‘Soaked and muddy’: British Muslims tell their stories of prayer at school

Students speak out after a pupil lost her legal challenge against a top London school after it brought in a ban to promote social cohesion

It was in year nine when Hanzla started praying in the playground during lunchtime at his secondary school in Birmingham, despite restrictions from his teachers.

“I’d find anywhere in the playground and get my friends to kind of make a circle around me – those friends were Muslims and non-Muslims – so the teachers would not find out,” he said. “A lot of the time it used to be raining and sometimes even snowing and the weather was cold.”