Ofsted to publish 'Trojan' reports

9 June 2014 Last updated at 10:17

David Cameron is to ask Ofsted to bring in snap inspections in schools, with a report into the alleged Muslim "Trojan Horse" plot due to be published.

The inquiry into 21 schools in Birmingham is set to say that five did not protect pupils from extremism.

The Park View Educational Trust has confirmed three of its schools are now in special measures, but said it "wholeheartedly disputes" the ratings.

The trust maintained the reports were conducted in a "climate of suspicion".

In a statement David Hughes, the trust's vice chairman, confirmed the Park View, Golden Hillock and Nansen had all been placed in special measures.

"Ofsted inspectors came to our schools looking for extremism, looking for segregation, looking for proof that our children have religion forced upon them as part of an Islamic plot," he said.

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David Hughes, Park View Education Trust: ''The speed and the ferocity with which the school had been condemned was truly shocking''

"The Ofsted reports found absolutely no evidence of this because this is categorically not what is happening at our schools."

The trust has accused politicians of a "kneejerk reaction" and of undermining "the great work" done by the schools.

Lee Donaghy, assistant principal at Park View School, said it "simply wasn't true" that the school was failing to protect its pupils from extremism.

The 21 individual reports are due to be published at 13:30 BST.

'Hastily arranged'

However, a leaked draft report by the Education Funding Agency (EFA), said the Park View schools had "taken the Islamic focus too far".

It found girls and boys had been segregated in some classes.

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Mohammed Ashraf, governor of Golden Hillock School: ''Ofsted had a pre-set agenda to fail the school''

Number 10 confirmed that five schools that had previously rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted had now been rated inadequate in the reports, which were triggered by the allegations.

It comes as Education Secretary Michael Gove is to ask Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schools, to look into whether any school could be inspected with no notice.

Currently, schools can be inspected without notice if they are rated inadequate for behaviour.

The Birmingham schools at the centre of the allegations had previously been given between one and two days' notice of inspections, but this time were told just 30 minutes in advance, Downing Street said.

It said that the notice periods had previously been used by some of the schools to put on "hastily arranged shows of cultural inclusivity".

These included an assembly on Easter and Christianity at one of the schools, Oldknow Academy.

'Significant grooming'

The Rev Oliver Coss, a governor at Regent's Park primary school, one of the 21 inspected, told BBC Breakfast he was "confident" about his school and added that there was "a genuine risk of making it seem as though Islam is the same as extremism or Islam is the same as terrorism".

However, Birmingham Perry Barr Labour MP Khalid Mahmood said it was vital that the inquiries dealt with everyone who had "manipulated what schools are there to do".

"There is a significant grooming going on in these schools away from the ethos and the school of thought of the parents of these children," he said.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Labour's former education secretary David Blunkett called for a national advisory committee to help determine curriculums and governance for all schools.

He said it was important to have schools that "teach children to think for themselves" rather than having a particular ideology "shoved down their throats".

Analysis

By Sean Coughlan, education correspondent

This strange tale of the Trojan Horse allegation - sparked by an anonymous letter and named after a myth - is finally going to reach some definite conclusions.

Ofsted is going to publish its inspection reports on Monday - although many have already been revealed - and head teachers will give their own first-hand views about claims of a takeover.

Schools labelled by Ofsted as inadequate are likely to reject the findings as scaremongering and an unfair misrepresentation.

But Education Secretary Michael Gove has sweeping powers of intervention and changes to Birmingham's schools are likely to follow.

The Trojan Horse has got inside the walls in unexpected ways.

Ofsted and the Department for Education began as the inquisitors, but they've now come under scrutiny themselves.

Ministers have fallen out, questions have been asked about failing to act on past warnings and the reliability of the inspection process has been challenged.

'Robust response'

Mr Gove is due to take questions from MPs on the alleged plot - after the reports have been published.

Leaving his house, Mr Gove told reporters he was due to make "a very important statement in the commons later".

He has been involved in a bitter dispute with Home Secretary Theresa May over the government's response to the Birmingham allegations, which has led to the resignation of Mrs May's special adviser and an apology from Mr Gove.

Mr Gove apologised to Mr Cameron and counter-terrorism chief Charles Farr after his allies spoke to the Times, accusing the Home Office of failing to "drain the swamp" of extremism.

In response, the Home Office released a letter which Home Secretary Theresa May had written to Mr Gove, accusing his department of failing to act when concerns about the Birmingham schools were brought to its attention in 2010.

Fiona Cunningham, the home secretary's special adviser, was found to have been the source of a negative briefing against Mr Gove and has now stood down.

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