Ofsted Trojan Horse warning on pupils taken out of school

Sir Michael warns of a lack of information about pupils who have disappeared from school registers

Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned of "potentially high numbers of pupils" disappearing from school registers in Birmingham and Tower Hamlets in east London.

Sir Michael said this "serious safeguarding issue" emerged as inspectors made follow-up visits after the so-called Trojan Horse inquiries.

The chief inspector said it was unclear where some pupils had gone next.

The Department for Education said it would take "immediate steps".

"The safety of young people in our schools is paramount and we will be taking immediate steps to strengthen our guidance to schools on safeguarding and to amend the current regulations about the information schools collect when a pupil is taken off the register," said a Department for Education spokesman.

The Ofsted chief had warned there was a lack of robustness in identifying why pupils had been taken off school registers or their next destination - making it difficult to know if they could be at risk from "extremist ideologies".

In some cases he said there were "generic" descriptions, such as "moved abroad" or "gone to live with grandparents" - or in one case "gone back to Libya".

There are also pupils who are thought to have been moved to unregistered schools.

Sir Michael says inspectors have found "potentially high numbers of pupils whose names are being deleted from school admissions registers without either the schools or the local authorities having an accurate understanding of where those pupils have gone".

Between September 2013 and June 2015, more than a thousand pupils moved from 14 schools being monitored. But in more than 350 cases their intended destination was not clearly recorded.

These pupils might be safely studying in other schools in other parts of the country, but Ofsted warns that there is a worrying lack of certainty.

"It is an issue which I believe has wider implications for schools and local authorities across the country," said the chief inspector.

The report from Sir Michael provides Education Secretary Nicky Morgan with an updated assessment on the so-called Trojan Horse inquiries, which examined allegations that groups with a hardline Muslim ethos had been trying to take over schools.

Sir Michael's progress report says that there has been an overall improvement in both state schools and some independent schools.

But he highlights his concerns about a lack of a clear legal requirement for schools to establish where pupils move if they leave a school, warning that current practices are "inconsistent" and "inadequate".

Sir Michael says this makes it "very difficult, if not impossible" to establish if pupils are at risk.

"We cannot be sure that some of the children whose destinations are unknown are not being exposed to harm, exploitation or the influence of extremist ideologies."

A Department for Education spokesman said: "It is vital local authorities failing in this area take immediate action to establish the identities of children missing education and we are working with them to improve their approach so that children are kept safe from harm."

It is expected that schools, both state and independent, will be given clearer guidance of the need to gather more precise information about where pupils, being taken off their registers, are intending to move next and the schools they will attend. This will be shared with local authorities.

Schools receiving pupils will also be expected to liaise with the school and local authority from which pupils have left.

A Birmingham City Council spokesman said the council welcomed "Ofsted's focus on what is clearly an issue for all schools and local authorities".

"We are improving our work to track children who are missing from school and this is part of our overall drive to make improvements."