16 December 2017

Head of Ofsted reveals she faces 'personal attacks' from 'extremists' trying to intimidate the watchdog over crackdown on illegal Muslim schools

Chief inspector of schools Amanda Spielman received an email saying: ‘We know where you live and we can get you any time we want to,’ after a court case against an Islamic school that separated girls and boys.

Her home address has had to be removed from the internet , while inspectors in one of Ofsted’s regional offices have been sent extreme Islamic literature and forced to take security measures as they are targeted by extremists.

Mrs Spielman said that confronting unregistered faith schools has been the toughest part of her role, which she took on in January this year. Investigating illegal schools, inspectors found some children had not been taught English and teachers had told them British values were ‘meaningless’, she told The Times.

In one incident at an unregistered East London Islamic school, Ofsted inspectors were called ‘Britain First paedophiles’ before being accused of performing sex acts in order to get their jobs. A head teacher at another faith school phoned parents during an Ofsted visit to say inspectors were asking the children if they were gay. The head then asked whether the inspection should proceed after telling inspectors that angry parents were lining up outside the school. [Daily Mail] Read more