We need to talk about the Michaela Community School in Brent. Wembley. Scene of numerous glory days for Spurs, just not very recently. It’s a wonderful school. Set up by a quite amazing woman, dubbed ‘the strictest headteacher in the country’, Katherine Barbalsingh. It’s a standard community comprehensive, standard demographic of about 25% of kids receiving free meals. About 50% of the kids are Muslim, a reflection of the area.

What’s not ‘standard’ is what this amazing woman has produced. A school of truly outstanding quality and results. From nothing to one of the top state schools in the country in a very short time. But her goals are as much driven by the ‘community’ aspect of the school’s name as for the educational excellence she’s achieved. She strives to de-factionalise the kids. Not let them split into ‘the Muslims’, ‘the Christians’, ‘the Jehovah’s Witnesses’, but tries to keep them fully integrated. There are no ‘prayer rooms’, no chapels, no meeting rooms or doors to knock on for the Jehova’s Witnesses.

Then a girl decided she wanted to pray in her lunch hour. So, as prayer mats aren’t allowed at school, she used her blazer and prayed. The next day 2 others joined her and within a week there were over 30 falling to their knees on their blazers every lunchtime. Peer pressure. Which then had the effect of ‘inspiring’ others to start wearing headscarves when previously they hadn’t.

Then came the demand for prayer mats, which were denied. The Islamofascists predictably cried ‘Islamophobia!!!’, sent death threats, made bomb scares, attacked teachers. And then, the student, named ‘TTT’ decided to take legal action against the school for… yes, Islamophobia and various other issues, discrimination, blah, blah, blah. And for this, she managed to get legal aid. We’re paying.

I think the court’s decision is a veritably simple one. This is what the judge should say:

“JUST FUCK OFF!
That’s the school, with all its good and its rules, the school you joined, implicitly agreeing to abide by their rules. Therefore to demand changes to those rules, to wish to remodel the entire school because of your burning need to pray is beyond unreasonable. This is not a Madrasa. It’s a comprehensive in Wembley. If it doesn’t suit your needs, go to another school which can accommodate you happily within ITS rules. There are plenty. Though most, unlike your present school, would be less accommodating to the educational and sporting needs of ‘mere’ girls.”

Simple.

This whole thing even makes the Jehovah’s Witnesses seem normal.

Happy Saturday

A xxxx