The man behind the bid to run north Swindon’s newest primary school as an Islamic faith school has hit back at his critics. Shahid Sahu said his detractors had not taken the time to look at the proposal and denied claims that the school would be single faith. He also revealed his plans for the future of the school, which he hoped could eventually cater for children of all ages, it was reported Mr Sahu, chairman of the Al Habib Islamic Education and Culture Centre, challenged Swindon Council’s bid to run the school based in Oakhurst. Councillors have expressed concerns that local children would be overlooked if the school was run as an Islamic faith school. But Mr Sahu said that the school would only reserve 50 per cent of the available 420 places for Muslim students. The remaining 50 per cent would be open to any pupil. The funding for the school building has already been secured and any future building work would be 90 per cent funded by the Government, leaving the Al-Habib group to find the extra 10 per cent.
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