A primary school teacher was reportedly banned from working with children after telling a Muslim student that “Britain is still a Christian state.”

Police were called to investigate an alleged hate crime after the teacher reprimanded students for washing their feet in the sinks of the boys’ toilets, according to The Telegraph.

The teacher, who did not want to be named, reportedly pointed out that the King is the head of the Church of England and that Islam is a minority religion in the UK.

The school dismissed the teacher in February after suspending him in March 2024. He was informed by police that he had been referred to the safeguarding board and the Metropolitan Police. The police investigation was later dropped.

Lawyers representing the teacher in a legal claim argued that prayers had been informally banned in the playground—which would extend to washing feet in the sinks—as a prayer room had been provided. The school was not a faith school.

A safeguarding officer concluded that the teacher had made hurtful comments about Islam and should be prevented from working with children. Three students who complained said the teacher had shouted at them, leaving them upset.

The ban was successfully appealed, and the teacher is now suing the local authority with support from the Free Speech Union (FSU).

Lord Toby Young, FSU director, told The Telegraph: “Things have reached a pretty pass in this country if a teacher can be branded a safeguarding risk because he says something that’s incontestably true. If he’d claimed that Islam is the official religion of England, even though that’s not true, I doubt he would have got into any trouble.”