Daily Mail: Teachers at a Muslim faith primary have allegedly referred to clapping hand as “Satanic” – and had discussions about whether music in school might be un-Islamic.
Footage was obtained for a Channel 4 documentary at The Olive School - a Muslim faith primary for 600 pupils in Blackburn, run by the Tauheedul Islam Faith, Education and Community Trust.
It is also claimed that the footage shows staff talking about how ties could be turned into snakes and that gay people should be stoned to death. The Trust has labeled the discussions as “staff room gossip”.
Channel 4 did not say what footage from the school would be aired. Officials at the Trust contacted the Department of Education after learning of the allegations, reported the Blackburn Citizen.
The Trust invited inspectors to visit the school, and the DfE ordered an emergency “no notice” Ofsted inspection last week. The Trust later insisted that this inspection went “very well”.
The Trust also confirmed that Dispatches had filmed undercover at the school and promised to act if anything on the film “is shown to undermine our progressive vision, ethos and approach”.
A Tauheedul governor said: “The Trust’s schools provide a first class education for young people in modern-day Britain. We need to look at what these schools have achieved for their pupils.”
Blackburn MP Jack Straw said: “I reserve final judgment until I see the programme. From what I know the allegations are groundless.”
He told the Blackburn Citizen: “I am sure Channel Four has recordings of what has been said. This appears to be what individuals have expressed in the course of conversations in the staffroom.”
Meanwhile, a Muslim father has revealed he warned the Prime Minister’s office of worrying Islamist practices at one of the scandal-hit “Trojan Horse” schools – but got no reply.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that David Cameron’s office received an email in February from Mohammed Zabar, whose ten-year-old daughter attends Oldknow Academy.
Oldknow is one of the schools investigated in connection with an alleged fundamentalist plot to take over Birmingham Schools. Mr. Zabar warned the government that he believed the school over-emphasised Islamic teaching at the expense of other faiths. He said the school closed for a Muslim festival but had no Christmas celebrations.
Downing Street did not respond to Mr. Zabar’s email. Instead he was advised by the Education Funding Agency to “contact Oldknow Academy directly and make a complaint”. Mr. Zabar had already met the school principal, whom he says did not deal with his concerns.
News of the Trojan Horse plot broke in March and Mr. Cameron spoke about it for the first time in April after claims that non-Muslim members of staff were being isolated, male and female pupils were segregated and assemblies were used to promote the teachings of Al Qaeda.
The Prime Minister promised to take “swift action” to ensure schools could not be used to spread the ideology of terrorists, and an investigation into schools in Birmingham started.
One report later uncovered allegations that pupils as young as six at Oldknow were taught to treat Western women as “white prostitutes”. And there were claims that extremists pushed out the head teacher because she opposed the “Islamisation” of the school. Mr. Zabar believes the government should have acted on his guidance much earlier.
He said: “I was angry and frustrated that my concerns had been so easily dismissed. When the Trojan Horse scandal broke I wrote to them again saying perhaps they might want to reassess my information in light of recent evidence. I never had a reply to that one. It was distressing and disappointing to have my concerns ignored.”
Peter Clarke, former national head of counter-terrorism at the Metropolitan Police, was appointed in April to investigate the Trojan Horse plot to hijack the schools by Islamic extremists.
His report is due to be handed in to the government imminently. Last night shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt accused Mr. Cameron of “shocking complacency”. He said: “The government was warned about the problems in Birmingham’s schools as long ago as 2010. Now it is revealed that warnings by parents were being fobbed off by No 10.”
A DfE spokesman said: “We were already investigating Oldknow by the time this letter (Mr. Zabar’s) was sent.
DCG
