Institute of Islamic Education

Institute of Islamic Education Independent school standard inspection report

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DfE registration number 382/6013 Unique Reference Number (URN) 107791 Inspection number 385082 Inspection dates 27–28 September 2011 Reporting inspector John Coleman HMI achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk No. 090070

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Purpose and scope of the inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Section 162A of the Education Act 2002, as amended by schedule 8 of the Education Act 2005, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school. 1, 2

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Information about the school

The Institute of Islamic Education provides education for boys from the age of 12 to 16 years of age. The Institute is part of an Islamic seminary and caters for boarders and day students. It is located in Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. There are 265 students in the seminary of whom 87 are on roll at the school. This inspection did not include the boarding provision. The most recent inspection report on the quality of care in the boarding provision was published by Ofsted in March 2010. The school was last inspected by Ofsted in May 2008.

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Information about the school

The school was established in 1982 and is well known for providing a primarily Islamic education which aims to, `create competent native Islamic scholars endowed with knowledge and skills that enable them to cater for the changing needs of British Muslims and the wider community.’ The Institute is significantly oversubscribed each year. Admission to the school is selective including consideration of the educational attainment of students. All students are Muslims. There are no pupils with a statement of special educational needs.

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Evaluation of the school

The Islamic Institute of Education provides a good quality of education and meets its stated aims very well. Due to a good and developing curriculum, combined with good and improving teaching, students make good progress. Students’ behaviour is outstanding. Provision for students’ welfare health and safety and their social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is good. Safeguarding arrangements fully comply with all the requirements. The school meets all the regulations for continued registration as an independent school. Good improvement has been made since the last inspection when a small number of regulations relating to supervision, health and safety and the provision of information to parents and carers were not met.

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Quality of education

The curriculum and other activities are good in meeting the range of needs and interests of students. Overall, the Islamic curriculum is good and outstanding in the memorisation of the Qur’an. It also makes a significant contribution to students’

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Quality of education

1 www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/32/contents . 2 www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/18/contents .

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secular learning. The specific secular curriculum is satisfactory and improving due to an expanding range of externally accredited courses.

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The Islamic curriculum is based on the Darse Nizaami (Islamic curriculum) preparing students to become scholars in Islam. Subjects include Arabic grammar, Qur’an Tafsir (interpretation of the Qur’an, Hadith literature, Fiqh (jurisprudence including inheritance laws) and rules regarding business transactions, Urdu grammar, Islamic history, stories of the prophets, philosophy, logic, Qira’at (methods of recitation) and Tajweed (Qur’anic recitation). Initially, the students are taught the skills that allow them to comprehend and interperet sacred texts. Following this, students are guided through six compilations of Hadith and the interpretation of the Qur’an. Islamic studies include a nuturing programme delivered on Saturdays which promotes students’ understanding of moral and spiritual themes. The outcome of this programme is that students learn to deliver public speeches in the three languages of English, Arabic and Urdu. Spirituality is further promoted by five daily

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congregational prayers attended by all students.

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The secular curriculum includes the core subjects of English, mathematics, science and information and communication technology (ICT). Additionally, students study history, Arabic, citizenship, religious studies and physical education. The time available specifically for the secular subjects is supplemented by additional secular learning which takes place in the time allocated to the Islamic curriculum. For example, geography, history and some aspects of art education are covered within the time allocated to the Islamic curriculum. In addition, all students attend two hours of secular revision classes each evening. Suitable schemes of work are in place for each subject. In physical education (PE) there is a strong emphasis on team games with little offered for students to vary their experience and develop other skills. The curriculum for science is very knowledge-based and does not offer sufficient opportunities for investigative and practical activities. Students who spoke

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to the inspectors and the questionnaires they returned made frequent comments about this. Also, students, parents and carers are right to raise issues about the lack of educational visits and/or visitors. The absence of these hinders the enrichment of students’ curriculum experiences. GCSE examinations are offered in the four core subjects plus religious education and Urdu. Post-16 students in the seminary are able to take a GCE AS and A level in Arabic and Urdu.

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The effectiveness of teaching and assessment in meeting the full range of students’ needs is good. Teaching is characterised by a mainly formal and instructional style. Students’ exemplary behaviour and excellent concentration leads to their gaining the maximum benefit from the teaching they receive. This makes a significant contribution to students’ learning and progress. Teachers have good subject knowledge, relate well to students’ needs and show high expectations for students’ presentation of written work. However, there are some variations in quality across subjects and classes. For example, in the best lessons teachers successfully support learning by breaking tasks down into small steps, checking rigorously on learning at each stage before increasing the level of challenge. In these lessons, such as in a

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Year 11 mathematics lesson seen by inspectors, teachers use whiteboards effectively to illustrate and focus on teaching points. Conversely, in some lessons, there is too much reliance on worksheets, textbooks and uninspiring resources. In these lessons, teachers closely follow the text and there is little teaching input or demonstration. Inconsistencies are also present in the quality of teachers’ plans, including the use of assessment data and the marking of students’ work. Classrooms in the school are quite bare environments and do little to motivate learning, celebrate students’ achievements or to provide prompts and aids to stimulate thought.

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The memorisation of the Qur’an has an excellent tracking and assessment system in place. Work is well matched to the learning needs of individual pupils and effective use of ICT (audio) leads to the students’ Q’ur’anic memorisation being outstanding. Similarly, in ICT a good quality tracking system is used well to record students’ attainment and to target future learning. Unsurprisingly, students’ GCSE results in ICT are high, with 100% gaining at least a C grade and approximately 50% achieving the top A* or A grade in the 2011 examinations. Tracking of students’ progress varies across the school and is insufficiently used to target learning in some subjects.

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Since the last inspection the standards reached by students have risen significantly due to improvements in teaching and in the curriculum. This is illustrated by the considerable improvement to the percentage of students gaining five A* to C grades in GCSE examinations. In 2011 the provisional results are 74% with five GCSE passes, including mathematics and English, which is above the national average. Tracking data for this cohort of students shows that, compared to their attainment when they joined the school, this represented satisfactory progress for all groups. School data for the present students shows that good progress is made by all, especially in the last full academic year. Observations of lessons by inspectors confirm this good progress and the scrutiny of work in students’ books further supports this judgement.

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Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils

The quality of provision for students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Students’ behaviour is outstanding, due to the consistently high expectations of staff and the excellent role models they present. Moral development is outstanding. Students say they enjoy school and the questionnaires contained many comments such as, ‘My school is fantastic.’ Students are very appreciative of the high level of care shown by staff to ensure that their well-being is at the forefront of all that the school offers. This is illustrated by this poignant comment by one student,

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Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils

‘I don’t have enough words to praise my school, it kept me away from a bad environment. If I wasn’t at this school I would have been a criminal and drug dealer, like my mates, but school saved me from that, I will never forget this great favour of my teachers at this school.’

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Spiritual development is promoted outstandingly well and leads to students acquiring high self esteem and confidence. Students speak passionately and articulately about their faith and beliefs. They are knowledgeable about other faiths. Students’ social development is supported very well through a range of regular tasks and activities which enables students to take increasing responsibilities and to develop their independence. For example, older boys act as mentors to the younger students. A student council provides opportunities for sharing ideas and there is effective communication with the school’s leaders.

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Cultural development is satisfactory. Students have an excellent understanding of their own Muslim culture and learn about contrasting cultures through the curriculum. However, there are no first-hand experiences to enable students to extend their empathy with differing cultural groups in society both at home and overseas. The school is at an early stage of developing links with schools of contrasting cultures in the United Kingdom.

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Welfare, health and safety of pupils

The overall welfare, health and safety of students are good. The school meets the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. The school has in place all the required policies and procedures such as those for child protection, first aid and fire safety. Staff are trained appropriately and all required training is kept up to date. Students and staff say they feel safe. Relationships between staff and students and between students themselves are good. Students are confident they can turn to an adult if they need help and they say there is no bullying. Students learn about the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Some parents and carers and student questionnaires raised concerns about the menu and quality of food from the school kitchen as well as a shortage of opportunities for physical exercise. Inspectors judge that the menu is suitable but agree that more should be offered to students in the way of physical education and fitness activities.

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Suitability of staff, supply staff and proprietors

All the required safeguarding checks on staff are made, such as those by the Criminal Records Bureau, and are recorded appropriately in a single central register.

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Premises and accommodation at the school

The school’s premises and accommodation enable students to learn effectively, safely and securely. The school is arranged on two floors and classrooms are furnished in a traditional style with low wooden benches in most. There is a science laboratory, an ICT suite and a school office. On the ground floor there is a large carpeted hall which provides for physical education, some Islamic classes and for corporate worship. The school makes use of an adjacent grassed field for outdoor recreation and games.

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Provision of information

The school has an informative prospectus and a handbook for parents and carers. These provide all the required details. Reports are sent home and include suitable comments about students’ attainment and progress. The school complies with all requests from Ofsted and the Department for Education for information about the school.

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Manner in which complaints are to be handled

The school’s complaints policy and procedures fully meet the requirements.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

The proprietor has ensured that the school meets all The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010, schedule 1 (‘the Regulations’).

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What the school could do to improve further

While not required by regulations, the school might wish to consider the following points for development:

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What the school could do to improve further

 improve the overall quality of education by: - increasing the time available for the secular curriculum - extending the range of PE activities available to students - providing more investigate and practical learning experiences in science - improving the classroom learning environments - implementing a whole-school tracking system - expanding the range of visits and visitors to enrich students’ learning experiences - improving the inconsistencies in classroom practice by sharing the best practice in each identified area in this report  improve students’ cultural development by:

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What the school could do to improve further

- developing links with other schools to provide students with opportunities to socialise and learn with their peers in different environments

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What the school could do to improve further

- establishing international links to increase students’ awareness and understanding of diverse cultures.

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Inspection judgements

outstanding good satisfactory inadequate

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The quality of education

How well the curriculum and other activities meet the range of needs and interests of pupils 

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The quality of education

How effective teaching and assessment are in meeting the full range of pupils’ needs 

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The quality of education

How well pupils make progress in their learning 

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The quality of education

Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development Quality of provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 

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Welfare, health and safety of pupils

The overall welfare, health and safety of pupils 

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School details

Type of school Muslim secondary boys’ boarding and day school

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School details

Number of boarders 178 (includes post-school students) Number of pupils with a statement of special educational needs

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School details

Address of school South Street Savile Town Dewsbury West Yorkshire WF12 9NG

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of the Institute of Islamic Education, Dewsbury, WF12 9NG

Thank you for welcoming the inspection team into your school when we visited you recently. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with you and would like to share with you what we found out about your school. We judged that the Institute of Islamic Education is a good school. These are the main reasons why we judged the school to be good.

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Inspection of the Institute of Islamic Education, Dewsbury, WF12 9NG

 The headteacher, staff and the trustees are improving your school in many areas.  The quality of teaching and the curriculum are good and you make good progress so that you reach above average standards in your learning. Your memorisation of the Quran is outstanding.  You enjoy school, feel safe and behave exceptionally well.  Staff take very good care of you.  All schools need to develop and improve and we have asked that there are more investigations and practical activities in science lessons. You told us this and we agree. Also, we agree with you that there should be more physical education offered. Another thing which your parents and carers and you told us was that there are not enough trips and we have asked the school to arrange more in the future. Additionally, we think that the school should make links with other schools to give you a chance to find out at first hand what it is like in different communities.

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Inspection of the Institute of Islamic Education, Dewsbury, WF12 9NG

Thank you once again for all your help. We wish you well in the future.

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