School must do more about ‘British values’

OLDHAM Academy North is among the first schools in the country to be told to do more to help pupils develop “British values”.

Schools are now judged on how well they promote these following reports of the alleged takeover plot by hardline Muslims in Birmingham.

But the academy insists it doesn’t have a cultural problem.

Ofsted visited the Royton academy, whose pupils are mostly from ethnic minorities in June. The school was previously considered to need improvements but inspectors found “effective action” had been taken to turn things round.

But Ofsted said the school needed to take further action to “develop students’ British values of tolerance, democracy and rule of law, by developing respect for people’s differences and for all adults who work in the academy.”

Oldham Academy North replaced Grange School, Oldham, and moved into a £16.8 million building in Broadway in April last year. It is sponsored by the troubled education charity E-ACT which has been stripped of several of its academies.

Principal Colette Burgess left to join Waterhead Academy and has been replaced by interim head Martin Knowles. He said: “Ofsted has confirmed that Oldham Academy North is taking effective action. The academy has always incorporated fundamental British values such as respecting diversity, the rule of law, and democracy into its curriculum and daily life, and is refining its action plan even further.”