The head teacher of an unregistered Islamic school that was prosecuted has defended her “unique” approach – and says it will remain open.
Nadia Ali, of Ambassadors High, in Streatham, London – which was condemned of “wilfully neglected” safeguarding by Ofsted – was given 120 hours community service in September.
The school failed a pre-registration inspection in February 2019, with inspectors judging it would not meet the Independent School Standards.
But in defiance of the report,the school remained open, leading to a raid o the premises and Ms Ali’s prosecution.
She called the pupils “happy learners” and denied it was breaking the law.
Current law says a school need to operate for 18 hours a week to be deemed as full time.
But Ms Ali says the school is only open for 18 hours a week only.
The inspection found staff kept books that said wives had no right to deny their husband and said parents should hit their children if they did not pray.
But they found no evidence children had access to the material.
Six out of 11 teachers had not had criminal record checks, nor did they have the skills to help pupils progress, the inspection found.
The south London school says it charges £2,500 a year per pupil and had 45 children on the roll at the time of its last inspection.
Ms Ali told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme: “I’ve been teaching for 15 years and I’ve seen how children need a different approach and that what we’re trying to do at Ambassadors.
“This is why I believe in what we’re trying to do because we’ve seen a lot of results within our children. They’re happy learners.”
Speaking of the books, Ms Ali said: “I don’t believe that just by finding some books or a paragraph from a book like that makes us go against the fundamental British values… because our children and us, we’ve grown in British society.”
