A SECOND damning report on Derby's failing Muslim free school is expected to say that no progress has been made in the past few weeks since it was placed in special measures.
It follows a monitoring visit to Al-Madinah School by Ofsted – Office for Standards in Education – which took place two weeks ago as a result of a full inspection back in October which said the school was "in chaos" and "inadequate".
The latest report, which is due out tomorrow, is expected to be "very critical" and "very negative", according to Barry Day, chief executive of Greenwood Dale Trust, who was asked by the Government to investigate how the school could be turned around.
But despite the fact "the school appears to have gone backwards in the past couple of months", he believes it could have a future.
He has just completed a 10-day assessment of the school – which has sites in Nelson Street and Friar Gate – and is preparing to make recommendations to the Department for Education and his own board of trustees.
He has also drawn up an action plan and completed a senior leadership report for Ofsted.
He said: "The monitoring report is not going to make good reading. It will be very negative about the school following on from the previous report.
"But the action plan that we have supplied has been approved by Ofsted – without it they would have shut the school.
"I am willing to supply staff to help turn things around but it won't be easy and will involve a great deal of hard work and for the time being I recommend that Safina Higgins remains as acting head as she has been the saviour of the situation.
"But the school is unlikely to become part of our trust because, as I have told the DfE already, specialist finance and health and safety experts need to sort issues out separately, while we concentrate on helping out with the academic side."
Mr Day has promised to supply some of the staff from his 22 academies to help the school over the next few months and he is likely to take a place himself on the governing body when it is re-organised after the end of January, when the current trustees are due to leave.
Having carried out a "due diligence" exercise, Mr Day has concluded that urgent changes need to be made.
He said: "The primary school in Friar Gate is not fit for purpose and the play area is not even safe. We have stopped children using the playground but of course that leaves them without an outdoor exercise area.
"Midland House, in Nelson Street, where the secondary children are based, is about a quarter full and there are not enough staff left to manage both sites properly.
"So it would make sense to combine both age groups on the Nelson Street site as soon as possible and creating extra outdoor areas there."
Mr Day is anxious that more staff are recruited and said that some former staff, who left because of the "dysfunctional" state of the school, as Ofsted reported in October, might wish to return.
He is also concerned that existing pupils do not leave because the school could become unviable.
Four parent representatives from the newly-formed school's Parents and Friends Association listened to Mr Day's conclusions and were particularly interested to hear that the Muslim faith aspect of the school would remain.
Aftab Rehman, who has two daughters at the school, said: "We wanted our children to attend the school because of the faith element to learn good morals and values.
"There would be no reason for it to remain open without the faith element. We realise the school needs a strong governing body and that the previous one lacked the expertise, although their intentions were good.
"We are confident that parents will want to bring their children here once they realise that the expertise Mr Day can bring is being put into action.
He has a vision for the future and the backing of the Government which is a powerful combination moving forward.
"We want to be the best school in the UK."
Mr Day said that he hoped the next Ofsted monitoring visit, which could be in late January, would show some progress based on the plans under way and being proposed for January.
He said: "I have spoken with Schools Minister Lord Nash, who is carefully monitoring the situation at the school.
"He has told me he wants the school to prosper."
Arshed J Ahmed, secretary of the PFA, who has one child at the school, added: "It has been a very worrying time for everyone. The community had faith in the school and now we need to show them they were right to do so and, if necessary, re-earn their trust."
Mr Day, whose trust runs the City of Derby Academy, formerly Sinfin Community School, and specialises in sorting out challenging schools, is planning further meetings with the PFA and staff at the school.
He said he was keeping the current trustees – Shazia Parveen and Shabhan Rehmat – fully informed.
Al-Madinah School hit the headlines after Lord Nash ordered the school to stop insisting that non-Muslim members of staff should wear a hijab – Islamic head dress – and insisted that an action plan was drawn up within 15 days of the original damning Ofsted inspection.
Mr Day was called in three weeks ago.
