Faith school where women are banned from wearing trousers becomes state funded

[ArabellaSaurus]

https://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2025/09/faith-school-which-bans-women-wearing-trousers-becomes-state-funded

'The National Secular Society has expressed alarm that a London faith school which bans women from wearing trousers and penalises families who attend non-kosher restaurants will now be funded by the state.
Nancy Reuben Primary School re-opened as a voluntary aided (VA) state school this month, after operating as an independent school for 26 years. Its decision to join the state sector follows the Government's move to charge VAT on independent school fees.'

'Women may not wear trousers, mini skirts, shorts, low necklines or sleeveless tops
The school's dress code for parents and visitors says men "must have their head covered at all times" and women "must wear skirts of knee length (a maximum of 2" above is acceptable)". It says trousers "may not be worn" by women.
Additionally, women must cover their underarms and may not wear cap sleeves. Women may not wear clothes with necklines lower than "4 fingers from the collar bone" either "in front or back of the garment".
Trousers are permitted for aupairs and nannies but they may not wear mini skirts, shorts, plunging necklines or sleeveless tops.'

North London school like in OP would surely have mainly Jewish intake? I agree that in other areas there might be more non Jews, Birmingham is after all a very Muslim area.

Maybe I mean burqa? The full covering head face body. I was surprised when visit my home city, I assume they were young mums out with their children. It just seemed strange when j thought back to the Muslim girls at school in there skirts and knee length socks just like the rest of us.

Obviously some Jews are white, some aren’t, or wouldn’t be perceived as be so in Northern Europe. Some of my family’s heritage is Mizrahi so maybe white to darker folk, not so to lighter folk? Who knows. It’s not hugely relevant anyway. Muslims also come in all hues.

Yep Jews moving out of the are and Muslims moving in.

Muslims believe Christian and Jewish people are 'of the book' they recognise the torah and bible as previous religious prophecy.

At a Jewish school the food is kosher, which other than alcohol (not that alcohol would be served to small children) corresponds with halal.

I don't know for sure about this school but Jewish schools normally end early on a Friday which fits with going to Friday prayers.

www.thejc.com/family-and-education/jewish-school-with-muslim-majority-ranked-outstanding-for-jewish-studies-amhjeqss

Ah yes, that would be niqab. Niqab covers face & body with a slit for the eyes. Burqa covers everything with only a mesh for the eyes.

Can I ask roughly what area you are? I get if not. It's just that I read that only around 1% of UK Muslim women wear niqab, I know it's very heavy in some areas.

That seems like a real shame...a nice integrated community with different faiths included reverting to that...

I do think some of this is due to the way Saudi Arabia & others have pushed v fundamentalist forms of Islam like Salafism & Wahhabism here in recent decades. Unluckily we kowtow to them because of oil...

Exactly, misogynistic societal demands that school rules protect children from.

No they make it even more of a thrill to rebel.

Well, that is why the New Rules of Racism don't work. Six million Jews were murdered because of racism. And Sinti and Travellers. Plus white Soviet citizens (slavic Untermenschen).

Get rid of rules because some people find a thrill in rebelling? Are you an anarchist? Or a queer theorist?

I didnt say get rid of all rules.

But you implied uniform rules are bad because some children gee a thrill from rebelling. Why does this not apply to other rules too?

The only “stricture”in atheism is a lack of belief in a god or gods. Nothing else.

You can find out what the curriculum is from formal avenues and from asking parents of kids at the school. My kids went to C of E and Catholic schools, not because of any faith - I don't have a faith - most of the time faith doesn't come into what's taught and when my kids came home and they asked questions I answered from my point of view. Of course there will be schools where there's more emphasis, but if parents have a legitimate objection it has to be considered by the EA.

I didnt say that.

There is a lot of misinformation on this thread…

@LoftyRobinit bothers you that women can be discharged so they can be at home for Shabbos? Why? I Don’t understand why you would opt to do this and yet openly judge a community? Not very inclusive is it?

You seem to have a real bee in your bonnet about ‘white’ orthodox and what would happen if they weren’t ‘white’. Do you have any evidence at all to substantiate this claim?

My XSIL is Catholic, and taught at a Catholic primary school for many years. She ended up as acting Deputy Head, and was offered the role permanently by the school. However, the diocese withdrew the job offer because of her ‘lifestyle’: she is divorced (initiated by DB, not her) and lives unmarried with her partner. She now works for the Local Authority, and, as far as I know, her DF is the only one of the family who still attends Church.

“They”? I happen to be a “they” and I tick white other because there are no suitable options for Jews to tick. We are not white. We all - even the whitest looking Easter European ones descend from brown Middle Easterns. We are Yemenite Jews so we have brown skins. But there is no option on the census for that. There are also black Jews, Japanese Jews, many of whom live in the UK. Jews are not white.

I agree wholeheartedly with you. I have an enormous issue with faith schools and also the Hasidic sect of my race in particular who are in my opinion extreme on the Jewish spectrum. I detest modesty laws and refuse to adhere to them or send my children to a school like that. But there really are very very few Orthodox Jewish schools in the UK, and if a family chooses to send their kids there then I would presume that they also adhere to these rules themselves.

Yes, I really don't like this labelling of Jews as white. Similarly there are many Romany gypsies with white skin who nevertheless are descended from people who did not. And ofc neither group was treated with the same respect as white British people...

Exactly. There's so many horrible examples of people with white skin being treated as lesser in European history (and obvs other continents too)

Do “they”? What other option do you see regularly available for us to tick? We are brown skinned Jews, tell me what we should tick, which option is suitable for us?

My first teaching job was in a Roman Catholic girls’ school in York. I’m Jewish. They told me to dress modestly (no prob, I’m not one for mini skirts) and to make sure I understood their policies etc. They weren’t crazy about me not being Catholic but I felt like they needed to be giving jobs to people of all faiths or whatever. I got into an enormous amount of trouble after talking to one girl who came to me about thinking she may be gay. I was told that it’s forbidden to discuss certain subject (including abortion). Look, I don’t like it, but we can’t control people - parents choose what school they send their kids to.. and yes, this was a state school.

This poster doesn’t like Jews. That’s all.

It sounds like lofty Robin has had bad experiences with a Haredi community and is applying this to all Jews.
if she thinks all Jews are white, she hasn’t met very many.
Even very white skinned Jews aren’t white enough for right wing nationalists and black and brown Jews aren’t black and brown enough for the far left. No wonder we are defensive ffs.

Its often younger women wearing the niqab; sometimes first gen immigrants are more about integration into cultural norms, and their children rebel against that.