A new Birmingham headteacher has spoken of his pride that amid an Ofsted report calling for more improvements, a major set of standards were met just six days into his role.
And he has vowed to continue to build on positive elements reported in an impromptu inspectors’ visit, pouring all of his ambition and focus into a commitment for further changes.
Despite challenges still faced, Jamia Islamia was ruled to have passed the Independent School Standards set by the Government for the first time in its 21-year history.
This means the all-boys Muslim faith school has now demonstrated satisfactory quality of education, spiritual, moral and cultural guidance, pupils’ welfare, health and safety, as well as sound leadership and suitable premises and complaint procedure.
This ‘encouraging’ result for Jamia Islamia came less than a week after the appointment of new headteacher Shuhud Mahmood. While the overall unscheduled inspectors’ report said the school still has areas to make progress in, it also found ‘marked improvements.’
It follows changes immediately introduced by Shuhud, which he says added to ‘solid foundations’ already in place at the Sparkbrook school.
Shuhud said: “It was an intense introduction to the role, However, I saw it as an opportunity to immediately set the tone for my leadership and to ensure that our school could rise to the occasion. I remain ambitious and committed to further improvements.
The school, which has 130 boys, 22 in a sixth form, was established in 2000 and continued Ofsted inspections have concluded it had fallen short of satisfactory targets for independent schools.
Now, after Shuhud’s arrival, it has been ruled as meeting those targets as well as being good in three wider categories.
Inspectors praised the £2,200 a year school as ‘ambitious,’ providing ‘strong pastoral care to pupils’, who are themselves ‘welcoming, curious and respectful.’
Shuhud added: “This is a significant and remarkable achievement. The school has always had potential to do well but there were always refinements needed to its approach to achieving success academically and also as a pillar of the community.”
The all-boys school has ‘markedly improved’ since its last inspection but still ‘requires improvement’, according to Ofsted. Inspectors found that while ‘most pupils’ at the school achieved well, teaching in key stage 3 was ‘not as developed as it could be.’
Shuhud added: As a school we are committed to continuous improvement and meeting the Independent School Standard is a key accomplishment that powers us forward.
“In a remarkably short period, we have made substantial progress, particularly in enhancing student outcomes and learning. The report notes that “most pupils achieve well,” reflecting our successful efforts.
“We acknowledge that there are still areas requiring improvement, and we are committed to addressing these with diligence and practical strategies. Our KS3 curriculum will be a priority for us to improve just as we did for KS4 and KS5.
“We understand that Jamia Islamia has faced challenges in the past and improvements were needed, but under the previous leadership, significant efforts were made to address these issues.
“Our staff’s dedication has driven these improvements in the whole school, leading to many success stories for our students. The impact of our school is even more significant for our students considering that Jamia Islamia is located in Sparkbrook, which is city’s most deprived ward and has the eighth highest child poverty rate out of the city’s 69 wards.
“Our area has a high crime rate and there are many negative influences so the faith-based independent school provides a lifeline to parents who want their children to succeed in modern Britain whilst upholding their values.
“Jamia islamia now provides this and we have made steps to refine the system of the school , we have more work to do before the job is done, but we have paved the way for more a positive future for everyone that attends.
“Our recent inspection is a glimmer of hope and is a historic achievement for the schools, everyone is now even more motivated to keep the momentum going and is pleased with the turnaround compared to a few years ago where a lot of changes needed to happen.”
Shuhud said the most encouraging outcomes from the report included:
- Sixth form provision was praised
- PHSE had improved significantly
- Students were described as primed for life in modern Britain
- Their behaviour had improved massively
- Pupils were keen to learn and uphold moral values.
“We more than anyone recognise a need for continued improvement but we are proud of how far we have come in just 12 months since our last inspection and we will continue to work towards a wholly favourable outcome,” he said.