A huge boarding school for girls in Brierfield with 5,000 pupils on the roll would be “unprecedented” according to education minister, Diana Johnson. 

In the Commons earlier today, Pendle MP, Gordon Prentice, asked her how many Muslim girls’ boarding schools there are with more than 4,000 pupils in England.  

The MP said: “My friend will know that there is a proposal on the drawing board for a huge 5,000-place independent boarding school for Muslim girls in my Pendle constituency. Does she believe, as I do, that the existence of very large, single-faith, single-gender schools can work against community cohesion, and that we should tread very carefully indeed?” 

The Minister replied: “To date, there are no Muslim girls’ boarding schools with more than 4,000 pupils established in England. My friend may be interested to know that the largest independent boys’ boarding school at present is Eton, with 1,311 pupils, and the largest girls’ boarding school is Cheltenham Ladies’ College, with 640 pupils. The figure of 5,000 for the number of pupils at a boarding school would, therefore, be unprecedented, and we would obviously have to give very careful consideration to a proposal for a school of that size.” 

Speaking after the exchange, the MP commented: “I said weeks ago that this proposal was “kite flying”. But Islamic Help, the charity behind the proposal, has been taking donations from people for a project that is outside their charitable objectives and was always at the farthest end of what was conceivably possible.”