Guidelines for school were published by The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) in 2007. These have now been published nationally and are being considered by the National Association of Head teachers as well as local authorities.

After discussions with many Muslim parents and teachers, we made a request to Luton Borough Council to consider some national guidelines in relation to the needs of Muslim pupils.

We were invited to take part in a consultative party to consider the issue with head teachers and other representatives and as a result the education department agreed to a proposal we made for the preparation of succinct and practical guidelines tailored specifically to Luton.

The first draft of these guidelines is to be prepared this term and we hope that they will provide a clear and consistent set of parameters for teachers and parents to refer to in order to try and minimise the misunderstandings and inconsistencies of the past.

Our long term vision is that every school should be provided with a schools pack containing the guidelines, information about useful educational Islamic organisations, useful websites and organisations where they can get resources about meeting the needs of Muslim children. We have already had positive feedback from two Luton schools where we introduced a rudimentary schools pack. We feel that if these packs are developed by Muslim teachers they will provide an invaluable resource to teachers.