AN ISLAMIC school is under fire after claims it used textbooks which called Jews "apes" and Christians "pigs".

The Saudi-funded King Fahd Academy, in Bromyard Avenue East, Acton, has vigorously denied teaching any form or racial intolerance, saying the passages had been "misinterpreted".

But headteacher Dr Sumaya Alyusuf said the offending chapters from the books, which were kept at the school, had been removed "in the public interest".

She said: "I would like to make it clear that the controversial passages within these books are not taught within the academy.

"The press interest in these unused chapters, which have been misinterpreted by the British media, has shocked us and mis-characterised facts.

"However, in view of this public interest I decided to remove these chapters from the books."

Details of the books emerged after a former teacher, Colin Cook, accused the school of institutionalised racism.

He claims he lost his job after blowing the whistle on the school which he says covered up cheating by pupils sitting GCSE exams.

He also claimed he was discriminated against for being a "non-Saudi".

Mr Cook, who taught English at the school for 19 years, is seeking £100,000 compensation at Watford Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal.

At a press conference at the school this morning, Dr Alyusuf refused to discuss the case, but the school has maintained Mr Cook was rightly dismissed for misconduct.

More than 600 people attend the fundamentalist independent school, which was originally built for the offspring of Saudi diplomats, and which devotes half its teaching time to religious lessons.

And it receives millions of pounds in funding from the Saudi royal family, after which it takes its name.

The school is segregated with boys and girls being taught separately, after the Saudi Government ordered British-style lessons to be phased out five years ago.

And in 2004 concerns surfaced after parents criticised the school for treating girls as "inferiors".

However Dr Alyusuf, who has been headteacher at the academy for six months, said the content of lessons was now changing.

"The school is currently moving towards an international curriculum and new books are being developed to teach that curriculum," she said.