Madani Schools Federation is a Muslim secondary school in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, England. Based in the Evington neighbourhood, Madani Schools Federation caters for the city's Muslim population, with 300 places for boys and girls each. The building itself, designed by Leicester firm Pick Everard with an Islamic design including an Arabic-style courtyard. There is also an associated community centre and madrassa. The school has also won architectural awards including the Community Benefit award in the regional finals of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors awards in May 2008 and competed in the international finals in the autumn. It is the first state funded Muslim school in the East-Midlands, as 90% of the £18m came from the government, with the Muslim community in Leicester raising the rest. The school has received much press attention as a Muslim secondary school where it is held up as a model for

faith schools A faith school is a school in the United Kingdom that teaches a general curriculum but which has a particular religious character or formal links with a religious or faith-based organisation. The term is most commonly applied to state-funded faith ...

Concerns and criticism

There has been controversy when it was announced that non-Muslim girls would be required to wear the

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...

. The school was criticised after backtracking on an earlier commitments that it would take 10% of its intake from a non-Muslim background. The Headteacher now states that this will only happen once demand from the Muslim community is met. This is in part because in its first year the school received no applications from non-Muslim families. The school's strict gender segregation policies have also been criticised. The school is divided into two separate wings, one for boys and the other for girls, connected by a central foyer. Boys are only taught by male staff and girls only taught by female staff. The school has separate staff rooms for male and female staff and separate dining rooms for boys and girls.

References

External links

Madani Schools Federation Official Site

Profile of Madani Schools FederationFaith in the system
from the Department for Children, Schools and Families *Darshna, Soni.
Divided by faith: inside the segregated Madani schools

Archive
. '' Channel 4''. Saturday 12 April 2014. {{authority control Secondary schools in Leicester Islamic schools in England Voluntary aided schools in England