Fears of a new “Trojan Horse” Islamic plot to take over a state school in Oldham have been raised by its head teacher, who says she has been concerned for her personal safety.
Trish O’Donnell, head of Clarksfield Primary School since 2006, has been so worried that she has worked from home for short periods in recent months.
In an email sent to Oldham council in December, O’Donnell said she had “very strong reasons to believe that . . . a ‘Trojan Horse’ agenda [is] being played out” and that her position was becoming untenable.
The head teachers’ union, the NAHT, said it was “supporting a number of members in the Oldham area with a variety of apparent Trojan Horse issues”.
A senior national figure in counter-extremism said there was a “significant problem” of Islamist infiltration in Oldham.
“It is an absolute model of entryism,” he said.
A confidential report on Clarksfield by Oldham council this month, seen by The Sunday Times, said O’Donnell had reported that she had been subjected to a long campaign involving “death threats”, “threats to blow up her car” and “aggressive verbal abuse”. She had even been physically attacked by one parent, the report said.
O’Donnell’s problems began in 2013 after Ofsted inspectors criticised levels of attainment at the school, where most of the pupils are of Pakistani heritage.
The council report refers to the activities of Nasim Ashraf, who was a parent governor at the time.
Ashraf, whose sister, Shasta Khan, is serving an eight-year sentence for her part in a plot to attack Jewish targets in Manchester, is friends on Facebook with Tahir Alam, who was named as the leader of the Birmingham Trojan Horse plot exposed two years ago.
According to the Oldham council report, Ashraf hosted “Islamic teaching sessions” on Clarksfield school premises. His wife, Hafizan Zaman, “made remarks to Asian staff members that they should, as Muslim women, be wearing a veil and covering their heads”.
The couple also objected to Hindi music being played in class, organised a parents’ petition against the head teacher and lobbied against “lewd and inappropriate activities” including sex education.
The report said that officers believed Ashraf and Zaman were trying to “intimidate school staff”, “undermine the head teacher” and “secure changes at the school to reflect their interpretation of Islam”. It spoke of their “extremely problematic” behaviour in “seeking to mobilise other parents and the wider community” against O’Donnell.
The report said this did not constitute a Trojan Horse-style plot, however, adding that Ashraf was not an extremist and “not part of any wider conspiracy”. There is no suggestion that he and his wife were involved in the threats of violence.
O’Donnell’s problems came to a head in November after Clarksfield’s long-standing chairman of governors, Phil Coombe, was replaced by a new chairwoman, Saima Kausar, who made what O’Donnell said were “highly offensive” and “unsubstantiated” professional allegations against her, according to the report.
O’Donnell, Coombe and Kausar declined to comment but one person with close knowledge of Clarksfield said there was an “organised effort” to “discredit the head teacher and change the ethos of the school”, which could not simply be explained by personality clashes.
Ashraf, who denied any Trojan Horse plot, said he knew Kausar and discussed matters with her. “It’s my duty to keep an eye on things,” he said. “The school is still a failing school — we need to remove Mrs O’Donnell and replace her with a better head teacher.”
Ofsted’s latest report ranks Clarksfield as “good” and praises O’Donnell’s leadership.
A counter-extremism official has raised concerns about a second Oldham school, Horton Mill, which recently hosted a speaker who had in the past justified the killing of British troops. A third school, Oldham Academy North, has been investigated by Ofsted for failing to teach “British values” and donating to an organisation linked to extremists.
Oldham council’s cabinet member for education, Amanda Chadderton, said: “We take any allegations about our schools very seriously. The report into an Oldham primary school found no basis to the ‘Trojan Horse’ allegations.” The council said it had no concerns about Oldham Academy North or Horton Mill.