Ofsted has ‘no plans’ to target inspections at Bradford over Trojan Horse row

EDUCATION bosses have played down claims that Bradford schools are to be the focus of new targeted inspections in the wake of the Trojan Horse row.

There are reports that Whitehall officials are planning to carry out snap inspections at the city amid concerns that the problems found in Birmingham schools could be repeated elsewhere in the country.

Claims that Muslim governors were attempting to take over state schools in Birmingham has led to a series of inspections by the Government, the local council and Ofsted.

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Ofsted placed five schools in Birmingham in special measures and said a “culture of fear and intimidation has taken grip” in some schools. A separate report by former counter terrorism chief Peter Clarke said there was evidence of an “aggressive Islamist agenda” being pursued by some schools in the city

Now a national newspaper has said that Bradford is to be the focus of new inspections by both Ofsted and officials from the Department for Education (DfE). However Ofsted said it was not aware of any plans to carry out snap inspections in Bradford and Bradford Council’s executive member for schools Coun Ralph Berry said the DfE had not raised any specific concerns about the city. Ofsted has already visited several schools in Muslim areas of Bradford following on from the Trojan Horse row in Birmingham. It has carried out inspections at Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College, where Bradford Council had removed the governing body over concerns about its ability to support the school, Carlton Bolling College where it has been claimed that a former head teacher had been forced out over religious tensions with governors and Feversham College, a Muslim girls school.