How do you unite 700 children of many faiths and ethnicities in a hardscrabble inner London borough? Even lunch is a minefield. Your very limited canteen could try to follow every religious edict: halal and kosher, no beef or pork, fish on Fridays, no eggs served on the same plates as meat. Or the whole school could go vegetarian.
The latter was the elegant solution of Katharine Birbalsingh, headmistress of the Michaela academy in Wembley, northwest London, and illustrates her secular philosophy. Find a compromise that may not be everyone’s first choice but eliminates religious division and puts the community above the individual. If children want lamb biryani, spicy ribs or burgers they can enjoy them at home. But at school they will break
