A primary school in East Ham has banned pupils under the age of eight from wearing hijabs and encouraged parents not to make their children fast on school days.
St Stephen’s, which topped the Sunday Times school league tables in 2017, has had the policies in place for a while and explained their decision to the newspaper.
Headteacher Neena Lall told the Sunday Times the changes had been made to help integrate children into British society.
A few years ago she asked the children to put their hands up if they thought they were British. “Very few” said they did.
The school has encouraged the government to roll out similar policies in all schools.
The current system is schools are responsible for setting their own rules although the Department for Education does issue guidelines, they say.
The school told the Recorder they had done a newspaper interview and had no further comment to make.
Newham Council also declined to comment.
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