Who is 'Britain's strictest headteacher' Katharine Birbalsingh? (2024)

Katharine Birbalsingh - headteacher of 'Britain's strictest school' - emerged victorious today after winning a High Court case launched by a pupil over a prayer ban.

The student, who is Muslim and cannot be named,today lost a High Court challenge against a ban on prayer rituals at Michaela Community School in Brent, London.

The pupil took legal action against the high-achieving secondary school - founded and led by 51-year-old Ms Birbalsingh - claiming the policy was discriminatory and 'uniquely' affected her faith due to its ritualised nature.

However, Ms Birbalsingh, a former government social mobility tsar, argued its prayer policy was justified after it faced death and bomb threats linked to religious observance on site.

The headteacher has made headlines for her controversial views on 'woke culture' in schools - such as suggesting that some people from the poorest families should set their sights lower.

So, who is Katharine Birbalsingh and how has she become commonly known as 'Britain's strictest headteacher?' Find out more below.

Who is Katharine Birbalsingh?

Katharine Moana Birbalsingh CBE is a 51-year-old teacher and education reformer who founded the Michaela Community free school, located in the London borough of Wembley.

The daughter of an academic, Birbalsingh was born in New Zealand in 1973, and was raised in Canadauntil she was 15, before relocating to the UK when her father began lecturing at the University of Warwick.

She developed an interest in education while reading French and New College, Oxford, and, after graduating, went on to teach at state schools in south London.

In September 2014, Ms Birbalsingh established Michaela Community School and appointed formerHome Secretary Suella Braverman as the first chair of governors.

Ms Birbalsingh is also the author of two books: Singleholic (2009) and To Miss With Love (2011).

In the 2020 birthday honours, she was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

In January 2023, Ms Birbalsingh revealed she was stepping down as head of the Social Mobility Commission after little more than a year.

The government's social mobility tsar quit after admitting her controversial public comments were 'doing more harm than good.'

How has Katharine Birbalsingh become 'Britain's strictest headteacher'?

Over the years, she has made headlines for her controversial views on 'woke culture' in schools.

She had previously suggested that people from the poorest families should set their sights lower, and implied that female students shunned subjects like physics at A-Level because of the 'hard maths.'

Ms Birbalsingh has also claimed that children allowed to self-identify as animals, moons and holograms should be moved to another school by their parents.

She added that she was aware of a child at one school who identified as a gay male hologram - and at least one school where a group of students identified as cats.

She claimed the 'issue' was widespread but that people are unaware because teachers are 'not allowed to tell you.'

In May 2022, Ms Bibalsingh appeared on ITV's documentary Britain's Strictest Headmistress, as it explored the teacher's controversial methods.

The programme highlighted the headteacher's manifesto, which is based on 12 'golden rules.'

Some of the rules she detailed in the programme include: Don't give children unsupervised access to the internet, teach them gratitude and don't let them listen to grime or drill music because 'that'll ruin their lives.'

In August 2023, the headteacher offered a scathing verdict on the record-breaking Barbie film, calling it 'two-dimensional and false' and that it contained a 'reductive narrative.'

Ms Birbalsingh's controversial opinions first came to prominence in 2010, after criticising the British education system at that year's Conservative Party conference, saying that 'the system is broken, because it keeps poor children poor.'

How did Katharine Birbalsingh become the centre of a High Court challenge?

Ms Birbalsingh found herself at thecentre of a legal battle after implementing a ban on prayer rituals at her high-achieving institution.

The ban was introduced in March last year after 30 students began to pray in the school's yard, using their blazers to kneel on.

The rules imposed were due to concerns about a 'culture shift' towards 'segregation between religious groups and intimidation within the group of Muslim pupils', the court was told.

The student, who had also been temporarily excluded from the school,argued the school's stance on prayer - one of the five pillars of Islam - unlawfully breached her right to religious freedom

They added that the move was 'the kind of discrimination which makes religious minorities feel alienated from society.'

However, school argued its prayer policy was justified after it faced death and bomb threats linked to religious observance on site.

In a written ruling issued at the High Court in London this morning, Mr Justice Linden dismissed the pupil's arguments against the prayer rituals ban - butthe judge upheld the student's challenge to a decision to temporarily exclude her from the school.

Ms Birbalsingh described the main ruling as a 'victory for all schools' while the pupil said they were 'obviously very disappointed' having 'tried my best' in bringing the case. The pupil's mother said she was 'profoundly dismayed by the case's outcome.'

The judge said there was a 'a rational connection between the aim of promoting the team ethos of the school, inclusivity, social cohesion etc and the prayer ritual policy.'

He added: 'The disadvantage to Muslim pupils at the school caused by the prayer ritual policy is in my view outweighed by the aims which it seeks to promote in the interests of the school community as a whole, including Muslim pupils.'