Up to 60 parents at Derby’s failing Muslim free school have said they are prepared to help out as volunteers to help keep it going.
They pledged themselves to the Al-Madinah School, despite its damning inspection report last week, which called it “dysfunctional”, “in chaos” and “inadequate”.
Arshad Jamil, who has a five-year-old son and two nieces at the school, said parents were rallying round because they wanted it to remain open.
Schools Minister Lord Nash has threatened to pull the plug on the school’s funding if the trustees and the governing body do not come up with an action plan for improvement before November 1.
Mr Jamil said: “Many of the parents are involved in education or have managerial jobs, so they should have skills they can bring to the school.”
Mr Jamil said many parents had been into the school individually to speak with the management and find out what was happening.
He said: “I spoke with the trustees for about 90 minutes and I came out feeling there was a very real determination to improve the school.
“But I am concerned that there are factions in the wider community who don’t want the school to succeed and that the whole issue is becoming very political.”
Al-Madinah School, which has 412 pupils aged four to 16, on sites in Nelson Street and Friar Gate, hit the headlines after the Derby Telegraph exclusively revealed that its staff were being forced to wear Muslim dress, regardless of belief, and boys and girls were being segregated in classes.
Lord Nash has ordered that by today the school management satisfies him it is fit to run the institution.
It must also sort out the curriculum and advertise for a permanent principal.
Interim head Dr Stuart Wilson has been in charge since September 4 and is due to leave at the end of the year.
Free schools, which use public funds, are only accountable to the Government and Ofsted and are a cornerstone of Government policy.
But last week Prime Minister David Cameron said he would not be afraid to close the school if it did not comply with rules governing non-discrimination and curriculum standards.
The school is being investigated by the Department for Education and the Education Funding Agency, which are looking into its finances.