Two months after Derby’s failing Muslim school was placed in special measures, a monitoring inspection has found it “less stable” and still “in chaos”.
As exclusively predicted in yesterday’s Derby Telegraph, inspectors from Ofsted – the Office for Standards in Education – found there had been “no improvement” at Al-Madinah School.
Their report, which also revealed 47 pupils and five staff had left since the first damning inspection in October, follows a visit to the free school two weeks ago.
Wayne Norrie, Her Majesty’s Inspector, wrote: “The school is not improving because relationships between school leaders are destructive and deteriorating.
“They are not holding teachers to account for the quality of teaching, which remains inadequate and is not showing signs of improving.
“The inspectors concluded that the school’s action plan, drawn up by the trustees, who are due to resign at the end of January, and improvement plan were not “fit for purpose”.
Barry Day, chief executive of Greenwood Dale Trust, has been asked by the Government to investigate how the school could be turned around.
He has just completed a 10-day assessment of the school, which has sites in Nelson Street and Friar Gate, and is preparing to make recommendations to the Department for Education and his own board of trustees.
He has also drawn up approved action and improvement plans for Ofsted, which the management of the school had failed to do.
Mr Day said: “I am happy to supply staff to help out the school, but they will not have permanent positions and it is unlikely to become part of our family of 22 academies until financial problems have been sorted out at the school.
“There is still much to do to resolve the issues raised by Ofsted and our priority is to make sure the school has a sustainable future.”
A Department for Education spokesman said: “Clearly, the Greenwood trustees must be satisfied before they can make a final decision and we are providing all the support needed to ensure that can happen.”