Primary focuses on beliefs, values and morals of the Muslim faith
It started as a few rooms above a mosque and is now a school for 138 pupils – and the only Muslim primary school in Wales. Education editor Abbie Wightwick took a look inside...
AGROUP of Year Six girls are reciting the 99 names of God from the front of the hall as pupils file in looking for places to pray on mats which have just been rolled out.
It’s 1.15pm and time for pupils at Cardiff Muslim Primary to gather for the salaat, one of the five daily obligatory prayers for Muslims and the only one to take place during school time.
As teachers join them, some cheeky faces have to be gently reminded not to fool about as the prayers begin. Rows of children in bottle-green uniform become serious as they start their communal worship.
“Here home and school life becomes integrated” says headteacher Zahed Khan.
“Growing up Muslim, you have to have a bit of a dual personality. You are a different person at home, school and work. The continuity they get here means as well as teaching the National Curriculum, children learn the basics of Islam.”
The success of Wales’ only Muslim primary school, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, coincides with the religion’s expanding population here and the strength of the community, despite the rise of Islamophobia and extremism hardly imagined by anyone when it first opened its doors.
The last census showed 7% of Cardiff’s population is Muslim, but the school, which runs as a fee-paying, non-profit-making charity, has no catchment area, with pupils coming from as far as Newport.
It began as an independent school with 80 students in a few rooms above the Noor ul Islam mosque in Cardiff Bay in 1998. Today, Cardiff Muslim Primary is nearly at capacity, with 138 pupils taught in the Victorian school building in Merthyr Street, which was previously home to St Monica’s Church in Wales Primary School.
Some of their parents were pupils long before they had a faith school of their own.
As it prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary, the school, which teaches girls and boys aged four to 11, is forging stronger links with other schools and pupils confidently explain why they feel it is a great stepping stone to non-Muslim secondaries.
A small, private Muslim secondary recently opened in Cardiff, but most pupils go on to local mainstream high schools, with many this year heading on to St Teilo’s Church in Wales High.
Although its motto is “Faith though learning, learning through faith”, there is little in the Cardiff Muslim Primary building which is overtly Muslim.
There are no prayers on the walls and, although female staff wear headscarves, there is no obligation on pupils to do so. Like their mothers, some pupils do and some don’t.
What is overtly Muslim is the attention to the beliefs, morals and values of the faith across all areas of school life, says the headteacher, a quietly spoken former engineer in his early 50s. The father of three qualified as a teacher nine years ago, working in mainstream primaries in Cardiff before coming to the Muslim school 18 months ago.
“It’s a happy school,” he says. “In a lot of aspects it is the same as any other school. We have the same pupils and the same problems as any school. It is more the same than different to other schools in Cardiff.
“But there is better understanding among our parents about what the school is and where it is coming from.
“We follow the National Curriculum for Wales and teach Islamic studies. We study other religions as part of that. What we try to do is give a context to topics, so that if we are doing science we teach our children about Muslim scientists and mathematicians as well. We teach about evolution and Darwin, as well as what God says.”
While most of the pupils are from south Wales, their families have diverse backgrounds. A range of languages, apart from English, is spoken, including Somali, Bangladeshi, Arabic and Pashtun. In lessons they will also learn Arabic, but not Welsh, something the school says it is keen to include so pupils go to high school with the same Welsh-language skills as other English-medium pupils.
Deputy head Naeela Minhas, who is also Year Five teacher, says the aim is to educate pupils to feel comfortable in their identity as Muslims in Wales and to show people what their religion stands for – something especially important, with communities feeling more divided in recent years with the advent of terrorism, fears about migration, austerity and Brexit.
With Muslims having lived in Cardiff for nearly 200 years, they are part of the city’s fabric and have long needed a faith school of their own, the school leaders say.
“We provide a balanced, broad and wide curriculum,” says Naeela.
“We teach topics that address wider knowledge children need. In Years Five and Six, our current topic is on heroes and villains. Along with Muslim heroes from past and present, we also look at people like Martin Luther
King, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela among others. It’s about teaching the children values, social causes and understanding of integrity, justice and equality – all of which are not only universal values but Islamic values also.
“Society has changed since we were younger and you want to keep a certain identity for your children and don’t want to compromise. In a faith school, you feel those values will be protected more. But these are universal values such as respect, kindness and modesty.
“I think there is growing demand, as Cardiff has a growing Muslim community. People come here looking for that faith element.”
Mother of three Qamar Ahmad, who has seen the school blossom over two decades, believes its success, like other faith schools, is down to assuring parents their children are being taught values alongside academic work.
Twenty years ago she did work experience at the fledgling school in the mosque, before going on to qualify as a teacher and working in Abertillery Comprehensive and St Martin’s School in Caerphilly.
“It’s amazing to see how far it has come from a few rooms in the mosque,” she says. “I think a lot of its success has to do with the fact you get a good grounding in Islam but also have the value of school life, the National Curriculum and small class sizes.”
Parents, who pay £2,500 a year in fees, say they are also looking for small class sizes and academic achievement. This year, 12 of the 18 children in Year Six achieved level five or above in National Tests, exceeding the average expected of level four.
At the school’s last inspection in 2014, Estyn judged the current performance as good and prospects for improvement as adequate, while adding: “Most pupils attain good standards; all pupils in the school make good progress.”
Sajid Hussain, 39, chairman of trustees, who has three children at the school, believes it is these results and the faith ethos which drives the school’s popularity with parents: “Generally I think it is the academic side, not just faith, that brings parents here. People send their kids to Bishop of Llandaff High not just because of Christian ethos but because of academic results.
“My vision for this school is that it could be so good academically that non-Muslims want to come,” says Sajid, a former Allensbank Primary and Cardiff High pupil.
The teacher and Muslim scholar who provides religious study and Arabic language classes is Sheikh Yaqoub.
“Parents are very keen for their children to learn the Quran because it is the source of our religion and they are keen they learn Arabic so they can learn to read and recite the Quran,” he says.
“Many children don’t have that religious background and their parents want them to understand Islam fully and properly.
“If people are passionate about their faith, why not have faith schools? We live in a multicultural, multi-faith society and should have the freedom we do to have schools for our children. There is no harm in having a variety of schools.”
His own sons have been through the school and now go to St Teilo’s.
“I am very happy for them to go to a faith school and get a different view of that religion and to be open-minded and have acceptance of others.”
Asma Abdul-Sattar, a doctor at Llandough Hospital, says: “I am Muslim and did toy with the idea of a standard private school but here they teach the Quran and Arabic and that takes pressure off studying those after school and at weekends.
Asma grew up and went to school in Swansea, where she says she “stuck out like a sore thumb” in her headscarf and was picked on.
Ayesha Rauf, who has a daughter in Year One, a son in Year Five and an older son who left to join St Teilo’s in Year Seven last year, says she also wanted results and faith teaching: “I want my children to be well-rounded individuals who integrate into society but at the same time know about Islam and their faith and do all the National Curriculum core subjects.
“They learn Arabic and the Quran here so I don’t have to take them to the mosque after school. That frees their time so they can do other things like sport.”
Ayesha, who went to school in London, is, like other parents, concerned about Islamophobia, which they say was not an issue when they were young: “Islamophobia and the stigma attached to it is worrying for me as a parent. I don’t wear a scarf, the school is diverse and inclusive and keen to respect other religions.
“I think if we can teach our children to respect other people, the people will see from the outset what Islam is about. We have to teach this generation to be confident.”
Navigating terrorism, racism and extremism in recent years has been delicate, say the head and deputy head. Teachers don’t speak directly to classes about atrocities but take the lead from parents about whether they want to talk about them and from the Muslim Council of Wales on how best to do that.
“We take our lead from the Muslim Council of Wales and our parents. We are caring for young children, who are not always aware of events,” says Zahed.
If parents do want the school to address issues like these, teachers do so sensitively and in small groups.
“We do it in personal and social education (PSE) classes rather than assemblies. Pupils get social media and news and want to know, so rather than brush it under the carpet we want to be open. We want children to feel confident and we have to open the door to discussion and analysis,” explains Naeela.
She, like many of the other teachers, parents and pupils, describes the school as like a “family” with constant conversations going on. Although there are the usual problems you might get in any school, the sense of a shared belief helps when trying to decide how to tackle talking about difficult issues, they say.
For pupils, of course, it’s just their school and they’re proud of it. They want to show off their work and achievements. A Year Six pupil has just been named winner in the Public Health Wales annual booklet competition and will see her design used, while a number of her peers were runners-up.
Pupils are also keen to show their brightly decorated classrooms and the recently renovated toilets.
Because it gets no state funding, the school must pay for everything it does with fees, which it wants to keep manageable for parents. Its active parent-teacher association holds bake sales and other fundraisers and there is an orphan fund to cover fees for those who have lost parents.
Older pupils are excited to have recently joined pupils from St Monica’s on a residential trip to the Brecon Beacons, where they did activities including climbing and canoeing together. The children said grace together before meals and got the chance to ask questions about one another’s religions in an informal way.
Year Six pupils are especially excited about going on to high school, although they say they will miss their Muslim primary.
Alesha Iqbal, 11, has been in the school since reception and says it is like a family to her: “I like it here because it’s friendly and you can practice your religion freely. It’s just a normal school and teaches us about Islam and to respect other faiths so we can make friends. I am very excited about going to high school but I will be sorry to leave.”
Leena Tantawy, 10, who came to the school two years ago when her parents, both medics, moved to Cardiff, recalls bad experiences in her previous, non-Muslim school: “I feel more comfortable here. People made fun of me in London.”
The pupils with her seem surprised. Growing up in Cardiff, they say they haven’t experienced this, don’t know anyone who has and don’t expect to when they go on to high school soon.
As a non-maintained school, Cardiff Muslim Primary can choose whether or not to follow all, some or none of the new curriculum starting in 2020.
“We are in the fortunate position that we can wait to see how the new curriculum develops and whether it is advantageous for us to follow it,” Zahed points out.
“My job is more than a job for me. It means bringing up a new generation of Muslims as a teacher and mentor.
“Some people are scared of Islam and there are misconceptions. We need a model where we can show this is what Islam is about and what better place to do that than school?”