School at centre of gender segregation court case forced to become academy

A school at the centre of a court battle over gender segregation is set to be compulsorily turned into an academy by the Government.

The Al-Hijrah school in Birmingham was the subject of a highly unfavourable Ofsted report last November, which criticised teaching standards.

It rated the school ‘inadequate’ overall and also as ‘inadequate’ for effectiveness of leadership and management, personal development, behaviour and welfare and early years provision.

Pupil outcomes and teaching quality were deemed to require improvement.

Ofsted confirmed its chief inspector Amanda Spielman had said the school would be taken over by an academy trust, but stressed this was ultimately a decision for the Department for Education.

In its report, Ofsted singled out for criticism the school’s practice of segregating boys and girls at what purported to be a mixed school.

The High Court last November banned Ofsted from publishing its report on the school, which at that time could not be named.

Jay J said Ofsted had been wrong to assume that separation of pupils on the basis of sex meant or implied unequal treatment and that the original report was based on the erroneous view that the school had committed unlawful sex discrimination.

Ofsted challenged this and the matter has been in the Court of Appeal this week, though without any judgment as yet.

The school’s website described it as having “a long and proud history of providing excellent education in an Islamic context.

Mark Smulian