A SCHOOL in Birmingham has defended teaching its students about homosexuality, after parents signed a petition asking for the programme to be dropped.
Andrew Moffat MBE, assistant headteacher at the Saltley primary school, said most parent feedback had been positive and that concerns were raised only by a "very small minority".
Some 400 parents, predominantly Muslims, had signed a petition protesting against the No Outsiders In Our School programme, which promotes LGBT equality and challenge homophobia at school.
Fatima Shah, a parent, had pulled her ten-year-old daughter out of the school, calling the LGBT equality programme “inappropriate” and “totally wrong.”
Although her daughter has returned to the school, Shah said she would continue her fight against the programme.
Shah told The Guardian: “Children are being told it’s OK to be gay, yet 98 per cent of children at this school are Muslim. It’s a Muslim community. He said all parents are on board with it, but the reality is no parents are on board with it.”
Shah said the local community’s concerns weren’t taken on board. “We have nothing against Mr Moffat – we are as British as they come. We respect the British values… but the problem is, he is not respecting our ethos as a community. We don’t send our children to school to learn about LGBT. We send them to school to learn maths, science and English.”
The programme promotes LGBT equality and challenges homophobia in primary schools.
Books read by students include Mommy, Mama and Me and King & King, which are stories about same-sex relationships and marriages.
Moffat, who is openly gay, defended his decision to promote LGBT equality, saying he was just teaching children from an early age that there are different families.
Curator Emma Slocombe with ikat robes and arabachi coats in the Peter the Great Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
View of the entrance to Blickling Hall on a rainy autumn dayAmit Roy 
Kente cloth from Ghana in the Long Gallery in Blickling Hall 
Decoration in the Great Hall at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Palampore fragment made in coastal south-east India in the Brown Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Bed valance dating from early 1700s in the Italian Print Room at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Indian inspired fabric draped on sofas in the South Drawing Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Indian inspired fabric draped on sofas in the South Drawing Room with Indian carpet in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Karun Thakar has picked out the geometric patterns in the bookcase and the Kente cloth in the Long Gallery in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Large tapestry depicting Peter the Great defeating the Swedish army at the Battle of Poltava in 1709 Amit Roy 
ikat robes and arabachi coats in the Peter the Great Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Baghs and kanthas made by women provide contrast to the men only portraits in the Great Hall at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Baghs and kanthas in the entrance Great Hall at Blickling Hall Amit Roy
Baghs and Kanthas in the Great Hall in harmony with stained glass window at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Kimonos reflect Japanese influence in Upper Ante Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Kimono in Upper Ante Room in Blickling Hall 
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Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
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Unfinished 17th century Italian embroidery in the Print Room at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Picture of Kashmir shows a romantic view of India Amit Roy 
A panel of Ashburnham bed hangings made in Gujarat for sale in Europe in the Brown Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Colcha made in the 1600s by women in Bengal for the Portuguese market in the Long Gallery at Blickling Hall Amit Roy
