A Nottingham residential school has been banned from taking on new pupils over concerns that it promotes ‘extremism’, it has emerged.
Islamic residential school for girls Jamia Al-Hudaa has also had to close the boarding facility they provide for pupils following the latest Ofsted inspection.
Out of the 252 pupils enrolled at the school, 171 are boarders who will be affected by the closure.
A spokesman for the Department of Education said: “Extremism has no place in our society.
“When we find schools promoting twisted ideologies or discrimination in classrooms, we will take action, up to and including closing the school or working with the police as necessary.”
The spokesman added school has the right to appeal the verdict, but must lodge an appeal by tomorrow, Wednesday October 19.
Pupils can access books written by authors not allowed into the country
Ofsted inspected the school in April earlier this year and found a number of issues.
In a report inspectors said said: “Pupils can access books in the library that have been written by controversial authors, for example by one who is not allowed to enter this country.
“Staff do not have a clear understanding of the specific risks that girls at this school may be vulnerable to, for example female genital mutilation.
“Pupils received little information about careers other than those related to teaching Islamic studies and were, therefore, not always encouraged to reach their potential.”
The report also found that students did not have the opportunity to learn about other religions, laws and values in enough detail.
It said: “There was an insufficient range of books about British history and other religions in the library.
“They do not understand how laws are made or who is responsible for devising the laws in this country; older pupils do not understand what is meant by the term ‘British values’.
“The previous inspection found that the school’s checks on staff were incomplete; leaders did not carry out checks on staff who had gaps in their employment history or who had lived overseas.”
The school declined to comment on Tuesday when contacted by Notts TV News. A person who answered the phone said a response could follow later this week.
