A UK court on Tuesday declared a ban on Muslim prayer at a school in London to be lawful.

Michaela community school in Brent, founded by conservative campaigner and former government social mobility tsar Katharine Birbalsingh, introduced the ban last year.

A challenge was brought by a Muslim pupil who argued that the ban was discriminatory and also challenged a decision to exclude her from the school temporarily.

In the judgment handed down on Tuesday, Mr Justice Linden dismissed the arguments from the pupil, only identified as TTT in court proceedings, against the prayer ban on all key grounds but upheld her challenge over the exclusion.

TTT said in a statement after the ruling that she was “very disappointed” in the decision.

She described the prayer ban as “the kind of discrimination which makes religious minorities feel alienated from society”.

“As is set out in the judgment, I do not agree that it would be too hard for the school to accommodate pupils who wished to pray in the lunch break,” she said.

“The school is very well run and generally very good at managing everything. The school doesn’t wish to allow pupils to pray, has chosen a different path and the judge has found in their favour.”

Lawyers for the school said the ban was initially brought in after they faced death threats over the sight of Muslim pupils praying in the schoolyard.

Birbalsingh, who has gained a reputation for strictness and regularly appears as a commentators on British TV, has defended her school as maintaining “a successful learning environment where children of all races and religion can thrive.

“A school should be free to do what is right for the pupils it serves. Schools should not be forced by one child and her mother to change its approach simply because they have decided they don’t like something,” she said in a statement after the ruling.