School board to be sacked for 'Muslim only' agenda

[Womble]

Edit Rob - This Story is from 2002!

School board to be sacked for 'Muslim only' agenda
By Sarah Cassidy, Education Correspondent
Published: 10 August 2002
A school in Birmingham is expected to become the first in Britain to have its entire governing body sacked under new government powers after an 18-month row over religion threatened to tear it apart.

A school in Birmingham is expected to become the first in Britain to have its entire governing body sacked under new government powers after an 18-month row over religion threatened to tear it apart.

A damning report for the city's education authority into Washwood Heath Technology College found that a group of Muslim governors with a "hidden agenda" was trying to turn it into a Muslim-only school.

The comprehensive is likely to be taken over by the city council because of complaints that a small group of governors had tried to force out white staff and appoint Asian teachers in their place.

The board of governors is to be sacked by Birmingham City Council and replaced with a hand-picked board of five educational experts, under legislation that comes into force next month.

The bitter divisions at the school, where 70 per cent of the 1,253 pupils are Muslim and 85 per cent are from ethnic minorities, have already driven the headteacher and more than half the teachers to quit.

Teachers had complained that job interviews seemed to favour Asian applicants and claimed that a clique of governors was attempting to establish an all-Muslim school.

The report concluded that governors had a "clear agenda to appoint more Asian staff regardless of their suitability". It added: "Some staff stated that Asian staff in other schools had been approached prior to formal recruitment and selection. This was seen as evidence that there were efforts to establish a Muslim school, which did not have any white pupils or white teachers."

The catalyst for the unprecedented dismissal of the governors was the release of a damning Ofsted report. Government inspectors concluded that the school – a large comprehensive in a deprived area – was failing to provide an acceptable standard of education – mainly because of conflict involving the governors.

In an almost uniquely critical report, Ofsted's inspectors blamed the fractured relationships between governors, the senior management team and the local education authority for "considerable disharmony.

"The conflict has made life very difficult for everyone in the school," the report said. "The situation has had a profound effect upon school improvement and the quality of education provided."

But the governors deny trying to alter the ethnic make-up. They argue that the dispute was part of a legitimate attempt to tackle poor management at Washwood Heath.

Mohammed Yasin, one of the governors, has said: "We had no confidence in the head. Teachers left because of the management of the school, not because of the governors."

The city council has appealed to Estelle Morris, the Education Secretary, whose Yardley constituency borders the school, for permission to invoke new legislation that would allow them to sack the governors and replace them with an interim executive board appointed by the council.

The problems began early last year when governors criticised James Collins, the head at the time. In April 2001 Tim Brighouse, Birmingham's director of education, commissioned Shahid Malik, an Asian member of the Labour Party national executive, to chair an independent inquiry. Mr Malik was arrested during last year's race riots in Burnley but was not charged and complained about his treatment by police.

His review concluded that the headteacher had been unfairly treated, but in December Mr Collins resigned, followed by half of his staff. Mr Collins took a new post within the local education authority, and now co-ordinates the government's strategy for pupils aged 11 to 14 throughout the city

http://education.independent.co.uk/n...icle131153.ece
This country is going mad

[foreverwar]

This article is four and a half years old........................

[Paul]

Second Muslim article posted in a matter of minutes. Makes you wonder if he had to search around a bit to find something to post to back up his other thread

[foreverwar]

Originally Posted by Paul

Second Muslim article posted in a matter of minutes. Makes you wonder if he had to search around a bit to find something to post to back up his other thread

Surely not

[Womble]

lol, me bad!! Didnt look at the date!!
I use newsnow.co.uk as my home page, other article came from that, searched on google to find another source, other than the BBC and came across this article

Note to me: Read the freakin date

[Rob]

I've edited the first post to try and make it more clear that this is in fact old news.

What would be interesting is to see an update on what actually happened, and the outcome, i.e. is the school now in harmony, is it successfully educating, or what?

[TheNorm]

Originally Posted by Rob

... is the school now in harmony, is it successfully educating, or what?

Harmony and success seldom make the headlines. I agree the information would be useful, but finding the tooth of a hen would probably be easier.

[Womble]

Originally Posted by TheNorm

Harmony and success seldom make the headlines. I agree the information would be useful, but finding the tooth of a hen would probably be easier.

I have to agree!! I've been searching and reading articles, but I can't find any referance to the outcome, or the state of the school now

[Graham M]

Here's the latest Ofsted Inspection sheet for the school

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/pdf...9_20060515.pdf

As you can see it scores rather low in all areas

[foreverwar]

Originally Posted by Zeph

Here's the latest Ofsted Inspection sheet for the school

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/pdf...9_20060515.pdf

As you can see it scores rather low in all areas

Good find, Zeph.

I liked the Ofsted inspectors' letter to the pupils at the end of the report -
"Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for being so welcoming and friendly to us when we visited your school. Your views are very important. We enjoyed meeting you, and we value very much the help you gave us.

There are many good things about your school. You get on well with each other and with your teachers, and you told us how much you appreciate the opportunities teachers give you to take part in a wide range of activities. Your attendance at school is particularly good, and this reflects the fact that most of you enjoy school. You welcome opportunities to have your say in the running of the school through the school council. Many of you told us that your new headteacher is involving you much more, and that lots of improvements are taking place. You are right. We believe that your headteacher is providing outstanding leadership for the school. She is supported very well by other senior teachers and all the staff of the school.

We are pleased about this because, despite many good things, much improvement is needed in the school. Many of you are not achieving as well as you should, and recent results have not been good enough.

We are asking the school to take steps to improve a number of things, but particularly these areas:
•Improve the progress you make significantly.
•Make sure that what you are taught is suitable for what you need.
•Increase the amount of good teaching in lessons.
•Make sure that the teachers who are in charge of subjects are all able to lead their subjects equally successfully.

We are encouraged by the improvements to all these areas that are already taking place, but there is still quite a long way to go. We believe you will want to play your part in helping the school to continue to improve by using your energy and talents to work hard and to do your best. I wish all of you good luck for the future.

[me283]

Interesting issue. I too wonder what the outcome was, but not just relating to the school itself. This part was of interest:

The comprehensive is likely to be taken over by the city council because of complaints that a small group of governors had tried to force out white staff and appoint Asian teachers in their place.

Racial discrimination, surely? Should the police have been called? Or are they too busy with matters such as Celebrity Big Brother, where (allegedly) the word "P*ki" was used twice...

[foreverwar]

Originally Posted by me283

Interesting issue. I too wonder what the outcome was, but not just relating to the school itself. This part was of interest:



Racial discrimination, surely? Should the police have been called? Or are they too busy with matters such as Celebrity Big Brother, where (allegedly) the word "P*ki" was used twice...

Only if they had a Crystal Ball, as the two occurrences were over four years apart......

The governing body was suspended from it's duties because of their behaviour (just like Jade Goody, then) - so seems the same treatment was given on both occasions.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Only if they had a Crystal Ball, as the two occurrences were over four years apart......

The governing body was suspended from it's duties because of their behaviour (just like Jade Goody, then) - so seems the same treatment was given on both occasions.

Hardly comparable, I'd expect better from people supposed to be looking after children's best interests

[me283]

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Only if they had a Crystal Ball, as the two occurrences were over four years apart......

The governing body was suspended from it's duties because of their behaviour (just like Jade Goody, then) - so seems the same treatment was given on both occasions.

I believe the police are still to decide whether to take action over the actions of Goody & Co. Besides, the school board were unpaid AFAIK, so it's not quite the same "punishment" as suffered by the so-called celebs...

[Damien]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Hardly comparable, I'd expect better from people supposed to be looking after children's best interests

So did everyone else, hence their outing