Prayer ban at Katharine Birbalsingh’s school is lawful, High Court rules .

Cherie Blair then GSM? A prime example I would’ve thought.
You?

Jossy

"Its a secular school "

Yup. I thought that that was the point.... and that is what all wanting their children to attend the school sign up to.

You might get irritated by the lefty lawyer comments HPQ, but I make them from the standpoint of having been a practising solicitor for many years. The sort of solicitors who take on these cases are a world away from any that I ever knew.

Or holidaying in France and railing against the fact that the locals … speak French.
🤣
This madness has to stop. Perhaps the tide is (finally) turning.
We can only hope.

It's an excellent decision by the judge. However, as Ms Birbalsingh herself pointed out, "Can it be right for a family to receive £150,000 of taxpayer-funded legal aid to bring a case like this?”

Good news!
However….

“Pupils ending every interaction with teachers, with ‘sir’ or ‘miss’” - what if it’s a Mrs? Or a Ms?

I don’t know about anybody else, but at all 3 schools I attended we used Miss/Mrs/Mr plus surname. ‘Sir’ is obviously fine on its own, but to me, just ‘miss’ sounds awful.

Smileless2012

It shouldn't be allowed and I hope she doesn't get legal aid for this one but told if you don't like/agree with whatever it is then find another school.

Yes, I agree. It is like sending your child to a single sex school and then complaining because it isn't mixed. As I said before, I think schools should be secular, and this family knew what the situation was before the girl went there, but I just get irritated by the dog whistle 'lefty lawyers' comments.

petra

nanna8

Why doesn’t she go to a Muslim school ? Plenty of them.

Because she wanted the best education she could find for her daughter.
But, now comes the rub, she wanted that education under her terms 😡

In one petra. 👏

If you do not like the ethos of a school, do not send your children there, simples…

Compromise is always a better solution

Compromise nowadays means the rules that are in existence must be altered in favour of those who want change to suit themselves.

Now where else have I seen that sort of compromise being demanded?

Glorianny
She’s not there to compromise she’s there to give those children the best education and start in life she can, and she’s achieving that. Look at her results.

My children's senior school was rebuilt after they had left going way over budget. I saw the school secretary socially from time to time and she told me, in spite of the school being secular a prayer room had been factored in. Very underused it is I gather, Why it's there in a non denominational school heaven knows! Good grief, that wasn't a thing even at my catholic convent school, there was a chapel that we were dragged to for saints day masses, but I think it was fair to say, there wouldn't have been pupils in there otherwise mumbling Hail Mary's of their own volition. I think Katharine Birbalsingh is right to take religion out of education, that's the case in France. Religion can unfortunately be divisive and any way beliefs are deeply personal. Proselytising or intimidation aimed at other pupils as to their beliefs or towards non adherents, different denominations have no place in school.

The legal costs involved in this nonsensical debacle, no doubt through legal aid, is a waste of tax payers money.

tell me if I'm wrong but if the school is secular, and nobody is given a right over somebody else then how can it be discriminatory ? The school is not telling her not to pray but just not allowing her a room to pray.

We need more headteachers like this and to turn away challenges from people whose only interest is to stir up troubles there is nothing to stop this girl from getting up earlier and praying more if she wants. It’s nothing to do with school.

Glorianny, Ms Barbalsingh is famous for her determination to run the school under certain conditions. The parent seems not to like this. So why did she choose this school for her daughter?
And I cannot understand how legal aid was granted for a civil matter: my understanding is that it is difficult enough to achieve when the applicant is facing criminal charges.

I don’t have anytime for this headteacher, but I agree that this was a complete waste of taxpayers money. This girl was implicated in bullying others, which is unacceptable. There are other school nearby which allow prayer rituals, which also have excellent results which she could have attended.

Glorianny

I don't want to go over old ground but this school's claims to be secular are questionable. I don't think this will finish here. I'm not sure how a High court ban will be enforced in the school. Will children pray in the playground again? Will teachers have to stop them"
Compromise is always a better solution than legal rulings. It isn't something Kathleen Birbalsingh is known for.

No, she’s known as a fantastic Head Teacher whose school gets brilliant results.

nanna8

Why doesn’t she go to a Muslim school ? Plenty of them.

Because she wanted the best education she could find for her daughter.
But, now comes the rub, she wanted that education under her terms 😡

I don't want to go over old ground but this school's claims to be secular are questionable. I don't think this will finish here. I'm not sure how a High court ban will be enforced in the school. Will children pray in the playground again? Will teachers have to stop them"
Compromise is always a better solution than legal rulings. It isn't something Kathleen Birbalsingh is known for.

HousePlantQueen

Germanshepherdsmum

I hope whichever lefty lawyer has been acting for her isn’t frantically looking for grounds to appeal. They’re not known for accepting defeat.

why do you and others always blame 'lefty lawyers'? It is intensely irritating and also incorrect.

Having said that, I think that school is no place for religion, either Christian, Muslim or Jewish. Religion, as we read on here very often, is divisive. Children should mix with their peers, not just those of the same religion.

A solicitor chooses which cases to take on and which to turn away. How would you describe a solicitor who takes on a case like this, at the expense of the taxpayer? The legal aid has gone straight into his pocket. No different to those who, again at the taxpayers’ expense, advise their immigrant clients to get baptised in order to be allowed to stay here even if those clients are sexual offenders.

Why doesn’t she go to a Muslim school ? Plenty of them.

You couldn’t make it up could you GG13!

Cherie Blair’s Chambers apparently took on the case.

I suspect we have an activist troublemaker at this school trying to stir things up.

Apparently the ban on prayer was introduced because the Muslim children were using break time for prayer sessions setting themselves aside from other children. Which of course is against the principles of an inclusive secular school.

Urmstongran

Sigh.

The Twitter post from Birbalsingh is worth reading. Apparently the mother of the vexatious child is planning another legal challenge against the school on a different matter.

This one cost the tax payer £150k in legal aid, and she is also planning on sending her other daughter there, so clearly doesn’t hate the school that much.
Honestly, words fail me that we allow this to happen.

If the mother has a problem with the school and how it is run along with the general secular ethos, why on earth is she intending to send another child there?

zakouma66

Could the school have set aside an area for prayer maybe, thereby avoiding conflict?

I don't see what the problem is.

Perhaps scroll through the other thread I started on this topic way back in January. There’s plenty there to ponder over ‘why not a separate room’ etc. your comment is not a new viewpoint.

This thread is more about the judgement passed down from the High Cort.