How Muslim home school family has found joy and healing in art project

His wife, Kashmir Fatima, however, longed to nurture and direct the education of their son Yahya, 11, and two daughters, Rahmah, eight, and Hanna, six. “I would say our children were middle-of-the-road at school and they were often overlooked,” she explains. “That’s not the school’s fault but the teachers had other children who needed more support.”

And so, a few months before the Covid-19 pandemic forced the nation to homeschool, Kashmir convinced Abdul to take their eldest two out of primary school. Rahmah had just started in Reception, while Yahya was in year two. Lockdowns showed Abdul, a University of Bradford graduate, that home education wasn’t only possible, but convinced him that it was the best move for their family. He says: “I saw the progression. Rahmah wasn’t getting on with phonics at school, but by the end of lockdown, she was reading. I could see a big improvement with Yahya too.”

The family is involved in a new art project with the University of Bradford's Theatre in the Mill in collaboration with creative organisation, Amal, called Cloudsongs. It is an expression of Muslim spirituality through light and sound, co-created with seven Muslim home education families as well as students from the University, and funded by THE LEAP, Arts Council England and Bradford Council.

The free installation will be open to the public on the university's grassy amphitheatre as part of next month’s BD is Lit Festival of sound and light installations around the city. Abdul and Kashmir’s children are enjoying being part of the project, but for Abdul, it has given him something he never expected. He explains: “Kashmir and I lost a baby just as the project was beginning. We thought we might have to drop out but Kashmir wanted us to be involved, so I took it on with the children. It gave me a purpose in my grief. It was healing.”

Shabina Aslam, artistic director of Theatre in the Mill, says Cloudsongs “will be a very powerful installation which expresses Muslim spirituality”. “We hope it will lead to more creative encounters between our students, academics, artists and neighbouring communities, so that there is as much art for as many people as possible,” Shabina says.

Home educators have also been involved in another art project at the university. Four families each transformed an old-fashioned school desk into a work of art to illustrate their ancestors’ experiences. One is designed like a 1970s Pakistan bus, with working headlights. Inside, a time-travelling film tells the history of education.

Shabina created a scene showing her grandmother’s hut-style shop in Kenya, with a written description in Urdu and accompanied by sounds from her mother’s funeral earlier this year. She says: “The desks are on display in the university in a 1970s school set. It’s an extension of our interactive exhibition, Bussing Out, which looks at the policy of dispersing non-white children to suburban schools in the 1960s and 1970s. The desk project, Musaafir, was about doing creative engagement around community heritage.”

In the Autumn 2022 school census, the Department for Education collected information from local authorities about registered home educated pupils for the first time. As of January this year, there were an estimated 86,200 pupils being educated from home in England.

“There are many benefits,” says Kashmir, 35, who left her job as a mortgage adviser to home school. “You can have a much more varied curriculum than school. "We can use different methods too, for example with Rahma’s reading, as she wasn’t getting on with the phonics-style learning they do in school, I bought a book called ‘Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons’ and that worked for her. We can also start preparing for GCSEs as early as we feel ready and we don’t have to take them all at once.”

There are, admittedly, some downsides too. Like the expense, the 35-year-old says. “We do two Kumon lessons a week with Yahya, which is a maths and reading programme and that costs £100 a month. Then we did a woodwork course, that was £80 for 10 weeks, which might not sound like a lot but if you’re doing it for more than one child, plus all the other activities, it soon mounts up. I want our children to do their GCSEs and those exams are very expensive, especially on one income.

“I’m grateful that Abdul can work from home half the week as that provides extra support and gives me a break when I need one, because it can be quite intense always being together.”

She and Abdul agree the pros far outweigh any cons. They believe home education eliminates peer pressure and bullying, and they have even found their children are less dependent on screens than other kids they know. “When Yahya has spare time, he reaches for a book,” says Abdul. “He has asked for a games console and we said no and because he’s not at school, there isn’t as much peer pressure to be like everyone else. "He does go to Mosque so he is around children of his own age, but it’s not the same as being around them constantly. He’s not coming home pestering us to buy Prime drinks or go on TikTok.”

BD is Lit Festival takes place on November 3 and 4.