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A London primary school banned children from watching the eclipse today for “religious and cultural reasons.”

Pupils at North Primary School in Southall were stopped from watching the eclipse directly and had to observe it on screens instead.

Pupils had made their own pinhole cameras as homework and took them into school today, only to be told they were not allowed to use them to watch the eclipse.

Phil Belman, whose seven year old daughter goes to the school, said: “I am extremely upset about it. My child went in having spent an hour preparing and making up her pinhole camera. This is an issue about scientific matters versus religious superstition.

Eclipse - in pictures 13 show all Eclipse - in pictures 1/13 Eclipse 2015 A bird sits on a branch in front of a partial solar eclipse near Bridgwater, in south west England (Picture: Toby Melville/Reuters) 2/13 Eclipse 2015 The sun glows red over the Isle of Lewis (Picture: Sky) 3/13 Eclipse 2015 The partial eclipse captured in Derby (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn) 4/13 Eclipse 2015 Nicola Lamb, 22, struggles to see the eclipse with the low cloud at Greenwich Park Observatory (Picture: Alex Lentati) 5/13 Eclipse 2015 People watch as a solar eclipse begins over the Eden Project near St Austell in Cornwall (Picture: AP) 6/13 Eclipse 2015 The sun begins to disappear (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn) 7/13 Eclipse 2015 Stargazers were treated to a clear view of the spectacle in Derby (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn) 8/13 Eclipse 2015 Royal Astronomical Society members Sherell Simon (left) and Sheila Kanami (right) attend an eclipse viewing event in Regent's Park equipped with a cereal box pinhole viewer and colanders to project the eclipse onto the ground (Picture: Lucy Young) 9/13 Eclipse 2015 Girls use a makeshift pinhole viewer at the Solar Eclipse viewing event in Regent's Park (Picture: Lucy Young) 10/13 Eclipse 2015 Lemurs looking at the eclipse over Chester Zoo (Picture: PA) 11/13 Eclipse 2015 Only a slice of the sun is left (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn) 12/13 Eclipse 2015 Clouds pass across the sun which is pictured during a partial solar eclipse over the Madeira Islands. (Picture: Getty) 13/13 Eclipse 2015 The total solar eclipse seen from Svalbard, Norway. (Picture: AP) 1/13 Eclipse 2015 A bird sits on a branch in front of a partial solar eclipse near Bridgwater, in south west England (Picture: Toby Melville/Reuters) 2/13 Eclipse 2015 The sun glows red over the Isle of Lewis (Picture: Sky) 3/13 Eclipse 2015 The partial eclipse captured in Derby (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn) 4/13 Eclipse 2015 Nicola Lamb, 22, struggles to see the eclipse with the low cloud at Greenwich Park Observatory (Picture: Alex Lentati) 5/13 Eclipse 2015 People watch as a solar eclipse begins over the Eden Project near St Austell in Cornwall (Picture: AP) 6/13 Eclipse 2015 The sun begins to disappear (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn) 7/13 Eclipse 2015 Stargazers were treated to a clear view of the spectacle in Derby (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn) 8/13 Eclipse 2015 Royal Astronomical Society members Sherell Simon (left) and Sheila Kanami (right) attend an eclipse viewing event in Regent's Park equipped with a cereal box pinhole viewer and colanders to project the eclipse onto the ground (Picture: Lucy Young) 9/13 Eclipse 2015 Girls use a makeshift pinhole viewer at the Solar Eclipse viewing event in Regent's Park (Picture: Lucy Young) 10/13 Eclipse 2015 Lemurs looking at the eclipse over Chester Zoo (Picture: PA) 11/13 Eclipse 2015 Only a slice of the sun is left (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn) 12/13 Eclipse 2015 Clouds pass across the sun which is pictured during a partial solar eclipse over the Madeira Islands. (Picture: Getty) 13/13 Eclipse 2015 The total solar eclipse seen from Svalbard, Norway. (Picture: AP)

“I am outraged - is it going to be Darwin next? We will be like mid America.”

Ivor Johnstone, headteacher of North Primary School, said: “The school made this decision when we became aware of religious and cultural concerns associated with observing an eclipse directly.

"Although we are sorry for any disappointment, pupils were still able to watch the eclipse on screens in classrooms. However, the overcast conditions in West London today meant they would not have been able to see it live in any case.”

He refused to say which religions and cultures have concerns about observing eclipses directly.

Mr Belman added: “It is a very diverse school with kids from a lot of backgrounds including our own. They take a balanced approach as a whole, so this is completely out of the blue.”

He added that he does not know of any religions or cultures which ban people from watching eclipses.

But added: “I think in a reasonable society if there is a case, however obscure, it would just apply to the parents included who would elect to have their kids removed from that part of the day - as with anything else. But it wasn’t an option. This was very last minute and a knee jerk reaction.”

North Primary school is a non-religious school run by Ealing council, described as “thriving, successful, and multicultural” on its website.