A legal battle over whether a Birmingham Islamic faith school’s policy of segregating boys from girls is unlawful and discriminatory has reached the Court of Appeal.
The first case of its kind, it is being seen as raising fundamental questions over pupils being taught “British values”.
A High Court judge in London ruled in November last year that Ofsted inspectors were wrong to penalise Al-Hijrah school, in Bordesley Green, on the basis of an “erroneous” view that segregation amounted to unlawful discrimination. The judge ruled: “There is no evidence in this case that segregation particularly disadvantages women.”
But Mr Justice Jay allowed Ofsted, the body that regulates schools in England, to publish the rest of a controversial inspection report placing the school into special measures because books found in the school library gave tacit approval to domestic violence. Ofsted is appealing against the High Court’s decision that the Al-Hijrah policy of separating the sexes from year five does not constitute discrimination on grounds of sex under the 2010 Equality Act. Until now, the identity of the school has been kept secret and it has been referred to as “School X”.
The case came to court after Ofsted produced a summer 2016 report that found there was discrimination under the equality laws and said the school, which has pupils aged from four to 16, should be placed in “special measures”.
