Michaela’s court win is a victory for all

The High Court decision to uphold a head teacher’s ban on prayer rituals in school is a welcome outbreak of common sense in this increasingly toxic debate. A Muslim pupil had sued Michaela Community School in north west London claiming the prohibition was discriminatory and a breach of her right to freedom of religion. The court ruled it was neither.

In an 83-page written judgment dismissing the case, Mr Justice Linden said: “The claimant at the very least impliedly accepted, when she enrolled at the school, that she would be subject to restrictions on her ability to manifest her religion.”

Around half the school’s 700 pupils are Muslim and, in March last year, a small number began praying in the school’s yard. This was inimical to the inclusive ethos of the school pursued by its head, Katharine Birbalsingh. She has built the school, in a deprived area, into an outstanding, multi-faith institution which has transformed the lives of young people, many of them Muslim.

Yet teachers were facing intimidation and threats while order was being disrupted. The school said the ban was necessary to avoid a culture shift towards “segregation between religious groups and intimidation within the group of Muslim pupils”.

This entire case has been a travesty, designed to cause a schism rather than bring groups together. Ms Birbalsingh has had to fight this largely on her own, with little support from fellow head teachers and hardly any from the Government. After the verdict, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said she had “always been clear that head teachers are best placed to make decisions in their school”. That clarity was not obvious.

This official cravenness in the face of campaign organisations, whether they be Islamist or pushing transgender causes, is letting down children. Ms Birbalsingh is loathed on the Left because she is an old-style head teacher who insists on enforcing rules of behaviour and upholding values that a generation or two ago would have been unremarkable.

The court action was another attempt to undermine this approach by those who want to turn our schools into ideological battlegrounds rather than places of learning. Her victory upholds the right of non-religious schools to make their own decisions about whether to set aside time and space for pupils to pray. This was once considered something that the courts should not be involved in. It should be the last time they are.