You will laugh and may cry watching these charming youngsters prepare for their bar and batmitzvahs – but with antisemitism on the rise, this film feels bizarrely flimsy

In itself, the hour-long documentary Growing Up Jewish is … fine. Gentle and uplifting, it follows three British girls and a boy as they prepare for their bat and barmitzvahs, the Jewish rite of passage that will mark their transition at 13 into adulthood. Dylan, whose parents were raised Orthodox but attend a Reform synagogue, is thoughtful and increasingly nervous as the day approaches. “I wouldn’t describe myself as a confident person,” he says, eyes wide in his tiny, beautiful face. As with all bar and batmitzvahs, the story of the flight of the Israelites from Egypt will be central. But he worries about the deaths of the Egyptians as the sea Moses parted closes over and drowns them. He doesn’t think this should be celebrated. His rabbi, Miriam, talks him through other texts and commentaries on the story that give it depth and context, and suggest it is an illustration of God’s acknowledgment of human imperfection and the need to strive for better. He incorporates all this into his speech and if there is a dry eye in the house, I’d be surprised. There wasn’t in mine.

Talia has a more robust approach. Her batmitzvah is about becoming a woman (“Finding love! Doing things on your own!”), then having a party. A party that must go with a swing after the traditional service her Orthodox family want. She practises her entrance (to Europe’s The Final Countdown). Lovely, says the Jewish DJ, who has obviously had much experience in these matters. “But let’s remember this is about everyone who’s been part of your life for the last 13 years.” Talia takes the point without letting it lessen her ebullience one iota. It is impossible not to want more of her. “My parents think I’m funny,” she says, puzzled. “When I haven’t a clue what I’ve said.” If she doesn’t make you laugh at least three times in the hour, I would advise you to see a doctor.

Some say more schools may ban organised prayer after court ruling but others say judgment was based on unique circumstances

The ruling on a prayer ban at a top London school has created a “classic English policy muddle” that has divided school leaders over its implications, with some experts predicting that more schools could ban organised prayers as a result.

The warning came after a high court judge upheld the ban at Michaela community school in Brent, north-west London, dismissing a challenge by a Muslim pupil who claimed it was discriminatory and breached her right to religious freedom.

We would like to hear from Muslims in the UK about theirs or their children’s experiences of prayer at school

A Muslim pupil has lost their high court appeal against Michaela community school in Brent, north-west London, over its ban on prayer rituals . The pupil had claimed the ban was discriminatory and breached her right to religious freedom.

We would like to hear from Muslims in the UK about their experiences of prayer when they were at school. We’re particularly interested in hearing from Muslims aged 18 or over who were able to pray at school in the UK and parents who are comfortable with sharing their children’s experiences.

The campaign that came to prominence when 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their classes in 2014 has had an impact beyond its first rallying cries

It was a kidnapping that changed Nigeria’s image internationally. For many, the first inkling of what was going on in the country’s north-east was after April 2014, when 276 girls were snatched from a school in Chibok by the Islamist militia group Boko Haram. It came from social media postings from the then US first lady, Michelle Obama, from the actor Angelina Jolie and Pope Francis, holding up #BringBackOurGirls signs . That became the name of a movement, and a rallying cry for the girls’ release. Ten years on, the girls are not all back home. But some things have been achieved.

The Nigerian government, under President Goodluck Jonathan, saw the new movement as opposition. The actual opposition, the All Progressives Congress (APC) party, was smart enough to ally itself with #BBOG, quickly embracing the message. It was partly due to the movement’s ability to mobilise its increasingly vast online following to vote for the APC’s candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, that Jonathan lost the 2015 election – the first time in Nigeria’s postcolonial history that an incumbent had lost a re-election bid.

Kids pausing their football so a friend can pray; theology chats over lunch – I’ve seen the richness that religious diversity brings to school life

A Muslim student at Michaela community school in Brent, north-west London, has lost a high court challenge to the school’s ban on prayer rituals. As a Muslim secondary schoolteacher, I have to say I am disappointed – but not surprised.

The appeal was lost on the grounds that the school declares itself secular. This is something the headteacher, Katharine Birbalsingh, insists all students and parents know when applying. In the written judgment dismissing the student’s case, Mr Justice Linden went as far as to say that: “The claimant at the very least impliedly accepted, when she enrolled at the school, that she would be subject to restrictions on her ability to manifest her religion.”

Nadeine Asbali is a secondary school teacher in London and the author of Veiled Threat: On Being Visibly Muslim in Britain

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Featuring stars including Riz Ahmed and Nabhaan Rizwan, the event aims to celebrate the ‘rich tapestry of Muslim experiences via the medium of film’

The UK’s first major film festival dedicated to Muslim cinema announced its inaugural lineup on Tuesday, with a slew of award-winning films featuring the likes of Riz Ahmed and Informer’s Nabhaan Rizwan .

Ahmed, winner of an Oscar for best live action short film, will appear in Dammi, a short film directed by Yann Demange, the French film-maker best known for Top Boy and Northern Ireland-set drama ’71. Ahmed co-stars with Isabelle Adjani in a story about a man confronting his French and Algerian heritage on a trip to Paris. Rizwan plays the lead in In Camera, a British feature directed by Naqqash Khalid that screened at the London film festival, as an actor struggling to make a career in the film industry in the face of repeated rejections.

Michaela community school, run by former government social mobility tsar Katharine Birbalsingh, introduced ban last March

A ban on prayer rituals at one of the highest-performing state schools in England, famous for its strict discipline code and high-profile headteacher, was not unlawful, a high court judge has ruled.

The case against Michaela community school in Brent, north-west London, was brought by a Muslim pupil, known only as TTT in court proceedings, who claimed the ban was discriminatory and breached her right to religious freedom.

Mary Dispenza spent years as a nun and working in the church before her buried memories rose to the surface. It was the start of her long journey towards justice and peace

Mary Dispenza was almost 50 when she experienced her first flashback. At the time, she was in a workshop entitled Sexual Misconduct on the Part of the Clergy, which she had been asked to attend as part of her job in pastoral support for the Roman Catholic archdiocese in Seattle. To this day, she isn’t sure what words unleashed that memory.

She recalls only how clammy her hands became and how the room suddenly started spinning as she saw her seven-year-old self being lifted on to the lap of a priest in a dark, empty auditorium. She knew in an instant who he was.

NSW premier Chris Minns said a ‘major and serious criminal investigation’ was underway after the incident at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, which Anthony Albanese describes as ‘extremely concerning’

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New South Wales police are treating the alleged stabbing of a bishop during the live stream of a mass in western Sydney as a terrorist attack.

The premier, Chris Minns, said the decision was taken early on Tuesday morning and validated by the police minister.

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