Al-Madinah School, Derby

The opening of the school caused controversy, with some in the Muslim community in Derby opposing the scheme.[2][3]

However a high demand for places at the school was reported when enrolment started in 2012.[4]

The idea of a segregated religious school was opposed by the Derby Campaign for Inclusive Education (DCIE) on the grounds that education should be inclusive with children from different backgrounds being educated together so they can make up their own minds as to what to believe as adults.[5]

There were also concerns amongst the Muslim community regarding the competency of the founders, doublespeak, political agendas, personal agenda and financial irregularities at a previous charity resulting in a public q&a meeting organised by the Derby Community Education Forum, which the founders refused to attend.[3]

Al-Madinah School offers Primary education to pupils aged 4 to 11 from the Derby area. Where the number of applications for admission to the school is greater than the number of places, 50% of places are given to pupils of the Muslim faith, while the other 50% are given to pupils of any faith or none.[6]

There were concerns that there may have been discrimination between boys and girls in the school, with the girls being required to sit at the back of the class.[7]

It has also been alleged that the children who do not wish to partake in Islamic study have not been offered the promised alternative, and that the school does not offer French or Spanish as alternatives for Arabic as it had promised.[8]

The school was branded dysfunctional and inadequate by Ofsted for hiring inexperienced teachers, failing to put basic systems in place and relying on a temporary head to prevent its collapse.[9]

There have been a number of financial irregularities revealed by Channel 4 based on a leaked Education Funding Agency report that highlight contracts given to companies that employed relatives of the governors, conflicts of interest and questionable expense payments.[10]

By September 2013 the Department of Education was investigating the school.[11] The school received an unscheduled Ofsted and Department of Education inspection on 1 and 2 October 2013. A few hours into the inspection, which was described as 'damning', interim principal Stuart Wilson closed the school due to unspecified "Health & Safety" concerns and claimed that it would be re-opened soon.[12][13] It was then confirmed that the school would reopen on 7 October, which it did.[14]

External video
Al-Madinah school 'dysfunctional' (17 October 2013). Channel 4 News coverage of Ofsted's critical inspection report. Channel 4 News Official channel. (Flash Video.)

Parliament pushed for the Ofsted and Department for Education reports to be made public as soon as possible due to the concerns.[15] The National Union of Teachers (NUT) were sceptical of the school's explanation of the closure, and the Department for Education have confirmed an investigation.[16]

The report was published on 17 October 2013 and rated the school as "inadequate" with regard to the achievement of pupils, the quality of teaching, the behaviour and safety of pupils, and the leadership and management of the school. Describing the school as "dysfunctional", Ofsted placed it under Special measures, a status applied to schools which fail to supply an acceptable level of education and lack the leadership capacity necessary to secure improvements.[17]

• Discovery New School
• Kings Science Academy
• Operation Trojan Horse, alleged plot in which Islamist school governors sought to exploit academy status

• Al-Madinah School, Derby at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
• Ofsted report: Al-Madinah School