A school at the heart of the alleged Trojan Horse plot has been told it is heading in the right direction under new leadership.
Rockwood Academy, the former Park View Academy, was one of five Birmingham schools plunged into special measures by Ofsted in April last year.
It was rated “inadequate” following a snap inspection after allegations emerged of a plot by hardline Muslims to take over governing bodies, oust teachers and Islamise the curriculum.
Park View’s former acting head Monzoor Hussain is among over a dozen teachers currently facing disciplinary hearings over allegations that they agreed to the inclusion of an undue amount of religion on pupils’ education.
In September, Park View was renamed Rockwood Academy and last month Ofsted inspectors carried out its fifth monitoring inspection of the school.
For the first time since April last year Ofsted has deemed the school to be on the right track to pull itself out of special measures.
In his report, to be officially published by Ofsted on Friday, Inspector Chris Chapman said: “Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.”
Praise was lavished on the academy’s new principal, Fuzel Choudhury.
Mr Chapman wrote: “The new principal has embarked on his role with passion, commitment, drive and determination.
“His clear vision is suitably focused on academy improvement through raising standards of teaching, learning and behaviour.”
And he said inspectors observed how “modern British values” were well promoted in the humanities subjects.
“In these cases, a powerful vein of social, spiritual, moral and cultural learning permeates pupils’ experiences in the classroom.
“For example, in religious education lessons, pupils were able to demonstrate their understanding, appreciation and respect for other faiths.
“In a Year 10 history lesson, pupils articulated committed, mature and sensitive viewpoints about the negative impact of prejudice and discrimination in America.”
The chair of the governing body and governors were also praised for effectively challenging leadership.
However, Ofsted did note parents’ concerns over pupil academic progress and numbers of temporary teachers – revealing 11 staff had quite this term alone.
Mr Chapman said: “While the academy continues to use temporary teachers, inspectors found that there are robust systems in place to regularly check the quality of teaching and provide training when needed.
“Leaders have also worked effectively to reduce the number of temporary teachers from next term.”
He said this summer’s GCSE results were stronger than expected although dropped in comparison to 2014.
Inspectors found convincing evidence that the changes to staffing and to the academy’s ethos have both been important improvements in tackling the serious inadequacies found at the time of the inspection in March 2014
“While senior leaders fully appreciate that standards need to improve further, and are under no illusions that there is much work left to be done, any suggestion that the academy should look back is rightly ignored.”
And he said rebranding the school was also a smart move.
“The renaming of the academy at the beginning of this academic year has provided the pupils, staff and leaders of the academy with a ‘fresh start’.
“Pupils spoken to by inspectors welcomed this, as they felt that it would help the academy to move forward positively from the ‘bad image of the past’ and offer the opportunity to change public perceptions of their school.”
Adrian Packer, chief executive of CORE Education Trust, said: “The trust is delighted with the findings of the most recent Ofsted monitoring inspection at Rockwood Academy, which confirm to us that we that the measures we have put in place have been effective and are now having significant impact. Ultimately, the credit really has to go Rockwood Academy’s new principal, Fuzel Choudhury who, during his first 100 days in post, has achieved an incredible amount. We’re in no doubt that we have chosen the best person for this job and that he will continue to deliver the improvements now being recognised by Ofsted.”
Rockwood Academy principal Fuzel Choudhury said: “I’m very pleased with the Ofsted inspectors’ findings, which are in line with where we aimed to be at this point in our journey towards educational excellence. There is much work still to be done, but I’m confident that Rockwood Academy will soon have a reputation as one of the best academies in Birmingham. I won’t rest until that work is complete.
“I would like to thank the academy’s staff and students for their hard work this term, without whom this wouldn’t have been possible, in addition to CORE Education Trust, which has laid the foundations for the academy’s fresh start. We will work closely with Ofsted over the coming months in order to ensure we continue to make progress.”
