Mystery over Muslim school’s sudden closure

Al-Madinah School in Derby shut its doors to pupils just hours after Ofsted arrived on Tuesday to conduct an inspection.

Ofsted said the school’s principal, Stuart Wilson, took the decision after inspectors shared their initial findings with him.

In a statement on the school’s website, Mr Wilson said Al-Madinah would be closing due to a health and safety issue. It is understood the move was linked to concerns about safeguarding pupils.

An Ofsted spokesman said: “We have informed the Department for Education and the local authority of our initial findings.”

Recently, there have been reports that female teachers at the school were forced to wear hijabs even if they were not Muslim.

Other reports claimed that female pupils were made to sit at the back of the classroom and males at the front.

One woman whose two sons attend the school said: “I’m very happy with the education. My concerns are about the closure of the school. They said there had been a few issues but not enough to close the school.”