The Manchester Islamic Grammar School for Girls is marking its 35th year in operation with a new status as the first secondary school in Manchester to achieve the gold level of the UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schools Award.
Staff and students were busy preparing for an open evening, with briefings under way and volunteers standing in the winter rain waiting to greet parents and future pupils.
From a House on Wilmslow Road to Didsbury
The school began in a house on Wilmslow Road with just six students in 1991. Acting headteacher Jamila Kossar MBE, a former student who returned as maternity cover before being asked to take the leading role, said she could not believe what the school had become.
"This wasn't the plan; it wasn't even the plan to come and work here!" she said. "It was the plan to be a teacher, but there was always a pull to come back here because I had such a good experience here. It was more than the education; it was more the relationship that I had with my teachers at the time. It was a small family community."
Art teacher Barbara Hackwart has been at the school for 31 of those 35 years and watched it move from Wilmslow Road to Chorlton and now Didsbury. She said the school's ethos resonated with her own Catholic beliefs.
"A lot of people think I'm Muslim because of where I work," she explained. "Also because of the characteristics of what a Muslim should be. There are similarities, you know. Being brought up with respect, manners, and all that. That's the way my parents brought me up, so this is like home. I often say, inshallah, mashallah and I say it to my friends. I've been brought up Catholic and a lot of what they teach is brought up in Catholic, a lot of what they teach is nothing new to me. They've never pressurised me; they've never said anything. It's just a gut feeling. I'll miss this place when I'll retire because I've been here most of my adult life."
Staff Reflect on a Lifetime of Teaching
Arabic and Quran teacher Nadiya Malek, who joined the school in the late 90s, said: "I found myself here. When you're my age now, 65-years-old, you need to give more and more. When you see the generation grow in front of you, it makes you proud of yourself for what you've done for your religion and your society. They're great British Muslims."
Fatom Barbash, head of Arabic, joined the school over three decades ago when it moved to High Lane in Didsbury. "This school has done so much for me," she said. "I don't think I'd learn as much I have here if I was still in Libya. Islamically, I've learnt a lot. That's why I just couldn't leave this school, I'm very attached."
Recognition and Community Impact
Alumni from the school have gone on to become professionals in fields including policing, journalism, medicine, and dentistry. In its last Ofsted report, the school received an outstanding rating across all categories, and it recently met all the required standards for its Independent Schools Inspectorate.
Places at the school are highly sought after, with students travelling from as far as Merseyside to study there. Lessons follow the standard secondary curriculum, with Urdu, Arabic, and Quran classes added. Course content also includes studies of other cultures and history, such as the Mexican Day of the Dead, the slave trade, and the role of the church in societies.
Headteacher Jamila said the school tries to ensure its students are equipped with the temperament and knowledge to operate in wider society. Reflecting on rising hostility towards British Muslims, which has forced the school to turn off comments on almost all its social media posts, she recalled: "I was in year 11 when 9/11 happened. I remember undercover police were following the school bus in case anything happened. We didn't have social media, so we weren't aware as much as they are aware now. When the Manchester Arena attack happened, the girls were really nervous about going on the tram or going on the bus because of the comments we always get. So, I said to the girls, 'you either stay in school and hide, or turn it into a positive thing'. So, we made them write messages of kindness and stuck them on roses. We took them to Chorlton precinct, and they wrote them out."
She added: "Even though we've been here for 35 years, there's still a lot of people who don't know we exist. To be the first secondary school to get the UNICEF award was three years' worth of work in the society, in the community. Fighting for everybody's rights, not just our rights."
