A primary school teacher who told a Muslim pupil that 'Britain is still a Christian state' was dismissed and reported to safeguarding authorities after the comment was deemed hurtful to Islam, triggering a police investigation into an alleged hate crime. The incident occurred after the teacher reprimanded boys for washing their feet in school sinks — an action linked to prayer preparation. He reportedly explained that the King is head of the Church of England and that Islam is a minority religion in the UK. Though the police later dropped the case, the school dismissed him, and a safeguarding officer recommended he be barred from working with children. The teacher successfully appealed the ban and is now suing the local authority with the support of the Free Speech Union (FSU). Lawyers argue that prayer had been informally banned on the playground and that expectations around behaviour had been unclear. Lord Toby Young of the FSU said it was alarming that stating an 'incontestably true' fact could lead to such consequences, warning of growing threats to free speech within education.