A top girls' grammar school which banned pupils from wearing the Muslim "niqab" full-face veil has won the backing of the High Court.
The court upheld the school's stance that the veil could jeopardise communication between teacher and pupil - and might even pose a threat to security by allowing unwelcome visitors to enter the premises "incognito".
Mr Justice Silber also accepted the necessity to enforce a school uniform policy under which girls of different faiths would have a sense of equality and identity within the "ethos" of the school, and the need to avoid peer pressure on other girls to take up wearing the veil.
The judge rejected argument by lawyers for a 12-year-old girl and her parents that the ban was "irrational" and a breach of her human rights. The girl's lawyers said after the judgment that she and her family were "bitterly disappointed" and were considering an appeal.
The judge was told at a recent hearing that the girl's three elder sisters all attended the same school - two of them under the present headteacher - and all wore the niqab. All three did well: one was now in medical research, the second training to be a doctor, and the third was at university.
Lawyers for their younger sister, referred to as X - she is protected by an anonymity order, as is her Buckinghamshire school - argued that the ban thwarted her "legitimate expectation" that she would be allowed to wear the niqab and breached her right to freedom of "thought, conscience and religion" under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The school told X last September, when she started wearing the niqab on reaching puberty, that it was not acceptable because teachers believed it would make communication and learning difficult. The veil covers all of the face except the eyes.
About 120 of the school's 1,300-plus pupils are Muslims, and up to 60 of them wear the hijab headscarf. X is the only pupil demanding the right to wear the full-face veil when being taught by male teachers.
The girl is currently receiving tuition for a few hours a week at home - paid for by the school - and has been offered a place at a different, mixed school which permits the niqab, but she wants to go back to her original school.
Mr Justice Silber urged the parents to reconsider the offer of the alternative school.
