An east London school has apologised for the “distress and worry” caused by a questionnaire given to primary schoolchildren that was branded “racist and Islamophobic”.

The survey was given to pupils at Buxton Primary School in Cann Hall Road, Leytonstone, asking children as young as 10 about their thoughts and feelings.

However, the leaflet was criticised for questions deemed to be aimed at Muslim pupils, as children were asked to detail how much they trust members of a different race or religion.

It was handed out as part of Waltham Forest Council’s Building Resilience through Integration & Trust (BRIT) programme, which is funded by the European Commission and is aimed at Year 5 and Year 6 pupils.

The questionnaire asked pupils to say how much they agree to statements including whether they think God has a purpose for them, if they would mind if a family of a different race or religion moved next door and if they thought religious books are to be understood word for word.

The release of the questionnaire on social media by Mohammed Ansar, an outspoken British Muslim commentator, sparked a flurry of comments in which shocked parents said they would be outraged if their children had been asked to fill it in.

 

 

Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commision (ICHRC), said he was concerned that if children answered honestly to any of the questions they could be put on a watch list.

He said: “They’re obviously targeting Muslim children and trying to pick their brains and thoughts and effectively profile them.

“But at this young age we should be thinking of nurturing and developing our children, not compartmentalising them.

"It’s also clearly racist and Islamophobic and there would be uproar if they had mentioned ‘Jew’ or ‘black’ in the identity question.

“This reminds me of the prelude to the Nazi holocaust when Jews were profiled before they started putting Stars of David on them.”

Initially the school's executive headteacher Kath Wheeler told parents in a letter that the project had been "misunderstood" on social media.

She said: "The school takes extremely seriously its responsibility to develop pupils' understanding of the world in which we live and our duty to create a community that is respectful of all religions, faiths and beliefs.

"As parents you will be well aware of our inclusive ethos and be surprised that this project, aimed at developing a cohesive community, has been misunderstood."

But Ms Wheeler and chairman of governors Tom Williams have now issued a statement saying the school has had an internal investigation.

"When we agreed to run the BRIT project on behalf of Waltham Forest Council, we were not made aware that this questionnaire would be included. If we had, current procedures would have identified concerns from the outset as this involved potentially identifiable and sensitive information.

"The questionnaire was included in the learning materials for the first time this month and was sent directly from the London Borough of Waltham Forest to a junior member of staff co-ordinating the project. It was not sent to me or any of my senior leadership team and as such we did not have the opportunity to judge whether the questions were appropriate. If we had been given that opportunity this survey would not have been sent out to our students.

"We apologise for causing distress and worry to students, parents and carers, and others in the community who have raised very real and well-founded concerns in response to this questionnaire."

The statement said the questionnaires that were filled in had been destroyed and no data had been collected or sent to anyone else.

"The local authority has confirmed their intention was to anonymise and then destroy the questionnaires. Despite this we will not be taking part in this method of evaluation now or in the future."

A council statement denied the anonymous questionnaire was directed at pupils of any particular faith.

Cabinet member for children, Cllr Mark Rusling, and Cllr Liaquat Ali, cabinet member for community safety, released a joint statement saying they were glad to have "sparked a debate" on cohesion.

“Participation is completely voluntary for individual schools. The feedback received so far about the programme from local primary schools has been positive with more wanting to take part in the programme", it read.

“We encourage parents to get involved and when we start working in an individual school we invite them to an initial session to talk about the focus and content of the project which includes lots of different materials which are in no way directed at pupils of any particular faith.

“We’re glad that this has sparked a debate as our aim is to encourage people to talk about the importance of cohesion at all ages.”'