Trojan Horse is still a threat to Birmingham schools - it’s just gone underground

National head of school inspection service Ofsted tells Government he is deeply worried about Birmingham.

The head of school inspection service Ofsted has warned that the “Trojan Horse” campaign to impose radical ideas on Birmingham schools has “gone underground” but hasn’t gone away.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, national head of the inspection service, has written to Education Secretary Nicky Morgan to warn: “The situation remains fragile”.

And he said he was concerned that Birmingham was failing to ensure “children are not being exposed to harm, exploitation or the risk of falling under the influence of extremist views.”

Schools that were placed in special measures as a result of the Trojan Horse affair were “generally improving” he said, but he added: “There are a minority of people in the community who are still intent on destabilising these schools.”

Sir Michael’s letter paints a worrying picture about the state of Birmingham’s schools and education services, and he places much of the blame on the “incompetence” of Birmingham City Council.

As well as revealing fears about ongoing attempts to impose a religious agenda on to ordinary non-religious schools, he warns:

  • Children are still at risk because of “very poor” children’s services
  • More than 250 children have simply vanished from the schools system in recent month and the council has no idea where they are
  • The council fails to check children taught at home are receiving a good education and treated well.

Sir Michael tells the Education Secretary that he wants to station school inspectors permanently in cities such as Birmingham where the Government “considers children are at a greater risk of radicalisation or their safety is being put in jeopardy by poor safeguarding practices.”

Councillor Brigid Jones, Birmingham’s cabinet member for children, families and schools, said the council was improving - and Sir Michael had not met council leaders since 2014, when the authority actually had a different leader.

She added: “In terms of the Chief Inspector’s comments on schools in Birmingham, we note what is being said but contend they don’t fully reflect the feedback that we receive from teachers, our education commissioner and the positive views of other government departments on our work on extremism.”

Trojan Horse

The so-called Trojan Horse scandal was an organised attempt to introduce an Islamist ethos into several schools in Birmingham.

An inquiry commissioned by the Government found in 2014 that Birmingham was targeted by a “co-ordinated, deliberate and sustained” campaign to introduce “an intolerant and aggressive Islamic ethos into a few schools”.

Sir Michael told the Education Secretary about a recent meeting with a group of Birmingham headteachers, telling her: “It was commonly recognised by members of the group that the culture of fear that I identified two years ago had not gone away. One headteacher said that, ‘the problem has gone underground, but it is definitely still there’. Other headteachers spoke of overt intimidation from some elements within the local community.”

Some people in the community were trying to stop schools teaching sex education and promoting equality, and were using the internet to put pressure on schools, said Sir Michael.

He told the Education Secretary in his letter: “During our meeting, they outlined the scale and nature of the challenges they face – including organised resistance to the personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum and the promotion of equality, as well as derogatory comments posted on social media and continual pressure from some parents to change the schools’ curriculum and staffing.”

Poor child protection

Birmingham City Council announced in May that the city’s children’s services will be run by a trust after years of failings that saw the department named “a national disgrace” by inspectors.

Child deaths include Khyra Ishaq, seven, who starved and Keanu Williams, two, who was murdered by his mother.

Sir Michael said the children’s services department has failed seven Ofsted inspections in the past ten years - and “vulnerable children in the city have been inadequately protected throughout this period,” he said.

And he placed the blame squarely on city councillors.

He told the Education Secretary: “Birmingham’s political leaders, in my opinion, have consistently shown themselves to be incapable of delivering the urgent and sustained change required to improve the safety and well-being of the city’s vulnerable children.”

And Sir Michael warned the Government to make sure councillors weren’t still running things behind the scenes.

He said: “I would urge you to ensure that this trust is, indeed, independent and not influenced by those in the local authority who have demonstrated such incompetence over many years.”

Missing children

Hundreds of children who stopped turning up for school entirely have slipped off Birmingham City Council’s radar, Ofsted revealed in June.

Inspectors said 253 Brummie children “slipped out of the system” after going missing from school over a period of four months from last September.

And Sir Michael told the Education Secretary the council is failing to find out what happens to them.

He said: “Strategic leadership of safeguarding children in Birmingham’s schools is weak and lacks sufficient rigour. The different teams with responsibilities for safeguarding children in schools are not working together effectively.

“Inspectors also found that staff are too slow in checking the whereabouts of children missing from education. Too few children are traced and those who remain missing are simply being removed from the council’s records. Between September 2015 and January 2016, the council removed 253 children from their list of missing children without locating their whereabouts.”

And while council staff are meant to check up on children who are educated at home, these checks “are not rigorous enough,” he said.

Education Secretary urged to act

Sir Michael said he was also worried about Luton and Bradford.

He said in his letter: “I am particularly concerned about the failure of these local authorities to address the problem of children missing from education and to satisfy themselves that these children are not being exposed to harm, exploitation or the risk of falling under the influence of extremist views.”

He concluded: “I therefore recommend, Secretary of State, that you support Ofsted by agreeing that one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors should be assigned to any local authority area where the government considers children are at a greater risk of radicalisation or their safety is being put in jeopardy by poor safeguarding practices.”

Birmingham Council responds

Councillor Brigid Jones, Birmingham’s cabinet member for children, families and schools, said: “We recently received a short monitoring visit from Ofsted and last week received the letter about its findings.

“We are only now beginning the third year of the improvement journey that the Government and our commissioners agreed with us and the report broadly reflects where we think we are, and where we expected to be at this stage.

“The significant changes to retention of staff and recruitment, £30m extra investment, stable and permanent senior management posts, reduced use of agency staff, setting up a MASH [Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub], development of an Early Help offer and improved oversight are consistent with the rate of improvements required from the three-year plan. Our Commissioner, Andrew Christie CBE, will be reporting to Overview and Scrutiny on this progress later this month.

“Given that no-one from the political leadership has been interviewed in an Ofsted inspection since 2014, and that it has changed quite significantly since then, we found the comments in Sir Michael’s letter to be a surprise. Our doors are always open should Ofsted wish to talk to us about their concerns directly.

“We will continue to do our utmost, working with partners and our commissioners, to ensure we have the right framework for social work in this city to become excellent. We have 800 dedicated social workers and a similarly committed wider team of professionals who support and work alongside them. They deserve recognition and credit for all they’ve done so far in the improvement journey - and all that they will do in the future.

“Options are also being developed for children’s social care services to be placed into a voluntary trust and a report outlining the choices and possible ways forward for its operation is due before the council’s Cabinet later this month.

“In terms of the Chief Inspector’s comments on schools in Birmingham, we note what is being said but contend they don’t fully reflect the feedback that we receive from teachers, our education commissioner and the positive views of other government departments on our work on extremism.

“We are fully committed to delivering improvement where it is needed and always consider seriously points made by Ofsted. We are proud that one of our senior staff members recently received a CBE for his work on improving Birmingham schools so far, and are committed to seeing through the rest of the changes needed for our children.”

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