A petition calling for an end to an East Ham school’s ban on hijabs and fasting has got 8,000 signatures in two days.

There has been a strong backlash against the school’s bold stance on the issue.

In a Sunday Times article this weekend, the school’s headteacher Neena Lall told the newspaper the changes had been made to help integrate children into British society.

“Freedom of expression is a must regardless of age,” it says on the petition’s webpage, which was started by Hafsah Dabiri.

“The hijab represents a choice and to remove it is the very oppression which actors claim to prevent,” it adds.

“It’s not a request or a plea, it’s a demand.”

The school’s policy is against the UN Convention on Human Rights, it adds.

In the interview she said that a few years ago she asked the children to put their hands up if they thought they were British. “Very few” said they did.