STUDENTS at Kassim Darwish Grammar School may all share the same religion - but their cultures span the globe.

They celebrated their differences with a special day of events at the independent Islamic school, which occupies Hartley Hall in Chorlton.

The children swapped their uniforms for traditional dress, then taught each other about the language, culture, history and cuisine of the 28 countries their families came from.

"It all started because of one boy's remark that he didn't know much about the other boys' cultures," said teacher Aisha Beevers, who organised the day-long event.

"But even then, we weren't aware that as many as 28 different cultures were represented here.

"To promote an awareness and respect for others' cultures within the umbrella of the Islamic faith, we decided to have this day.

"This is an Islamic school, but we have so many cultures represented here and it's very important for them all to have a voice."


As part of the event, boys - who all dressed in traditional dress - had to work together on a display focussing on each of the 28 countries represented, with artefacts, leaflets and national dishes.

Ashanti McNamee, 13, who took in items to represent his Jamaican heritage, said: "The day was really important because we are representing each of our own countries.

There are so any different cultures - and today is an opportunity to learn about them all."

Sixteen-year-old Abdulah Duale, who dressed in traditional clothes from Somalia, was proud to tell his classmates about his traditions and his country, but also keen to tell them how badly it had been affected by war.

Even headteacher Mona Mohamed was keen to join in, so that youngsters learned that there was more to Egypt - where she lived until she was 28 - than the pyramids.

Kassim Darwish Grammar was set up in 1999 by trustees who were keen that as well as an Islamic preparatory and girls' school, the city should have an Islamic school for boys.

This year, boys at the school took GCSEs for the first time. Ninety-five per cent of youngsters achieved five or more A*-C grade GCSEs.