Top school hit by bomb threats and calls for the murder of its teachers after Muslim pupils were told by staff they couldn’t pray on its grounds
- Staff at secular school told Muslim pupils they could not pray on school grounds
- A teacher alleges she was subjected to racial abuse and repeated death threats
A top secondary school received bomb threats and extremist calls for the murder of its teachers after Muslim pupils were told to stop praying on school grounds, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The teachers became so frightened that they escorted each other to school and back home, and were forced to close early for the Easter break fearing for their safety and that of pupils, according to legal documents in the High Court.
The papers say police were called into the secular London school at least three times – once including a bomb disposal team – after the head teacher received a chilling warning that explosives had been planted in classrooms and toilets.
Emails were also sent threatening the ‘kuffar’ [disbeliever] headmistress with death for ‘insulting Islam’ and a brick was thrown through the window of a teacher’s house, court papers say.
Met bomb squad officers were called in to sweep the school for explosives; none were found
The alleged incidents began after a black teacher stopped some Muslim pupils from praying in the playground, saying that ritual worship on premises was against school policy. Angry Muslim pupils clashed with the teacher, which led the headmistress to expel one teenage girl for ‘serious rudeness and defiance’ on March 23, the first day of the holy month of Ramadan.
The next day, a social media campaign against the school was launched, and a petition against it gathered more than 4,000 signatures. The black teacher said she was subjected to horrendous racial abuse by Islamic extremists, who also made repeated death threats against her.
The Mail on Sunday knows the identity of the teacher, the headmistress and the school, as well as the pupil who was expelled, but we cannot disclose their identities because of a High Court order.
The expelled pupil, who can only be identified as ‘NN’, launched a legal battle against the school, claiming that her exclusion was unlawful. NN and her family could not be reached for comment.
It was claimed online that problems began after pupils were refused a prayer room, and were then told they could not pray in the playground either. Teachers were accused of Islamophobia.
In her court statement, the head teacher claims NN was suspended after boasting to other pupils she ‘intended to destroy the school’ – a mixed secondary – deemed ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in all categories at its last inspection.
The head said that immediately after NN’s suspension, a campaign was launched to ‘discredit and intimidate the school’s leadership’ through ‘physical intimidation’.
She said it was ‘part of an orchestrated attempt to change the character of the school’ by extremists.
On March 25, the head teacher received an email claiming: ‘We have planted several bombs in the building many of which are hidden in toilets, hall rooms and classes on all floors. These are the consequences of your actions.’
Met bomb squad officers were called in to sweep the school for explosives, but none was found.
Batley Grammar School in Batley, West Yorkshire, where a teacher was suspended for reportedly showing a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed to pupils during an RS lesson
The next day, the head received another email which said: ‘If you carry on disrespecting our Muslim children you will [be] dealt with like the filthy dog you are.’
She said: ‘It is no exaggeration to say that my staff were fearing for their lives. The violent and intimidatory conduct was also posing a severe threat to our pupils.’
The case is due to be heard by a judge at a later date.
It comes two years after a teacher at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire went into hiding due to death threats from Islamists for showing his pupils pictures of the Prophet Mohammed.
