Prayer Ban at Katharine Birbalsingh’s School that was Challenged by Muslim Pupil is Lawful, High Court Rules
A prayer ban imposed at Katharine Birbalsingh’s school that was challenged by a Muslim pupil is lawful, a High Court judge has ruled. The Telegraph has more.
Michaela Community School in Brent, north-west London, has defended a legal challenge from a Muslim pupil, who claimed the school’s ban on prayer rituals was discriminatory.
The prayer ritual policy did not “interfere” with the pupil’s freedom to manifest her religious beliefs, according to a ruling handed down on Tuesday.
The pupil had chosen the school knowing of its strict regime and could have chosen to attend a different school that would have allowed her to pray at lunchtime, the ruling found.
In his written ruling, Mr. Justice Linden said the prayer policy was “a proportionate means of achieving the legitimate aims” of the school and was therefore justified.
He found that the disadvantage to Muslim pupils was outweighed by the aims that it seeks to promote in the interests of the school community as a whole, including Muslim pupils.
However, the judge upheld the pupil’s challenge to a decision to temporarily exclude her from the school after allegations by fellow pupils about comments she had made.
He said the pupil ought to have been asked for her version of events before the head teacher excluded her.
The secular school introduced the prayer ban in March last year after up to 30 pupils began praying in the yard.
Ms. Birbalsingh, the school’s founder who has been dubbed Britain’s strictest headteacher, has defended the policy, saying it “is wrong to separate children according to religion or race”.
Lawyers for the school previously said pupils praying outside contributed to a “concerted campaign” on social media over the school’s secular approach to religion.
A High Court heard in January that the school was targeted with death threats, abuse, “false” allegations of Islamophobia and a “bomb hoax”.
Lawyers for the school also said its actions came after a number of children had been told that they were “bad Muslims” for not praying and had begun to pray.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
I’m aware that I conflate Islam and Islamists all the time now and I’m past caring because, frankly, it’s harder and harder to draw a defining line these days. These so-called ‘moderates’ are bothering me. It’s not that I think they’re all assembling homemade bombs on their kitchen tables or even attending hate/anti-West marches with their flags of Jihad/Palestine, crying ”death to the Jews!” but where do their loyalties really lie? With their ideology and their own kind or the majority Christian country in which they live? And if you want to throw the nonsensical propaganda slur, ”Islamophobe” at me then you clearly don’t follow any ex-Muslims online because they’re the most scathing of all about the death cult they’ve escaped. Can you get an ‘Islamophobic’ ex-Muslim? LOL I think Oct 7th was quite a revelation and their silence was deafening. As I always say, ”If you don’t condemn it you condone it”, and there wasn’t a whole lot of condemning going on as I recall. They’re not renowned for their tolerance towards others, as this example ( looking more like the rule rather than the exception, imo ) demonstrates. But they’re here to colonize and conquer, not assimilate and… Read more »
“Where do their loyalties lie”? ———Well how many did you see at the Kings Coronation? How many did you see at the Queens funeral? I don’t know about you but I watched those events on TV and as far as I could see there was a distinct absence of one group of people. Normally if you see footage on TV of a high street or some busy shopping area etc you see a mix of people. Plenty white, black and visibly Muslim people milling around. That was not the case at the two events I mention.———Bravermans words “In Britain but not of Britain” comes to mind.
‘They’re here to colonise and conquer’
Of course they are: it’s called hijra – spreading out, emigrating to spread izlam far and wide. Increase the number of izlamic countries from the current 52 or so.
Hijra is a way for non-jihadis to make their contribution to the desired conquest of the world by izlam.
Many countries were conquered by the sword, but others succumbed to izlam through numbers – outbreeding the original population.
That’s what’s happening in our country. Now, whether the politicians who allowed this to happen were too stupid, too ignorant to realise the consequences; or they deliberately betrayed us . . .
Mass repatriation is the only answer if we are to retain control of our homeland.
Hurrah!
Ms. Birbalsingh is a complete legend.
The school and pupils are very lucky to have her.
This reminds us that England, much of the time, does get things right. That is why so many people want to come here.
Hurrah for England and St. George!
Yes, but the established legal precedent is a double edged sword. Although the outcome of this case appears reasonable, there can be plenty of others in which the judges operate undemocratically.
Best to read Steven Tucker’s two Daily Sceptic articles on this school before cheering the return of King Arthur.
Whatever is right about England is a legacy from the past. A legacy whose bank account is almost exhausted.
“However, the judge upheld the pupil’s challenge to a decision to temporarily exclude her from the school after allegations by fellow pupils about comments she had made.”
Eh? I can’t believe for one moment, the correct procedure wasn’t adhered to. No doubt the pupil had been warned over and over again and this was the final straw. The pupil probably claimed that she was not consulted over the final particular incident that got her temporarily excluded and er forgot to mention all the other warnings she had.
Well that’s my guess anyway.
Hands up who think this will be the end of it?
Spot on ! You & me can see it ! this article gave a brief warm buzz of hope that the ROP had lost for once , only to bring us back down with a bump ! The said Pupil is still there so it will rumble on until Something breaks !
Agree and I think it may be escalated to a higher Court, maybe that one that overturned the Swiss referendum results.
I would also be concerned for the safety of the Head and the teachers.
I can’t help wondering if the case had been tried by a Muslim judge – this one, perhaps
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/15/judge-hamas-paraglider-protestors-likes-linkedin/
whether the ruling would have found in favour of the brainwashed Islamist schoolgirl and her controllers.
I no longer have any faith in the legal judgement of the Judiciary.
Many years ago when I was at school we used to have morning assembly and there would be some words from the headmaster and a pupil each day would read from the bible. I refused to take a turn reading from the bible, and the headmaster was not at all pleased. Remember this was in the days before much in the way of multi culture, and we were all mostly protestants. At least we were classed as protestants, though I never did like the idea of being put in a category as a baby and having that label for evermore. I did not think that we should be reading from bibles, and that the place for that was church. At least I can say I am consistent when I totally agree with this headmistress.
You’re right – there should be NO religion of any kind practised in schools.
Schools are for education. If parents want their children to practise a religion, they can take them to a place of worship outside of school hours.
Religion is a private family matter. It is not for public display.
Where did a Pupil get the money to go to the High Court?
Were costs awarded to the school on winning the case??
Next stop ECHR via Supreme Court as long as human rights racketeers are free to rob the taxpayer