They can be reprimanded for looking out of the window, disciplined for forgetting a pencil, and given detention for slouchingSitting in a lazy, drooping way.. And now, students of the Michaela Community School in Brent, north London, cannot gather for group prayer in their breaks.

The 11-18 mixed secondary school headed by "Britain's strictest headteacher" Katharine Birbalsingh won a momentous victory in the UK's High Court after one of the school's own pupils brought a legal challenge to its decision to ban prayer rituals.

The ban came into place in March 2023, after groups of up to 30 Muslim students gathered to pray in the school playground during lunchtimes. The school prohibits gatherings of more than four students.

The legal challenge made by a Michaela School pupil alleged that the policy discriminates against the school's Muslim pupils. The court heard that around half of the school's 700 pupils are Muslim, though the Michaela School itself is strictly secularA word used to describe something that is not connected with the religious or spiritual sphere.. 

However, under UK law, schools are not required to allot a time or place for students to pray. Many feel that this is unfairly punitive towards Muslim pupils, since prayers are required at specific times of the day and require more specific rituals than in many other world religions.

Ms Birbalsingh welcomed the decision by the High Court, stating that "if parents do not like what Michaela is, they do not need to send their children to us".¹ Places at the Michaela School are highly competitive and sought-after.

The school, founded in 2014 by Ms Birbalsingh, is no stranger to controversy. It has come under scrutiny for its austere regimeA very severe system.. Rules include no talking in the corridors, moving in single-file at all times, and no group work.²

To some, the Michaela School seems like a dystopian horrorscapeAn horrific landscape., where the joy of learning is replaced with a thankless grindUnappreciated hard work. for the highest possible grades.

But for others, it represents opportunity against the odds. Fee-free and located in one of the most deprived areas of London, it trains students rigorously and receives among the best examination results in the country.

The decision has been met with controversy, with some claiming that it speaks to a culture of British IslamophobiaDislike of Islam and Muslims..

Nadeine Asbali, a Muslim secondary school teacher in London, argues that "it is difficult to view this high court judgement in isolation from the backdrop of normalised Islamophobia we have seen emerging in recent times" and that "innocuousHarmless. expressions of Muslim identity" are increasingly being viewed as "extreme or anti-British".³

Ms Birbalsingh has countered that Michaela is a school with a secular culture, where "all religions and all races are expected to make the necessary sacrifices to enable our school to thrive".⁴

Some claim that inhibiting prayer is a restriction of religious freedoms, which risks excluding people of Islamic faith from being able to fully realise and express themselves at school. But others see it as a matter of identity politics, an unnecessarily divisiveCausing people to be split into groups that disagree with or oppose each other. dispute which has impinged on the school's own right to remain non-religious.

Are anti-racists overcorrecting?

Yes: We are going so far in the pursuit of anti-racism that it is actually becoming unequal. Why should Muslim students be allowed to disobey the rules that everybody else is subject to?

No: You should not have to choose between your faith and your study. You can be a good student and maintain your faith. This should be a basic human right.

Or... It would cost the school nothing to allow students to pursue their faith, and it would make Muslim students more comfortable to be allowed to pray at lunchtime. This is an issue of humanity, not racism or anti-racism.