Moseley School Parents & Community Association

Religious Discrimination

Snapshot of Birmingham schools - over the years - promoting Fundamental British Values democracy of the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and belief.

If the laughing policeman Peter Clarke CVO OBE QPM had conducted a proper investigation he would have found clear and disturbing evidence of an aggressive, coordinated, deliberate, intolerant and sustained agenda to impose secular attitudes, ethos and practices in Birmingham schools that are incompatible with Britain's Judeo-Christian heritage, successive government policies and parental and community aspirations.

No Section 128 letters have been issued by the DfE to officials who have been promoting, permitting or failing to challenge religious discrimination and the undermining of Fundamental British Values (FBV).

OFSTED Inspection, March 1995

During the past decade, the catchment area of the school has become increasingly multi-cultural, with a proportionately high number of Asian families, mainly originating from Pakistan and India.

There is no provision for the statutory daily act of collective worship.
There is inadequate coverage of religious education at Key Stage 4 and none at post-16.

Key Issues for Action:

Review the programme of assemblies and other opportunities to enhancethe spiritual dimension of the curriculum and make provision for the dailyact of collective worship.

Ensure adequate space for religious education at Key Stage 4 and post-16,to provide a more balanced curriculum;

Pupils' personal development and behaviour

Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

33 The legal requirements for collective worship are not met. There was no act of collective worship during the week of the inspection.

Although there is recognition on the part of staff that the spiritual dimension is an important aspect of the lives of pupils, the school has not considered closely how the broader aspects of spirituality may be addressed throughout the school and across the curriculum.

Occasionally pupils do have opportunities to reflect on the human experience, particularly in English, drama, art and religious education but the range of teaching strategies available to staff to contribute to the spiritual aspect of pupils' development needs to be extended. The programme of assemblies needs to be reviewed.

118 There is not enough time at Key Stage 4 for religious education and none is provided at post-16. No pupils take public examinations in the subject.

135 Time allocations are appropriate for most subjects but are low in music and art at Key Stage 3 and fall seriously short of the local Agreed Syllabus

Management and administration

155 The governing body fulfils most of its legal responsibilities but has failed to secure the provision of religious education for pupils in Years 10 to 13 and to make arrangements for a daily act of collective worship.

OFSTED Inspection, January 1999

Where the school has weaknesses

The provision for religious education (RE) in Key Stage 4 and in the sixth form is inadequate to meet the terms of the local Agreed Syllabus, and collective worship does not comply with statutory requirements.

The school still does not comply with the requirements for collective worship, nor those for RE in Key Stage 4 and the sixth form.

KEY ISSUES FOR ACTION

Meet the terms of the Locally Agreed Syllabus for religious education in Key Stage 4 and the sixth form. (para. 35, Religious Education)

Comply with the law in respect of collective worship. (Para 49, Religious Education)

49. There has also been considerable progress in the development of the school’s programme of assemblies since the previous inspection and a more detailed and effective programme of themes and activities has been established. Assemblies are well-organised events with outside speakers used very well. At the last inspection the school failed to provide a daily act of collective worship for pupils. The school still does not provide a daily act but, nevertheless, gives pupils relevant and interesting opportunities to reflect on aspects of religious spirituality, human achievement, frailty and suffering.

OFSTED Inspection, January 2004

All of the weaknesses identified in the previous report have been addressed successfully, with the exception of providing a daily act of collective worship.

IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED

And to meet statutory requirements:
- Provide a daily act of collective worship.

The curriculum

The school fails to provide a statutory act of collective worship.

Main strengths and weaknesses

The school does not provide a daily act of collective worship.

Commentary

However, one weakness is that the school does not provide a daily act of collective worship.

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

The one weakness is the governors’ failure to ensure that the school is providing a daily act of collective worship.

OFSTED Inspection, March 2008

In 2008 when the Governing Body reviewed the provision statutory daily act of collective worship (DCW), Governors were shocked to be told that Moseley School is in a position of 80% of schools in this country by not offering DCW!

When the new Chair of Governors met the then Head of School Ineffectiveness Jackie Hughes in August / September 2008 to discuss historical low attainment at Moseley School, she said that Collective Worship at Moseley School was a joke. She should know and would say that, wouldn't she? It later transpired that the Head of School Ineffectiveness was also a Reverend. It's a pity that during her watch she did not issue a Statutory Warning Notice to the school. Instead it was left to Governors (unpaid volunteers) to try and enforce the writ of the state when state institutions turned a blind eye to Religious Discrimination on an industrial scale over many years. Moseley School was not alone.

Questions about Religious Discrimination at Moseley

Does the writ of the State extend to schools in Birmingham?

Do laws made by Parliament apply to schools in Birmingham?

Are laws made by Parliament worth the expensive parchment that they are written on?

Is this an example of Organisational Disobedience?

Did the then Head of School Ineffectiveness, Reverend Jackie Hughes, Reverend John Ray, the then local parish priest Reverend Toby Howarth who was also serving as a member of Birmingham SACRE, know what was happening at Moseley School? If so, what action did they take?

Did inter-faith organisation, The Feast know this was happening at Moseley School?

Did Peter Clarke CVO OBE QPM, Ian Kershaw, Eversheds and Birmingham City Council's Review Group find clear evidence' of 'deliberate action' to introduce 'intolerant and aggressive secular ethos' in state-funded community schools in Birmingham and a failure by Birmingham City Council to challenge this? Did they find incontrovertible evidence that senior officers and elected members of Birmingham City Circus were aware that religious discrimination was taking place on an industrial scale in Birmingham schools, over many years and that Birmingham City Council preferred to sweep it under the carpet rather than address it?

Did Birmingham City Council know that this was happening but decided to ignore it for fear of being labeled as old fashioned, law-abiding Puritans by hardline militant atheists, humanists, secularists and Tim Boyes?

If it takes a village to raise a child, does it take a City to fail a child?

Will Birmingham City Council apologise to parents and pupils?

Did pupils of Moseley School have to teach themselves RE?

How do head teachers teach citizenship, democracy, rule of law, mutual respect and tolerance to children when they are in breach of these Fundamental British Values (FBV) themselves?

Trojan Horse Investigations: Farce, Kafkaesque & Whitewash

The Trojan Horse investigations by Peter Clarke CVO OBE QPM, Ian Kershaw and Eversheds portrayed school governors who were trying to enforce the writ of the state as extremists and Head Teachers as hapless victims when in fact the reverse is true. None of the reports said anything about the religious discrimination suffered by pupils at the hands of officials on the payroll of the State.

On 14th April 2014 the leader of Birmingham City Council, Sir Albert Bore commissioned a Review Group to investigate, report and make recommendations following the circulation of the so called Trojan Hoax letter. Naturally, members of the Review Group such as Amra Bone of Birmingham Central Mosque, Kamal Hanif OBE the Headteacher Waverley School (which does not have a determination or a policy on Collective Worship and where Nargis Rashid MBE is Chair of Governors), Councillor Zafar Iqbal, Councillor Habib Rehman and the Bishop David Urquhart the Bishop of Birmingham found no evidence whatsoever of religious discrimination in the Secular State School System in Birmingham!