Darul Uloom Dawatul Imaan

Darul Uloom Dawatul Imaan Harry Street, Off Wakefield Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD4 9PH

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Inadequate

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Following the previous standard inspection in October 2015, leaders have worked tirelessly to improve the school and now ensure that the school consistently meets the independent school standards.  Leaders are passionate, enthusiastic and committed to continually improving the school. Leaders agree that their next priority is to evaluate effectively the strengths and weaknesses of the school following all of the actions for improvement.  Leaders and directors are successfully improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in the school because they embrace opportunities to work with, and learn from, other school leaders. Through this, pupils are making more progress in most subjects, but there is further work to do to ensure that progress in science improves quickly.  Pupils say that they feel safe at school. Bullying is rare and pupils are confident that they can ask staff for help if they need it.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils make good progress from their starting points in almost all subjects. Leaders are proud of pupils’ attainment. Current pupils’ work shows that they are continuing this trend of improvement; however, at times, some tasks lack challenge for the most able pupils.  Leaders ensure that pupils’ personal development and welfare is a priority at the school. Through Islamic studies, citizenship and religious studies, pupils learn how to stay safe and lead healthy lives. The school is rightly proud of the work it does to produce well- balanced citizens of the future.  Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around school is excellent. Pupils are respectful of staff and one another. They are extremely polite, courteous towards visitors, and happy to share their opinions about the school.  Development of the post-16 provision is ensuring that a broader curriculum offer is now in place, which enables students to study

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

vocational and academic qualifications which match their career aspirations.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school meets the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve the quality of leadership and management by developing the school’s self-evaluation, so that leaders are astutely aware of what the school does well and what it can continue to develop.  Continue to develop the quality of teaching and learning so that: – the most able pupils receive greater challenge in their learning to ensure that they make maximum progress – pupils’ progress in science improves as they access a greater range of practical activities to enhance their understanding and application of important scientific concepts.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 Following the previous inspection, leaders now ensure that they consistently meet the independent school standards. Leaders develop appropriate action plans to improve the school and implement them effectively. Through this, they are improving outcomes for pupils.  Directors’ and governors’ restructure of the senior leadership team is ensuring that leaders are very clear about their responsibilities and are accountable for improving the quality of education in the school. Consequently, each leader is effectively developing and implementing strategies for improvement.  Teaching and learning are good and improving. Leaders ensure that teachers receive appropriate professional development to support them to improve their teaching further. Leaders’ evaluations of teaching and learning demonstrate improvements that are present in lessons, for example in the quality of teachers’ questioning and in books where pupils’

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

present their work well.  Leaders seek appropriate support, advice and reviews from colleagues in other schools. This helps leaders to improve the quality of education. Leaders work with other school leaders to improve their evaluations of the quality of teaching and learning and to standardise and moderate pupils’ work. This helps them to be increasingly confident about the progress pupils are making.  Leaders implement an appropriate programme of development and performance management for teachers, based on what they identify from their evaluations of teaching and school improvement priorities. Teachers and leaders from both the Islamic curriculum and the secular curriculum work very well with each other to develop the overall quality of teaching in the school.  Pupils have many opportunities to develop their social, moral, spiritual and cultural knowledge alongside their understanding of life in modern Britain. Leaders ensure that

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

this is weaved throughout the well-taught Islamic and secular curriculums and couple it with extra-curricular opportunities, for example through museum visits and sporting activities. Pupils are preparing well to contribute to society through a wide variety of charity work and their career aspirations.  Leaders agree that the next stages of their action planning process would now benefit from a strong self-evaluation of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, particularly around the quality of the schemes of work leaders have in place for pupils’ learning. This is needed so that school leaders can evaluate the success of their actions and plan next steps.

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Governance

 Directors are knowledgeable about the school and receive information about the progress the school is making following the previous inspection. Directors have appropriate skills and ask questions about the quality of education which challenge leaders to improve the school.  Directors access appropriate training to ensure that they keep up to date with the latest government guidance. Directors receive training about child protection, safer recruitment and the ‘Prevent’ duty.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The safeguarding policy is available on the school’s website and is compliant with the latest government guidance.  Leaders ensure that all staff receive training, so that they are knowledgeable about their roles in protecting pupils. Staff are aware of the warning signs to look out for should a pupil be vulnerable. Leaders ensure that all appropriate checks are carried out on adults who work with children and leaders record these checks on the single central record.  Leaders are successful in creating a culture in which pupils feel safe. Pupils say that they have staff to speak to if they need help. Displays around school remind pupils of the staff who are responsible for safeguarding and provide helpful information about what to do if they have a concern or worry. Communication with parents and carers takes place regularly through reporting on pupils’ progress, assessing medical needs and contacting

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Safeguarding

parents if any concerns arise.  Pupils receive appropriate education about the risks they may face as they grow up. Pupils talk about how to stay safe online and the school has appropriate filters in place to protect pupils from accessing inappropriate material. Leaders and pupils talk openly about the dangers associated with, for example, radicalisation and extremism and how to stay safe when using the internet. Many external speakers, including the local police, further strengthen this aspect of education.  Appropriate measures are in place to ensure that pupils in the school are well supervised and do not mix unsupervised with students beyond school age.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Since the previous inspection, leaders have improved the quality of teaching, learning and assessment for both the Islamic and secular curriculums in the school. This is leading to improving outcomes for pupils in all subjects and year groups, although progress in science is not improving as quickly as other subjects.  Pupils and teachers have excellent relationships. Teachers create a safe learning environment where it is okay to make mistakes and learn from them and to ask questions. Pupils are keen to answer teachers’ probing questions to demonstrate their learning. For example, in a religious education lesson, pupils learn and ask challenging questions about different religious views on topical issues such as contraception and marriage.  In some lessons, teachers model concepts really well. For example, in mathematics, pupils had to think hard about how to work out the median and then evaluate whether this was

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

the best method to record an average mark for a test. The teacher’s modelling of this concept effectively supported them to do so.  Teachers take every opportunity to develop pupils’ literacy skills. This happens in lessons when teachers frequently ask pupils to read aloud and in pupils’ workbooks, where pupils take time to correct their spellings.  Leaders’ overhaul of the assessment system, using support from other leaders from local schools, is ensuring that assessments of pupils’ learning that take place are effective, and that teachers have the opportunity to standardise and moderate work with other teachers. The leader of the Islamic curriculum is designing a subject-specific assessment system to encourage rapid progress and success in this subject. Through this better system, teachers are more aware of how well pupils do in their subjects.  Teachers have strong and secure subject knowledge, which they use to enthuse pupils in

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

their learning. Through this, pupils are keen to learn and find out more. Pupils are growing in confidence in their ability as learners.  Teachers, overall, use lesson time well and take into account pupils’ prior learning and attainment. However, teachers do not always challenge the most able pupils consistently to make the rapid progress of which they are capable because some work is too easy for them.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils are beginning to develop their confidence because they trust their teachers, and as teaching is improving, pupils’ knowledge is improving, which supports them in volunteering answers in class.  Pupils say that they are encouraged to speak to staff and each other if they have any issues. The citizenship curriculum, alongside assemblies and other subjects, ensures that pupils know how to keep themselves safe and healthy, physically, emotionally and mentally, and how to contribute fully to a modern British society. The school is very proud of the work it does to educate pupils beyond the academic curriculum.  Bullying is a rare occurrence because if pupils do not treat each other well, leaders tackle this quickly and efficiently so that incidents do not progress to bullying. Pupils say that if it happens, they are confident that reporting it will end it.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils conduct themselves with maturity as they move around the school. In lessons, pupils follow teachers’ instructions swiftly and get on with their work. Disruption to learning is rare.  Leaders ensure that they deal with incidents of misbehaviour quickly. Records clearly show that they take swift action and there are very few repeats of incidents. There are no fixed-term exclusions and the school does not use any alternative education provision.  Pupils attend well and know that good attendance allows them to learn more.  While most pupils take pride in their work, not all do. In some subjects, such as mathematics, not all pupils present their work well. Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve with their presentation are at times not high enough.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Since the previous inspection, pupils make more progress than they did in previous academic years. This is because teaching and learning are greatly improved. Overall, pupils achieve outcomes in GCSEs and A levels above or in line with national averages.  Current pupils make strong progress from their starting points in most subjects across all year groups. Where progress is not as strong, for example in science, new teachers have been appointed and leaders have purchased many additional resources to develop pupils’ practical skills and ensure that they develop a strong understanding of important concepts. It is, however, too soon to see the full effect of these changes on pupils’ progress.  Leaders ensure that the curriculum meets the independent school standards and they carry out regular reviews to ensure that it continues to meet pupils’ needs.  Through appropriate careers advice and guidance, leaders ensure that pupils receive

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Outcomes for pupils Good

support in achieving their career aspirations. External careers advisers meet with pupils in all year groups. All pupils progress into education, employment or training.  Pupils enjoy reading and read widely and often. Pupils apply their reading skills well to new texts. Pupils access the library regularly and there is a wide variety of modern fiction and non-fiction texts for pupils to choose. Pupils say that if there were a book they would really like to read, school leaders would make every effort to purchase it for the school library.  In Islamic studies, pupils take different courses. Approximately half of the pupils study the Koran through recitation and memorisation. The remainder of pupils study hadith, the life of the Prophet Muhammad and Islamic traditions and beliefs.  Most-able pupils make good progress, but do not make better progress than this because, at times, the activities teachers provide are not sufficiently challenging to meet their

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Sixth form provision Good

 Teaching is good and continues to improve in the sixth form. Teachers ask good questions, which make students think and deepen their understanding in the subjects they study. Good teaching is leading to good outcomes.  Students in the sixth form are positive role models for younger pupils. Their conduct, attitudes to learning and behaviour are exemplary.  Leaders ensure that sixth-form students have many opportunities to learn about personal, social, health and economic education, as well as fundamental British values. Through a taught citizenship programme, work experience, careers guidance and extra-curricular opportunities, students understand the risks they may face in the future, make decisions and contribute fully to society. Students value the many opportunities to help others through charity work.  Leaders ensure that the curriculum is appropriate for students. Following the previous standard inspection, a wider variety of subjects is now on offer to meet the needs and

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Sixth form provision Good

aspirations of students. Vocational subjects, such as business qualifications, and academic subjects, such as languages, English, mathematics and sociology, alongside their Islamic studies, provide choice for the students to help them achieve their aspirations and career goals.  Students make good progress on academic and vocational qualifications in the sixth form. It is too soon to see how well students do on the recently introduced vocational courses, such as business studies, and the recently introduced academic subjects, such as sociology.  All students take part in work experience in the sixth form. Students say that this helps them to understand the expectations and demands of the workplace. However, not all work experience placements align with students’ career aspirations. Students say that they still benefit because they develop their interpersonal skills.  All students who begin post-16 study at the school remain on their courses to completion.

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Sixth form provision Good

The number choosing to enter the sixth form has increased from 28% in previous academic years to 75% in this academic year.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, 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.

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School details

School category Independent boarding school

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School details

Number of pupils on the school roll 169 (23 pupils in 18–25)

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School details

Of which, number on roll in sixth form 25

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School details

Proprietor Darul Uloom Dawatul Imaan Ltd

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School details

Date of previous inspection 19–21 October 2015

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Information about this school

 Darul Uloom Dawatul Imaan is an independent Muslim boys’ boarding school for pupils aged from 11 to 25 years. The school selects pupils of average and above average levels of ability through the setting of an entrance examination.  There are no pupils on roll who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.  Following the previous inspection, the senior leadership has been restructured and the six members of the senior leadership team now have clearly defined roles.  The school’s last standard inspection took place in October 2015. The school has also received two progress monitoring visits, one in November 2016 and one in April 2017.  The school does not use any alternative education providers.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection was carried out over two and a half days with half a day of notice.  The boarding provision was not inspected during this inspection.  The inspectors toured all buildings currently being used by the school, both inside and outside.  Inspectors observed teaching and learning in a range of lessons and made some shorter visits to classrooms. Senior leaders observed some lessons jointly with the inspectors.  Inspectors held meetings with senior leaders, middle leaders, staff, pupils, the proprietor and members of the governing body.  Inspectors reviewed the work in a number of pupils’ workbooks alongside school leaders.  Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around school was observed. Inspectors met formally and informally with groups of pupils.  Inspectors evaluated a range of documentation, including leaders’ evaluations of the school and development plans, admissions and attendance registers, policies, minutes

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Information about this inspection

from governors’ meetings, monitoring information, and child protection and safeguarding information. Inspectors also looked closely at progress information provided by school leaders and all other documents and policies as required as part of the independent school standards.  Inspectors took into account the school’s evidence of communication with parents. There were no responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and no responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for staff.

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Inspection team

Debbie Redshaw, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Steve Rogers Ofsted Inspector guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

Parent View You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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Inspection team

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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