{"id":27371,"date":"2018-10-01T16:29:36","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T15:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/?p=27371"},"modified":"2018-10-01T16:29:36","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T15:29:36","slug":"leicester-to-create-first-sikh-faith-secondary-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/01\/leicester-to-create-first-sikh-faith-secondary-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Leicester to create First Sikh Faith Secondary School"},"content":{"rendered":"

A proposal to build a new secondary school is being put to the Department of Education by the academy trust behind\u00a0Falcons Primary School. An application is being made under the\u00a0government\u2019s Free Schools programme.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If successful, the new Falcons Academy which opened just under four years ago would become Leicester\u2019s first Sikh faith secondary school.<\/p>\n

Jasbir Mann, headteacher of Falcons Primary School said the idea is being endorsed and supported by parents, members of Akaal Education Trust, local Gurdwaras,\u00a0councillors and MPs.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cParents have been incredibly supportive of our school and are now keen to see a\u00a0Sikh faith\u00a0secondary school in Leicester.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we opened in October, 2014, we had just 34 children but now have more than 340 pupils and a full capacity of 420 pupils from across Leicester and Leicestershire.<\/p>\n

\u201cSetting up a secondary Sikh faith school has always been our aspiration but we wanted to establish ourselves first and build on the success of our primary school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chair of Governors, Gurinder Singh Josan said: \u201cGovernors considered a number of options, including partnering with other schools or trusts but decided unanimously to apply to open our own secondary school following in the steps of our successful primary school.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe time is now right to build on the success of Falcons Primary with a Sikh faith 11-16 Academy in Leicester.<\/p>\n

According to the 2011 census there are almost 15,000 Sikhs living in Leicester and a further 8,000 across the county.<\/p>\n

Mrs Mann said: \u201cOur secondary school would continues the strong tradition of faith schools in Leicester and will be the first Sikh faith secondary school alongside existing Christian, Muslim and Hindu faith secondary schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cFalcons Primary attracts families of other faiths and no faith due to its inclusive values of unity, equality and respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wish to replicate this in Falcons Academy and will welcome children of other faiths and no faith, with a particular focus on supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leicester East MP Keith Vaz supports the idea of a new Sikh secondary school for Leicester.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIn my numerous visits to Falcons Primary School, it has become very clear that there is a strong demand from families for a Sikh faith secondary school.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the many assets of Falcons Primary School is that it attracts families of other faiths and this inclusivity is important for the multi-faith community of Leicester.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy City Mayor, Councillor Piara Singh Clair, is also backing the project.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe primary school has been a huge success and I\u2019m sure the secondary school will be the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeicester is such a diverse city and I support the aspirations of the Sikh community to have a faith school for 11 to 16-year-olds, which will be one that also welcomes and embraces children from other faiths.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will do all I can to help them achieve this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A proposal to build a new secondary school is being put to the Department of Education by the academy trust behind\u00a0Falcons Primary School. An application is being made under the\u00a0government\u2019s Free Schools programme. If successful, the new Falcons Academy which opened just under four years ago would become Leicester\u2019s first Sikh faith secondary school. Jasbir […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,3,112],"tags":[1552,1553,1551,1174,1550],"class_list":["post-27371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-news","category-top-stories","tag-akaal-education-trust","tag-councillor-piara-singh-clair","tag-falcons-primary-school","tag-leicester","tag-sikh-faith-secondary-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}