Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 30 November 2009.
Gordon Prentice
Labour, Pendle
2:30,
30 November 2009
How many Muslim girls boarding schools there are with more than 4,000 pupils in England.
Diana R. Johnson
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Children, Schools and Families) (Schools)
To date, there are no Muslim girls boarding schools with more than 4,000 pupils established in England.
Gordon Prentice
Labour, Pendle
My friend will know that there is a proposal on the drawing board for a huge 5,000-place independent boarding school for Muslim girls in my Pendle Constituency. Does she believe, as I do, that the existence of very large, single-faith, single-gender schools can work against community cohesion, and that we should tread very carefully indeed?
Diana R. Johnson
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Children, Schools and Families) (Schools)
My hon. Friend may be interested to know that the largest independent boys' boarding school at present is Eton, with 1,311 pupils, and the largest girls' boarding school is Cheltenham Ladies' College, with 640 pupils. The figure of 5,000 for the number of pupils at a boarding school would, therefore, be unprecedented, and we would obviously have to give very careful consideration to a proposal for a school of that size.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
