Darul Uloom Leicester

Darul Uloom Leicester 119 Loughborough Road, Leicester, Leicestershire LE4 5LN

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Inspection dates 30 January – 1 February 2018

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Sixth form provision Requires improvement Overall experiences and progress of children and young people in the boarding provision Good

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Inadequate

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school does not meet all of the independent school standards and the minimum standards for the boarding provision.  The quality of teaching is not consistently good across the whole school.  Too few pupils, including the most able, make good progress, particularly in Years 10 and 11.  Leaders’ oversight of the progress of different pupil groups is not sharp enough.  Leaders do not ensure that records relating to admissions are consistently accurate.  Not all teachers apply the school’s marking policy consistently.  The curriculum does not provide older pupils with sufficient opportunities to develop their creative and aesthetic skills.  Sixth-form students’ progress in the national curriculum subjects is not strong enough.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The proprietors and senior leaders have taken effective action to improve the quality of the educational provision since the last inspection.  Senior leaders’ significant improvements to the boarding provision have ensured that boarders now receive a good experience.  Pupils in Years 7 and 8 make better progress than pupils in Years 10 and 11.  Pupils now have access to a greater range of enrichment and extra-curricular activities than they did previously.  Pupils attend school regularly and behave well.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

Compliance with regulatory requirements and national minimum standards for boarding schools

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school does not meet the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) regulations 2014 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements or the national minimum standards for boarding schools. The details are listed in the report.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Leaders must: – ensure that the school consistently meets all of the independent school standards – sharpen their analysis of the progress that the different groups of pupils make, particularly the most able pupils – develop further the links with other schools to provide teachers, including those who teach the secular academic subjects in the sixth form, with more opportunities to learn from the practice of other professionals – ensure that all teachers consistently use the school’s marking policy – increase the opportunities for pupils in Year 10 and 11 and students in the sixth form to develop their creative and aesthetic skills – ensure that all records, particularly those that relate to admissions, are detailed and accurate.  Improve the quality of teaching so that all pupils, including students studying the secular academic subjects in the sixth form, make good progress by ensuring that all teachers:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– use information about pupils’ and students’ prior learning effectively to plan tasks that are suitably challenging, particularly for the most able – ask probing questions, to allow pupils and students to extend their thinking and so deepen their learning.  Improve the boarding provision by: – being rigorous and robust in recording any child protection issues – following up safeguarding concerns shared with external agencies – maintaining accurate and precise records, particularly when communicating with the local authority – improving the range of food available for the boarders.

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The school must meet the following independent school standards

 The proprietors ensure that teaching at the school: – enables pupils to acquire new knowledge and make good progress according to their ability so that they increase their understanding and develop their skills in the subjects taught (paragraph 3, 3(a)) – involves well-planned lessons and effective teaching methods, activities and management of class time (paragraph 3, 3(c)) – shows a good understanding of the aptitudes, needs and prior attainments of the pupils, and ensures that these are taken into account in the planning of lessons (paragraph 3, 3(d)).  The proprietors ensure that an admission and attendance register is maintained in accordance with the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 (paragraph 15).  The proprietors ensure that persons with leadership and management responsibilities at the school demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the

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The school must meet the following independent school standards

independent school standards are met consistently, and that they fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently (paragraphs 34(1), 34(1)(a) and 34(1)(b)).

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schools

 The school ensures that arrangements are made to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils at the school (NMS 11.1).

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Requires improvement

 The proprietors and senior leaders have not ensured that the school meets all of the independent school standards and the national minimum standards.  The independent school standards that the school does not meet relate to the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress, and senior leaders’ oversight of admissions records.  The national minimum standard that the boarding provision does not meet relates to the actions that leaders take in response to concerns about pupils’ welfare. This includes the records that they keep and the communication that they maintain with local authorities when resolving such concerns.  The proprietors and senior leaders have taken effective action to resolve the multiple, serious and wide-ranging concerns that inspectors raised at the last inspection about the education and boarding provisions, including concerns about safeguarding.  Good leadership of the boarding provision has ensured that boarders receive a good

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Requires improvement

overall experience.  Leadership of the education provision requires improvement as senior leaders have not made sure that the quality of teaching is of a consistent enough quality to ensure that pupils make good progress.  Through their regular visits to lessons, senior leaders have a secure understanding of the quality of teaching, and how it must improve further. They have taken effective action to improve the quality of teaching. However, leaders have not ensured that teaching is consistently good across the whole school.  Senior leaders’ oversight of pupils’ achievement now rightly focuses on pupils’ progress, rather than their attainment. This has helped to improve the progress that pupils make, which previously was inadequate. However, senior leaders have not ensured that all pupils, including the most able, make consistently good progress.  Senior leaders do not give sufficient consideration to the progress that different groups of

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Requires improvement

pupils are able to make, particularly the most able. Leaders have not identified that too few most-able pupils make as much progress as they could, particularly in Years 10 and 11. Leaders have not ensured that teachers plan challenging activities that allow the most able to attain the highest levels.  Senior leaders have ensured that teachers receive effective opportunities to work with each other to develop their classroom practice. This has helped to ensure that the quality of teaching is improving.  These opportunities to work with other teachers have included working with professionals from other schools. This has allowed teachers to learn from the practice of other professionals and to check the accuracy of their assessment of pupils’ work. Leaders recognise that there is a need to widen the range of schools that their teachers can work with to secure the necessary improvements to the quality of teaching.

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Requires improvement

 Since the previous inspection, senior leaders have ensured that more time is devoted to a broad and balanced secular curriculum. This has enabled pupils’ attainment and progress to improve as they have more opportunities to develop their skills and understanding across the full range of subjects that they study. However, pupils in Years 10 and 11 and students in the sixth form do not receive enough opportunities to study subjects that develop their creative and aesthetic skills.  Pupils have access to a wider range of extra-curricular than they did previously. These activities complement the curriculum, and enable pupils to develop their skills beyond the classroom, particularly their interests in sport. Inter-school sporting competitions, charity fundraising fun days and visits to a local nursing home ensure that pupils, including boarders, engage well with the local community.  A well-designed programme of enrichment activities and a comprehensive personal, social,

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Requires improvement

health and economic education programme provide pupils with effective opportunities to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural education. Visits to a diverse range of places of worship, for example, enable pupils to learn about different religious beliefs. Teachers encourage pupils to discuss current events. In so doing, they ensure that pupils understand the importance of freedom of speech and individual liberty. Pupils understand and respect the laws of the country and how these relate to Islamic law.  The proprietors have engaged well with professionals external to the school to improve the quality of the school’s education and boarding provisions. Due to this, the proprietors have a better understanding of the independent school standards and national minimum standards than that seen previously. They have taken effective action to support the school leaders in their work to improve the quality of both provisions.

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Governance

 The proprietors have ensured that members of the governing body have increased oversight of the quality of the education and boarding provisions.  Governors undertake their own checks on the quality of both provisions, through visiting lessons and meeting pupils and boarders. This has ensured that they have an accurate understanding of the improvements that have taken place since the previous inspection. Governors also know where further improvements are necessary.  Governors know that teaching is not consistently good enough across the whole school to ensure that all pupils make good progress.  Governors have undertaken a check on their own skills as a collective body. Where they have identified gaps, they have sought external support.  Where they possess the skills and expertise to do so, governors are quick to provide senior leaders with effective support.  Governors understand their responsibilities to keep the school’s pupils safe.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  The school has an up-to-date safeguarding policy that is available on the school website.  Senior leaders closely monitor pupils’ and boarders’ welfare. When they have a safeguarding concern, they take effective action to support the pupil. In this, they work with both parents and external agencies.  Senior leaders are sensitive to issues in the local area that may affect their pupils’ welfare. They take effective action to ensure that pupils know how to keep themselves safe when such issues may affect them. For example, a police officer has recently led an assembly for all pupils on how to be safe in the local area.  All staff have received training in safeguarding from the local authority. They understand their safeguarding responsibilities. They know the signs to look for in checking on pupils’ welfare. They know what they must do if they have a concern about a pupil’s well-being.

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Safeguarding

 Pupils, including boarders, say that they are safe at the school. They say that they have adults to whom they can speak if they have a concern. They are confident that staff will take effective action to help them to resolve their concern.  There is a worry box into which pupils, including boarders, can post any worries that they may have. The pastoral mentor regularly checks this box, and provides well-targeted support to those pupils or boarders who need it.  All of the parents who expressed a view through Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, said that the school cares for their child well and that their child feels safe at the school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The quality of teaching is not consistently good across the whole school. Where teaching is less effective, too few pupils make good progress, particularly the most able pupils.  Not all teachers set pupils, particularly the most able pupils, work that is sufficiently challenging. Consequently, these pupils do not make the rapid progress that they should.  Teachers do not use questioning well enough to check pupils’ understanding and to challenge them to think deeply about the topics that they are studying.  Teachers do not use the school’s marking policy consistently. As a result, not all pupils have a clear understanding of how they can improve their work.  Teachers have good subject knowledge. However, not all use this knowledge well enough to set pupils suitably challenging tasks that enable them to make good progress.  Where learning is more effective, teachers ask carefully considered questions that explore

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

pupils’ understanding fully. They identify quickly when pupils do not understand, and so provide appropriate help. They ensure that pupils who are secure in their understanding receive more challenging work.  Teachers plan comprehensively to create opportunities for pupils to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding through their secular and Islamic studies. In a Year 8 mathematics lesson, pupils considered the environmental impact of leaving household appliances on standby as they calculated the electricity that each appliance uses.  There are very strong relationships between pupils and teachers. These come from the very high expectations that teachers have of pupils’ behaviour, to which pupils respond well. Pupils behave well in lessons, even when the work that teachers set them lacks the necessary challenge.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.  Inspectors found an occasion when senior leaders of the boarding provision did not maintain sufficiently detailed records of a concern about the relationships between boarders. Furthermore, the leaders did not follow up their concerns in a timely fashion. However, this occasion did not cause these pupils to be unsafe. More widely, inspectors found that boarders feel safe and know how to keep safe.  Pupils have very positive attitudes to their learning and want to do well. However, teachers’ failure to plan work that is suitably challenging does not enable all pupils, particularly the most able, to achieve as highly as they could.  Pupils learn about how to keep safe in a variety of circumstances, including when online and when out in the local community.  Pupils have received presentations from local agencies on the dangers of radicalisation

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Personal development and welfare

and of child sexual exploitation.  Pupils understand the importance of the choices that they make to keep themselves healthy. They know of the different risks to their health, including drugs and alcohol.  Pupils know to respect all people, including those who meet the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010 and those who hold opinions different to their own. Pupils understand that people are entitled to have different beliefs and values.  Pupils understand the different forms of bullying, including physical and emotional. They say that bullying is rare in both the education and boarding provisions. Pupils say that when bullying does occur, leaders are quick to deal with it.  The school records confirm that there are few incidents of bullying. When it does occur, leaders provide well-targeted support to all pupils and boarders involved.  Pupils across all year groups receive comprehensive, impartial careers guidance to

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Personal development and welfare

prepare them for their next steps. Careers advisors visit the school to meet with the pupils, as do visitors from different professions. Pupils in Years 10 and 11 attend an annual national skills conference.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils conduct themselves well around the school, including during social times.  Pupils behave well in lessons, even when the work that teachers set them is not sufficiently challenging.  Attendance is well above average. This includes for those pupils who are not boarders.  Pupils are punctual to their lessons. They arrive at their lessons prepared to learn.  There are very few occasions when pupils receive an exclusion from the school due to their behaviour.  On occasions, pupils, particularly those who are new to the school, engage in poor behaviour. These pupils receive close support from the leaders to help them to manage their behaviour and to adapt quickly to the school’s expectations.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress is variable because teaching is not consistently good across the school. Where teachers do not plan suitably challenging work, too few pupils, including the most able, achieve as highly as they should.  Pupils who completed their GCSEs in 2017 made broadly average progress across a range of subjects, including in English language, English literature, science, information and communication technology and Urdu.  Too few most-able pupils made good progress in their GCSEs in 2017. This continues to be the case, particularly for the most able pupils currently in Years 10 and 11. This is because, over time, these pupils have not had sufficiently challenging work to enable them to deepen their understanding and attain the highest grades.  Greater proportions of pupils currently in Year 11 are on track to make at least the progress that they should, including in English language, mathematics and science.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Pupils whose prior attainment has been average make stronger progress than their most- able peers across a range of subjects. This is because they receive work that is at the right level.  Pupils’ progress in mathematics and science is stronger than in other subjects. This is because there has been greater consistency in the quality of teaching in these subjects.  Pupils currently in Years 7 and 8 are making stronger progress than older pupils. This is because pupils in Years 7 and 8 have arrived at the school during the time when senior leaders have taken effective action to improve the quality of teaching and increase the teaching time of national curriculum subjects.  Pupils attained highly in GCSE religious education in 2017. This high attainment reflected good progress for pupils from all starting points.  All pupils who completed their GCSE studies in 2017 moved on to appropriate and sustained places of education or training.

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Sixth form provision Requires improvement

 Students’ progress in their sixth-form studies is variable. Students make strong progress in their Islamic studies, due to the good teaching and support that they receive.  Too few students make strong progress in academic subjects other than Islamic studies. This is because the quality of teaching is not consistently good in these subjects.  Although leaders have taken action to ensure that the curriculum meets students’ needs, there are too few opportunities for them to develop their creative and aesthetic skills.  The headteacher, who is the leader of the sixth form, has an accurate understanding of the strengths of the sixth-form provision and the areas that require further improvement. With other senior leaders, he is currently reviewing the secular curriculum, to ensure that students engage more effectively with their studies and attain more highly.  Students learn how to be safe, including when online.

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Sixth form provision Requires improvement

 Students have learned about the dangers of radicalisation, particularly through presentations from members of the local ‘Prevent’ team.  Attendance rates are very high. Very few students are absent from school.  Students receive opportunities to discuss current affairs and to consider issues that are of a spiritual, moral, social or cultural nature. Recently, for example, students have considered women’s rights, animal rights and racism. Students have weekly opportunities to lead discussions on these areas.  Students are able to undertake work experience that is appropriate to their course of study and their next steps.  Students receive comprehensive, impartial careers guidance. Students have completed online learning to develop their employability skills and have attended a national skills conference. Students who wish to study at university at the end of Year 13 receive effective support from the headteacher to attend university information days.

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Sixth form provision Requires improvement

 In 2017, all of the students who left the school at the end of Year 13 moved on to appropriate places of education or work with training, including university and apprenticeships.

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Good

 Senior leaders have taken effective action to resolve the many significant weaknesses that inspectors found in the boarding provision at the last standard inspection. The overall experience of boarders is good, due to the improvements that leaders have brought about. These improvements have come about because of the good quality of the leadership of the boarding provision.  The quality of care and support in the boarding provision requires improvement. Inspectors found that on one occasion, senior leaders of the boarding provision did not keep detailed records of a concern about the relationships between boarders. Furthermore, while staff informed the local authority of their concern in a timely manner, they did not follow up this concern. It was clear to inspectors, however, that pupils’ safety was not at risk on this occasion. Leaders recognise how their record-keeping and communication with the local authority should have been more robust on this occasion.

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Good

 Boarders say that they feel happy and that they enjoy their boarding experience. They say that they receive opportunities to share their views, wishes and feelings, including through the student council. Boarders say that staff listen to, and act upon, their views.  Boarders say that they feel safe in their accommodation. They say that there is always someone whom they can turn to if they have a concern. They are confident that the staff will take effective action to help them to resolve their concern.  At the centre of staff’s and managers’ practice is the aim of securing the well-being of boarders, and improving their outcomes. Staff celebrate boarders’ achievements and encourage them to have regular contact with their families.  Boarders learn how to stay healthy and how to be safe, including when online.  Staff and managers have ensured that the procedures for providing boarders with medicines is safe. They have ensured that these procedures are effective in meeting

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Good

boarders’ health needs.  Boarders have access to their local community, including through attending clubs and going on trips out. While they do not have access to a television, improved internet access ensures that boarders receive regular opportunities to keep up to date with local, national and global events.  Staff undertake regular checks on the environment and the equipment that boarders use, to ensure that the provision continues to be safe.  Most boarders report that the food is good. However, some said that there could be a wider range of healthy food available to them.

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School details

Social care unique reference number SC006329

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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. The inspection of boarding provision was carried out under the Children Act 1989, as amended by the Care Standards Act 2000, having regard to the national minimum standards for boarding schools.

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School details

School category Independent boarding school

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School details

Of which, number on roll in sixth form 21

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School details

Email address info@darululoomleicester.org

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School details

Date of previous inspection 1–3 December 2015

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Information about this school

 Darul Uloom is an independent Islamic educational institute for male pupils aged 11 to 23 years.  It is located in the Belgrave area of Leicester and offers secondary education.  The school also offers further and advanced Islamic education for those up to 23 years. This prepares students to become imams or Islamic theologians. Inspectors did not inspect this aspect of the school’s provision.  The school does not use any alternative providers of education.  There are 136 pupils on roll, 66 of whom are boarders.  There are no pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities who have a statement of special needs or an education, health and care plan.  The school aims to ‘nurture self-respect and confident and to raise the self-esteem of its pupils as Muslims, enabling them to integrate successfully in the multicultural society without compromising their Islamic beliefs and values.’ The school’s motto is: ‘Learn,

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Information about this school

Practise, and Serve.’  The headteacher took up his post in September 2016. A new chair of governors took up his post in August 2016.  The trust has purchased land adjacent to the school to increase the capacity of the school in the near future.  The previous standard inspection took place on 1–3 December 2015.  Progress monitoring inspections of the education and boarding provisions took place on 25 May 2016 and 10 November 2016.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed learning in 18 lessons, the majority of which they conducted jointly with a senior leader. During their visits to lessons, inspectors spoke with pupils and looked at pupils’ books.  Inspectors also looked at pupils’ books as a separate activity.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher and other senior leaders, including the principal, vice-principal and the head of boarding.  The lead inspector met with governors and trustees, including the chair of governors and the chair of trustees. A social care regulatory inspector met with the governor who oversees the boarding provision.  The lead inspector spoke with the school’s improvement advisor by telephone and met with a member of the local ‘Prevent’ team. The lead inspector also spoke with representatives of several local authorities.  Inspectors spoke formally and informally with boarders and day pupils.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktime and lunchtime. Inspectors also

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Information about this inspection

observed the boarding arrangements during the evening.  Inspectors took into account the 20 responses to Ofsted’s online survey for parents, including the 15 responses to the free-text service.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation relating to the school’s provision, including: self-evaluation and school improvement; behaviour; attendance; achievement; governance; and safeguarding.  Inspectors also looked at a range of other documentation to check the school’s compliance with the independent school standards and the national minimum standards for boarding.  The lead inspector scrutinised the school’s recruitment procedures and records of the checks that senior leaders make on new staff and volunteers.

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Inspection team

Simon Hollingsworth, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Caroline Brailsford Social Care Regulatory Inspector

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Inspection team

Cathey Moriarty Social Care Regulatory 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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