Snap Ofsted inspections for three Islamic schools in London

Sir Michael Wilshaw says schools should be inspected more frequently

England schools watchdog Ofsted has carried out snap inspections of three independent Islamic schools in the London borough of Tower Hamlets.

The no-notice inspections were carried out at the request of the Department for Education and are not part of the standard inspection regime.

The DfE had asked for a number of independent schools to be inspected.

Results of the inspections of the two secondary schools and one primary school will be released within weeks.

Earlier this week Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw said inspections would be undertaken more frequently because of concerns raised by the alleged Trojan Horse plot.

This involved claims that a number of schools in Birmingham faced takeovers by groups with a hardline Islamic agenda.

'Outstanding'

Inspectors visited Al Mizan primary school and the East London Academy and Jamiatul Ummah - both secondary schools - this week.

Al Mizan and the East London Academy are both independent schools for Muslim boys run by the East London Mosque Trust.

They teach their pupils, who are predominantly from families of Bangladeshi origin, to memorise the Koran and charge fees of £3,000 a year.

Both schools were rated as providing a "good" quality of education and teaching during their last inspections in 2011 and both were rated "outstanding" for students' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Jamiatul Ummah, also for boys only, received an "outstanding" rating for quality of education and provision for students' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development during its last inspection in 2011.

Pupils were found to have "sound knowledge of the multi-faith nature of British society".

None of the schools has commented so far.

The Department for Education said: "Ofsted inspections are routinely conducted at both independent and maintained schools. It would be wrong to comment on individual inspections until findings are published."

These inspections were not part of the 40 no-notice inspections Ofsted announced last month, which stemmed from concern over standards.