{"id":7572,"date":"2015-07-01T12:55:11","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T12:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2015\/07\/01\/us-diplomat-visits-park-view\/"},"modified":"2015-07-01T12:55:11","modified_gmt":"2015-07-01T12:55:11","slug":"us-diplomat-visits-park-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2015\/07\/01\/us-diplomat-visits-park-view\/","title":{"rendered":"US Diplomat Visits Park View"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Improve Muslim Community Relations <\/h3>\n

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A senior aid to US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has visited a Birmingham school which had been at the centre of the Trojan Horse scandal. <\/div>\n

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Shaarik Zafar, John Kerry\u2019s special representative to Muslim communities was welcomed by staff and students at Park View. The school was put into special measures after being accused of having hardline Muslims taking over governing bodies. The school will be changing its name to Rockwood Academy in the new term. <\/div>\n

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After being treated to a performance of Snow Patrol\u2019s Chasing Cars and a school original called \u2018Together\u2019 and joining in a debate about the role of British Muslims in society, Mr Zafar said he was \u2018thrilled \u2018 to be meeting students. <\/div>\n

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\u201cMuslims are a part of Britain \u2013 this is a very British school and I\u2019m honoured to be here,\u201d he added. \u201cDialogue between communities of all faith is essential \u2013 the more we break down barriers and stereotypes the better.<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe students here are clearly very proud Brits \u2013 that comes across very strongly.<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s great to meet the future British leaders that will work with our American leaders.<\/div>\n

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\u201cI wish that I had been as confident and well-spoken at their age.<\/div>\n

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\u201cFor all young people of any faith there are challenges and there are opportunities.<\/div>\n

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\u201cPark View is a unique place and the children here have a terrific opportunity to get a first class education, and I look forward to hearing more about the work that this school is doing in the future\u201d.<\/div>\n

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One pupil, who did not wish to be named, said: \u201cSome people judge us because of our headscarves but in our eyes we\u2019re British.<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe young children joining our school need to know that they have the same opportunities as everybody else and they shouldn\u2019t let anybody put them down.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Waheed Saleem, chairman of the board of irectors at CORE Education Trust, said the school was on the right path. \u201cThe turnaround isn\u2019t going to happen overnight,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you are changing the culture or significant issues of any organisation it isn\u2019t going to happen in six months. It\u2019s a journey we have to go through but we are on the right path.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Improve Muslim Community Relations A senior aid to US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has visited a Birmingham school which had been at the centre of the Trojan Horse scandal. \u00a0 Shaarik Zafar, John Kerry\u2019s special representative to Muslim communities was welcomed by staff and students at Park View. The school was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7572","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=7572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}