Birmingham school unites faiths: not through grand gestures but hard work
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Version 0 of 1. It is Friday morning at St Alban’s Church of England academy in Highgate, a gleaming new £17.6m building whose colourful exterior spreads a warm glow over this deprived corner of Birmingham. The school, where the vast majority of students are Muslim, is a stone’s throw from Birmingham central mosque, one of the largest Islamic centres in western Europe, and a short bus ride from the schools thrown into turmoil last year by allegations of a hardline Islamist takeover – the so-called Trojan horse affair. Indeed, from September the academy chain Ark, which sponsors St Alban’s, is taking over two of the affected schools, Oldknow academy, rated inadequate by Ofsted, which accused governors of a “narrow, faith-based ideology”, and Golden Hillock School, which was put into special measures last April. Related: St Alban's ARK Academy in Birmingham – in pictures At St Alban’s on Friday morning, alongside normal morning lessons – English, maths, table tennis in the hall – the school council, which meets regularly (often to talk about the food or toilets), has been discussing how to respond to the horrific events in Paris when Islamist gunmen murdered 17 people. A small flyer posted near the school’s multi-faith prayer room advertises an interfaith rally in Birmingham city centre on Sunday. Entitled Not in Our Name, it reads: “We utterly reject the violent and extremist actions committed in the name of religion by desperate murderers in Paris and worldwide.” “Tell everyone,” it concludes, “(including Fox News!).” Fox News was forced to apologise after an American terrorism commentator claimed Birmingham was a “Muslim-only city” where non-Muslims do not go. At at time when schools are being asked to promote “British values” amid government concerns that young people must be protected from radicalisation, St Alban’s is a school shaped by the bigger idea of multi-faith integration and inclusion. It was founded in 1871 by two Church of England priests, James Pollock and his younger brother Thomas, who dedicated their lives to bringing education to what was – and still is – one of the most impoverished areas of Birmingham. Today, the student body is 80% Muslim and their families originate mainly from Pakistan, Yemen and, most recently, Somalia. Of the rest, 8% are Christian, 8% are of undeclared faith, plus a small number of Sikhs, Rastafarians and Jehovah’s witnesses. A tour of the building highlights the practical efforts to promote a multi-faith ethos. On vivid orange and emerald walls, there are bold inscriptions taken from the Bible and the Qur’an, each given equal weight. On one wall on the first floor, it reads: “O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female and made you into nations and communities that you might get to know one another.” Qur’an 49:13 Elsewhere: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20. Every Friday, in the neighbouring church of St Alban and St Patrick there are multi-faith prayers and readings, given by adults and students, in English and Arabic, taken from the Bible and the Qur’an. The multi-faith prayer room, with appropriate washing facilities for Muslims, is stripped of references to any particular faith to ensure it is a genuinely multi-faith space. The school ethos is underpinned by the idea of “common terms” – commonalities that unite the different faith communities. And the school’s Anglican chaplain, Father Nicholas Lo Polito, works closely with three liaison workers from the Somali, Yemeni and Pakistani communities. Ofsted, which ranked the school outstanding following its visit in 2011, highlighted the “outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development” among students. It also singled out for praise “an ethos for learning that nurtures mutual respect and tolerance, motivates students and encourages their positive self-esteem, particularly for Muslim girls”. The school’s results are equally impressive: last year 65% of pupils gained at least five A*-Cs at GCSE (compared with 31% in 2009). David Gould has been head teacher and principal of the school since 1999, and from September will become executive principal of Golden Hillock, which is still suffering the effects of the Trojan Horse investigation. “Parents, students and staff have been through a period of unrest,” he said, “but the focus of our energies must be to build on the excellent work being done by the current leadership team in order to stabilise the school and ensure the provision of the best possible education for the students.” Gould is passionate in his defence of and commitment to the Muslim community within which he works and of the multi-faith ethos they all share. “It’s a very misrepresented community,” he says. “All the dealings we have with the community and with individuals reinforces the fact that they are as committed as we are to working in peace. People of faith have more in common with each other than secular society as a whole.” Though the Trojan horse affair has not impacted on St Alban’s directly, he says “it’s made us more proud of the work we are doing and the relations we have here”. Faith schools are not part of the problem, they are part of the solution, says Gould, pointing out that none of the schools at the centre of the Trojan horse story were faith schools. We have more confidence in tackling issues head on. We have a clear rationale … We know what we are doing “Had they been faith schools, they would have known how to do it properly and legally and they would have had the background support a church school has. As a Church of England school, we have more confidence in tackling these issues head on, and more support for that than we would as a non-faith school. We have a clear rationale. We know what we are doing.” On Charlie Hebdo and other terrorist atrocities that are being discussed by the school council as we meet, he says: “If people claim to be representing some kind of religion and threaten violence, they don’t understand their religion and what it truly says about humanity. “We need to keep it in perspective – it’s a tiny minority, a lunatic criminal fringe. It does not represent anybody we know or anybody in this community.” The students on the council are articulate and thoughtful about their school and its efforts to be genuinely multi-faith. Head boy Nisar Shah, 18, wants to study history at university. “In the sixth form I think everybody’s upset about how certain events are portrayed in the media,” He says. “It’s unfair because of the generalisation that happens. The main thing is not to be too affected by it. There’s not much we can do. “But these are one-off events, which are then applied to a wider context. We want a peaceful world. You have to work hard at making everyone around you feel safe. We are trying to deliver a positive message to the local community and to maintain peace around school. We’ve been discussing the positive aspects in school, how we maintain our multi-faith approach.” Others feel upset about the impact the Trojan horse affair has had on outsiders’ views of Birmingham and the city’s schools. “It leads to a negative image for the people outside Birmingham,” says year 10 student Wissam Zendjebil. “For us, because we live in Birmingham, we know what’s going on around us. It’s quite unfair.” Nasser Mockbill is one of the three community liaison officers. He says: “The main aim of the school is educating the children so they can go to university first and foremost. Followed by safeguarding and child protection. The school provides training for staff on how to protect children from FGM, drug misuse, sexual exploitation, radicalisation. “We value every child, we value their culture, their tradition and their faith. Whatever we do in the school reflects that.” Ask Mockbill about British values and he says: “It’s just common sense. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist. It’s good morals, good behaviour. It’s in every culture.” “Relationships are really, really strong,” says Gould. “These groups are very strongly committed to working together. But it’s a day-by-day, living-out-our-experience kind of working towards building this thing. It’s not about great big public displays and announcements and demonstrations. It’s got to be done over a long period of time.” |