PLANS are being drawn up to open the only Muslim schools on the south coast in Southampton, the Daily Echo can reveal.

A private primary school is being set up in the city to offer an Islamic education to children, aged five to 11, for around £30 a week. And there are more ambitious plans to open an Islamic secondary school in the city next year.

Anas Al-Korj, a director of the company behind the proposals, said other comparable cities had already established similar schools.

“The idea has been in the minds of parents for the past 15 years,” he said.

“It will be a community initiative, run by the community, for the good of the community.”

Mr Al-Korj, 38, a leading figure in the Muslim Council of Southampton, said a recent report for Southampton City Council, which looked at ways to tackle extremism, found an Islamic school was “one of the top needs for the Muslim community”.

But Mr Al-Korj cautioned much planning still had to be done to work out the detail of curriculum, policies and procedures of the fledgling school, and to recruit staff.

“It’s still very much in the early stages,” he said.

The Cultural Centre on the corner of Northumberland Road and St Alban’s Road in St Mary’s is one of four sites earmarked for the school, called Fitra SIPS (Southampton Islamic Primary School).

If it is given the all clear by education watchdog Ofsted it could open as early as the new academic year in September, however planning permission may be required.

A promotional website predicted “very heavy demand” for its 63 spaces, which will be offered on a “first come first service” basis.

It says the school will be based on the belief that “Islamic education has to be combined with academic education, for the child to be truly successful.”

The prospectus suggests the school will deploy “scientifically-approved” and “theological-endorsed” techniques to repair the damage done to the pupils Fitra, or “innate human nature”.

Pupils will be taught to understand and speak Arabic and curriculum will be based on mainstream Sunni Islam, the largest of the two schools of the religion originating from a historic row over who should succeed the prophet Mohammed.

The school will cover “most of the topics” on the national curriculum, however some unspecified areas of concern, will be adapted or replaced with Islamic alternatives, or ditched.

Attend prayers The school will end at noon on Fridays so that children can attended prayers at one of the six local mosques.

However the fees, around £1,700 a year per pupil, and minimum wage salaries being offered to teachers and assistants, will leave school governors reliant on donations and unpaid volunteers to cover a shortfall in income of up to £1m.

It is appealing to the city’s Muslim community to “adopt” one of six qualified teachers being recruited, through sponsorship.

Census figures for 2001 show 1.9 per cent of Southampton’s population identify their religion as Muslim, rising to as high as 11.8 per cent in the city centre Bevois ward.

The Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) confirmed an application had been made to register the independent Muslim primary school.

A Southampton City Council spokesperson: “We have received notification of a proposal for an independent school serving primary age children. We have asked for more information from the local community but any decision regarding the establishment of independent schools rests with central government.”

There are 11 state Muslim schools and 118 on the DCSF’s register of independent schools, just under half of which for primary school age. None are south of Greater London.