‘We are one big family’

Head teacher’s full statement

We are in court to defend the culture and ethos of Michaela, and the decisions the governors have taken to maintain a successful and stable learning environment where children of all races and religions can thrive. We want our multi-cultural and multi-faith community to flourish. Ours is a happy and respectful secular school where every race, faith and group understands self-sacrifice for the betterment of the whole. We are one big Michaela family. Michaela is rated Outstanding by Ofsted and has a unique culture that turns out young people with exceptional character. Our pupils achieve superb exam grades – including the highest ever recorded progress at GCSE level in a state-funded school – which help them win places at some of the best universities in the world. We are extremely proud of what we do to transform the lives of young people, many of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds. To achieve all this, our school must be a place where children of all races and religions buy into something they all share and that is bigger than themselves: our country. We have a large number of Muslim pupils. Their positive experiences have helped grow the number of Muslim pupils at the school by 50 per cent. My own grandmother was Muslim. But the governing body had to take the decision to stop prayer rituals when some pupils started them, against a backdrop of events including violence, intimidation and appalling racial harassment of our teachers. Our decision restored calm and order to the school. We have always been clear to parents and pupils when they apply to Michaela that because of our restrictive building combined with our strict ethos that does not allow children to wander around the school unsupervised, we cannot have a prayer room. At Michaela, those from all religions make sacrifices so that we can maintain a safe secular community. Some Jehovah’s Witness families have objected to Macbeth as a set GCSE text. Some Christian families have asked that we do not hold our GCSE revision sessions on Sundays. Some Hindu families have objected to dinner plates touching eggs. And our Muslim families have signed up to the school knowing that we do not have a prayer room. We all eat vegetarian food so that we can break bread together at lunch where children are not divided according to race or religion. We all make our sacrifices so that we can live in harmony. We believe it is wrong to separate children according to religion or race, and that it is our duty to protect all of our children and provide them with an environment which is free from bullying, intimidation and harassment. Multiculturalism can only succeed when we understand that every group must make sacrifices for the sake of the whole. We allow our children freedoms of all sorts, as long as those freedoms do not threaten the happiness and success of the whole school community. Our children, whatever their background, are British. As a school, we celebrate what we have in common so that the extraordinary diversity of cultures that we have under our roof can succeed. I will never separate children according to race and religion.