TV news anchorman Jon Snow could produce a hard-hitting documentary with pupils at Grange Technology College.

Year 10 students at the school in Haycliffe Lane wrote to the Channel 4 broadcaster after watching Mr Snow's controversial documentary called What Muslims Want in which he argued that young British Muslims had become more separatist than their parents.

However, Muslim pupils at Grange begged to differ.

After a quick game of Family Fortunes with Mr Snow to break the ice they told him what they thought about the programme.

Fifteen-year-old Hassan Ahmed said: "Watching it was very interesting but it is not a case of being separatist but of being proud of your religion."

Fellow pupil Ayaz Iqbal, also 15, added: "We think that everyone should be treated the same - no matter how people look or their religion. We are all the same and want to be treated equally."

And Sehrish Ahmed, 15, said: "The reason why Muslims want to live apart is because they don't feel comfortable around people who are racist. They don't like being bullied and picked on."

In response to the original film, pupils created their own interview footage based around their perceptions of life in Bradford. It included comments from West Yorkshire Police representatives and was sent to London for Mr Snow to watch.

Mr Snow said: "Quite a few of the students were quite angry about what I said and they made me a quite brilliant dossier about that.

"I had suggested that young Muslims were more separatist than their parents. But the Bradford students said I had not talked to young people about this - and they were right."

During a seminar with Mr Snow the students talked about issues in the UK as well as Kashmir, Chechnya and the Middle East.

"They were tremendous," added Mr Snow. "I am not in a position to produce documentaries but they are going to produce their own using some of the footage they have already created and we will see what we can do with it.

"It may end up on the television or the website. We are going to look at what the pupils want to do with it.

"It was certainly well worth getting up at five in the morning to get here," added Mr Snow before making a dash for the train station in order to make it back to London to present Channel 4 news.

The Grange pupils now plan to forge friendships with peers from Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College. Both schools are set to visit Nell Bank outdoor adventure centre in Ilkley in the autumn in an event which may form part of the film.

"We really appreciate Mr Snow's encouragement," said Mohammed Miah, 15. "We've learned new skills and got a lot more confident."

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