Former prefects at a Birmingham school linked to the Trojan Horse scandal have denied being used as part of a “morality squad” to stop pupils being in relationships.
The allegations were made by an ex-teacher from the former Park View Academy in Alum Rock.
It was among five schools in Birmingham placed in special measures by Ofsted in April 2014 following the emergence of the so-called Trojan Horse plot.
The alleged plot involved conspirators working together to oust headteachers, take over governing bodies and Islamise non-faith schools.
Lindsey Clark, Hardeep Saini, Monzoor Hussain, Razwan Faraz and Arshad Hussain are five former senior leaders from Park View Educational Trust, which previously ran the school.
They are all currently facing disciplinary hearings.
The government-run National College for Teaching & Leadership’s key witness made a number of serious claims about Park View while giving evidence during the proceedings.
But former pupils at the school have now given evidence contradicting the claims made by the anonymous teacher, known only as Witness A.
One pupil, who left the school last year, said: “I have read about the ‘morality squad’ idea.
“That is ridiculous.
“There were lots of couples in my year.
“No one ever suggested or told me I should report them to anyone.”
The 17-year-old said executive headteacher Ms Clark “used to tell children off for holding hands in the corridors”.
She added: “We were aware of the school rule about no physical contact.
“My understanding was this was part of the need for us to be smart and behave properly in our school.”
The witness, referred to as Pupil E, confirmed allegations that children were punished by being forced to stare at bushes.
“We would stand in front of the bushes outside, I probably did it once while I was at the school,” she said.
The pupil, a Sunni Muslim, rebutted claims girls were encouraged to wear headscarves at the non-faith school - revealing she never wore one herself.
Meanwhile, Aisha Iqbal, a personal assistant at the school, also dismissed claims the children were banned from being in relationships.
In her witness statement, she said: “The boys and girls in the school interacted all the time and did form couples.
“In fact, I remember there was a pregnancy in school not long after I started and the girl’s mother came in regularly for support.”
Others criticised Witness A, with maths teacher Kash Lal claiming she revelled in the senior leaders’ teaching careers suffering as a consequence of the Trojan Horse allegations.
The Witness, a Hindu, added in his witness statement: “I mentioned that a lot of good senior teachers had suffered badly.
“Witness A replied that they deserved everything they got and that she had been stopped from promotion ‘by those brown faces at the top’.
“I was shocked that she’d say such a thing to another ‘brown face’ and changed the subject.”
And he revealed the impact Trojan Horse has had on the school.
“The allegations caused huge and unnecessary damage to the school,” he said. “Many teachers left and the thing I noticed most was that the behaviour amongst the pupils deteriorated very quickly.
“Over the last year the new senior leadership team became much harder on everyone, staff and pupils, and there is very low morale and many of my colleagues want out.”
The hearing, in which all five senior leaders are accused of agreeing to the inclusion of an undue amount of religious influence on pupils’ education, has been adjourned until February.
Park View was renamed Rockwood Academy in September and has a new headteacher, senior leadership team and governing body.
In December, Ofsted announced it was on the right path towards pulling itself out of special measures.