Islamia Primary School

Opened in 1983, the Islamia Primary School is the most well known Muslim school in Britain (and the first to get government recognition and funding, though after numerous attempts over 13 years), undoubtedly due to its well known founder and Chairman, Yusuf Islam (the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens). The school, located near Queens Park in North London, has seen extremely high demand for the 30-odd vacancies available each year. Today its student body comprises 23 different ethnic communities, with most students the product of an ethnically-mixed marriage. Islamia follows the national state-directed curriculum, but also includes classes in religion and Arabic. From the age of seven, children go to pray at the school mosque. Girls are given the choice of whether to wear an Islamic headscarf and religion is treated in a critical manner - students are encouraged to question, doubt and analyze in a Cartesian manner instead of blindly learning set Islamic rules by rote, according the headmaster, Abdullah Trevathan.