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London’s Catholic primary school has 90 pc Muslims | A Catholic primary school, in London, that was built in the 1930s to cater to a large
numbers of Irish families moving to the area, now boasts of 90 per cent Muslim students. All
pupils at the Rosary Catholic Primary, irrespective of their religion, attend Catholic assemblies
in the morning and Mass at the nearby church, while crucifixes and statues of the Virgin Mary
line the corridors. But only around
40 pupils out of 400 are Catholics – the rest are mostly Muslims of Pakistani
origin. The school is among a few dozen Catholic primaries, mainly in the Midlands
and North West, where Muslims now outnumber church-going children. At Rosary,
in the Saltley area of Birmingham, some of the pupils’ parents are Imams and
some live in nearby Mosques. “This is a changing parish like all parishes in strong
Muslim neighbourhoods,” the Daily Mail quoted Father Bernard Kelly, the local
parish priest and Rosary’s chairman of governors, as saying. “Our school is largely
made up of Muslim children whose parents are happy to have them attend a Christian
school. For the church, this is a new reality. “At school, the pupils hear about
the teachings of Jesus but they are not imposed on them. I’m sure we will be here
in another 80 years’ time. Why not?” he said. The primary school, along with a
church and a secondary school, were set up in the 1930s to serve a large Irish
Catholic population. Eighty years on, Ofsted has praised the school for ‘outstanding’
work promoting cohesion among diverse local communities. “We follow the Catholic
Diocese programme for religious education which pupils are taught for ten to 15
per cent of the week,” John Gubbins, the school’s headmaster, said. All pupils,
aged three to 11, take part in plays to celebrate Christmas and Easter, while
Muslim holydays are also marked. At the same time, the school also provides opportunities
for ‘multi-faith prayer’. Most pupils who arrive at the school do not have English
as their first language. “When I came here 11 years ago, it was 30 per cent Catholic
and 70 per cent Muslim,” Gubbins said. “In September, eight out of our intake
of 50 pupils will be Catholic, and many of them are from Polish or African families,”
he added. |
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