Eid at schools

[sadmillenial]

Hi All,

im a teacher in a secondary school, i organised a delivery of dates to school houses/common areas for Eid last year that was well received from pupils and staff and so some pupils have asked if i could do more

As a non-muslim (non religious actually) person, id like to do a bit more to make muslim pupils feel celebrated at school.

Are there any similar things i might be able to do that would help?
Equally, im very open to criticism of my approach if you feel im out of line.
There are no muslim staff at my school who have volunteered to lead pupil groups, and im very much of the opinion that no one should be forced to be the "representation" of any aspect of their life, but it does then mean that people like me are asked with no expertise whatsoever and there is a real fear of getting it wrong

An assembly at the beginning of Ramadan and then a celebration type assembly at the end to mark Eid? Do you have many Muslim pupils? Perhaps another assembly or art type task for Eid al Adha?

Do you do trips out to places of interest or have guest speakers come in to school? Local mosques would probably be delighted to get involved and to host tours, and may have experienced speakers.

@sadmillenial how lovely of you 😊
As mentioned above that local mosques should help if you contact them with Eid treats/educational info/donations.

I am surprised that your Muslim pupils are at school during Eid.
That would be unusual here.

In my secondary school we would have a host of figures from different faiths come to address us at various times of the year. A local imam would normally come during one of the eid days. I used to quite look forward to those assemblies which made a pleasant change from the norm.

Can you involve parents at all? At our school there's a group of parents who put on an Eid Fair after school (usually a week after actual Eid as people are celebrating with their families then) that has crafts, henna/facepainting, food stalls etc. (The PTA fund this)

We don't get our celebrations as school or public holidays, so it's usual to be in school or work for them.

Sorry just realised you said secondary so probably ignore me - I'm primary!

All our muslim staff and usually all the muslim pupils take eid off as religious observance.

Wow, Alhamdulillah that's great - we wouldn't be authorised for that where I am, so that's lovely to hear people can access that opportunity.

I think you get one day off for each eid.

Any of these activities can take place around Eid, they don’t need to be on the exact day since most children wont attend school then anyway. Scirocco are you in the UK?

@Scirocco - What @TheBottomsOfMyTrousersAreRolled said.

The school my (Christian) niece goes to is 5 form entry, and she is generally one of only 10 or 12 pupils in school (out of 450, when in Infants, or 600 when at the Junior school) at Eid. Very normal and accepted that pupils won't be in for a day or two over Eid.

Yeah, we don't get any pre-approved absences from schools where I am though.

How strange, government guidance approves absence for such religious days.

How strange, government guidance approves absence for such religious days.

and even if it didn't, then it doesn't affect the dc if it is unauthorised unless you are taking time off all the time.
If a school marked it as 'unauthorised' that would be heir problem, not the child's / family's.

really?! Im surprised by that as Religious observance is a SIMS code. I had a muslim child in this past year and asked why he was in school and he said his mum made him come in as he had been a pain recently 😂. But the standard is day off for religious observance.

@TheBottomsOfMyTrousersAreRolled you are right about their being a code for absence due to religious observance.

Yes, we also give pupils and staff who request a day off for Eid, although most don't.
I loved the suggestion of involving parents somehow - i will enquire about how they might like to be involved!