response has been published only the prosecution, so perhaps let's wait until the court has finished?

These are complex issues.

The parents sign up knowing it's secular.

I've personally known teenage muslims forced at 16 into arranged marriages against their will in England - why is no-one taking that to Court and reporting it in the Sun?

I've personally known teenage muslims forced at 16 into arranged marriages against their will in England

That is a crime and forbidden by the Quran. So I don't think it is very relevant to the thread.

It does expose the "happy family" myth of the school if pupils can't be trusted to walk around school and to treat each other with respect.

Apparently people are free to visit the school to see this happy atmosphere. Clearly it's not as happy as all that

Secular means there is no "school faith" - but State schools are supposed to have an act of collective worship - even though many don't.

Secular should not mean that people aren't allowed to carry out aspects of their faith that are important to them - as long as it doesn't impact on their learning / the school.

Happy children?

The rugby team I used to play for were invited to do some talks for GCSE biology, it was during their classes so small groups of 30. In each one there was a teacher and member of SLT. I was due to do three sessions. If a child wasn’t looking me in the eye and they were caught the teacher or member of SLT would get very close to their face, shout at them and give them detention. If they’re happy to behave like that in front of a visitor, how are they behaving behind closed doors. It was awful so I left, I wasn’t the only colleague who left early due to how the children were being treated.

She's issued a statement herself

Providing a space for children who want to worship during break times really shouldn’t be a compelx issues. it’s about as basic as they come.

Wow, that’s some regime. It’s sounds more like Full Metal Jacket than a functional school.