trojan horse birmingham letter

He helped institute reforms and recruited Pakistani British Muslim teachers and volunteers, who often connected to the students differently than teachers who were white and non-Muslim. A full list of services can be found on our AZ listings page. Where can I read the original Trojan Horse letter? - Reddit It was not good enough. Only England and Wales jurisdiction apply in all legal matters. The Department for Education said: "We make no apology for working to protect young people from all forms of harm. "The Trojan Horse Affair," an eight-part mystery, investigates a strange letter that transformed Britain and the lives of many British Muslims. Up til Trojan Horse, I felt the people in our communities who the authorities would concern themselves with were deserving (of attention) - they were either actively involved in something dodgy or were affiliated to something worrying, and the rest of us Muslims were mere collateral damage.. More than twenty Birmingham schools were investigated; no jihadist plot was found. Investigation Report: Trojan Horse Letter (The Kershaw Report) "Council leader calls. We now have academies that can be set up by any religious organisation or individual. Alas, they will not be much helped by the official reports of Clarke, Ian Kershaw and Ofsted. The Trojan Horse Affair Introduction Listen More from Serial Illustration by Lucy Jones A strange letter appears on a city councilor's desk in Birmingham, England, laying out an elaborate. Student journalist Meena, 20, from east Birmingham, said she was keen to continue to press for answers, saying she had attended a school closed down as as result of the Trojan Horse probes. Neither investigation was tasked with identifying the author of the letter or establishing whether it was genuine. In 2014 an anonymous letter was sent to journalists detailing a 5 step plan to Islamise schools in Birmingham. Lessons such as inclusion and the impartial application of the rule of law that defends difference can be part of the lessons learned for the common good. It is important to remember that amid all the speculation, commentary and debate there were investigations to get to the heart of the matter by both Birmingham City Council and Government, including the independent report we commissioned by Ian Kershaw - which found no evidence to suggest an organised attempt to introduce extremist views to children in terms of radical extremism or anti-British sentiment. As a result we took steps to address any concerns raised and as a city we have moved on, while ensuring we learned from these experiences.". However, Sir Mike said work remained to improve "community cohesion". Families saw them turned around, with attainment rising. His case was later thrown out and, though permitted to teach, says he no longer feels able to. The police recommendation including the counterterrorism unit is that the letter was bogus, the notes said. But since 2015, following the "Trojan Horse affair", which began with an anonymous document delivered to Birmingham City Council, Mr Alam has been banned from teaching and administrative roles . Trojan Horse investigation at Birmingham schools In 2014 an anonymous letter was sent to journalists detailing a 5 step plan to Islamise schools in Birmingham. Narrative consultant John Yorke is on hand to explain how storytelling techniques possibly influenced the direction the Trojan Horse story took, and why in the end we hear only the version that supports our tribe. they say it's a good thing Under a government initiative, its leadership was given more autonomy and tasked with running two other East Birmingham schools. It has been the subject of four major inquiries. It triggered a lengthy probe, with national intervention led by then Education Secretary Michael Gove leading to several substantial inquiries - one led by a counter terrorism chief - more than 20 urgent Ofsted inspections, sackings, resignations and school closures. Highlights from the week in culture, every Saturday. The repressive politics of emotional intelligence. The racism was insufficiently addressed, and many years later Pierre Lavals Vichy regime handed over French Jews to the Nazis. This action comes in the wake of Operation Trojan Horse, a leaked anonymous letter which some say is a hoax that claims to reveal a plot to overthrow existing teachers and governors in various non-faith state schools across the city and replace them with Islam-friendly individuals who will run the schools in accordance with orthodox Islamic principles. The political motives of the initial investigation and origins of the letter could have been questioned while also shining a spotlight on how the systematic implementation of a religiously conservative ideology was affecting staff and pupils, particularly girls and women. After a near-fatal stabbingand decades of threatsthe novelist speaks about writing as a death-defying act. "Whatever anybody says, it was no hoax," Sir Mike said. He says he regrets enormously the comments he made that eventually cost him his job, including referring to gay people as animals. Report into allegations concerning Birmingham schools arising from the 'Trojan Horse' letter (print-ready) Ref: ISBN 9781474109895, HC 576 2014-15 PDF, 5.28 MB, 132 pages. Nesrine Malik has missed the point about the Trojan horse concern in Birmingham. But a focus on the podcast's ultimately fruitless hunt for proof of the letter writer's identity is perhaps to miss its overarching theme, which was to examine the fragility of British identity for Muslims in Birmingham. New York Times tones down Trojan Horse podcast exploring alleged "One of the most important things right now is that we have much improved governance in schools, we have much-improved safeguarding, helped by the creation of a multi-agency hub," he said. The anonymous Trojan Horse letter was sent to Birmingham City Council in 2013. The basis for them, however, is unsound. BBC Radio 4 - The Corrections, Trojan Horse: The anonymous letter It broke me, he said. Everyone in authority wants it to be forgotten, despite all the flaws in the investigations that followed and the holes in the narrative.. They claim that practices that would be normalised in other contexts - teaching sports in gender segregated groups, for example - are given a sinister twist by virtue of a link to Islam. At this point, the narration shifts to Reedone of the series pleasures is in its buddy-podcast juxtaposition of the hosts voiceswho describes meeting Syed and hearing his pitch. And in the past few days, Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood has said that he has been made aware of similar allegations, stretching back more than 12 years, of concerted attempts by various Wahabi and Salafi groups trying to take over different schools. "I have a feeling that the general UK public fail to understand the Muslim community and that leads to fear. The Trojan Horse scandal, also known as " Operation Trojan Horse " or the Trojan Horse affair, involves claims of an alleged conspiracy [1] [2] that there was an organised attempt to introduce an "Islamist" or "Salafist" ethos into several schools in Birmingham, England. This action comes in the wake of Operation Trojan Horse, a leaked anonymous letter - which some say is a hoax - that claims to reveal a plot to "overthrow" existing teachers and governors in. Personal History by David Sedaris: after thirty years together, sleeping is the new having sex. Hamza grew up in Dudley, attending a Roman Catholic school, before moving to Birmingham to attend medical school, training as a doctor. The anonymous Trojan Horse letter, discovered in 2013, included advice on installing school governors. He said the podcast had forced him to "relive those experiences and open up old wounds" - but he felt it was vital to speak up to join calls for a public inquiry into the actions of the city council, government and investigation teams. What the journalist behind the headlines overlooked was that such claims could never be true, given that Jesus is recognised as a prophet of Islam and held in great esteem by Muslims. How the Trojan Horse Affair Affected British Pakistanis - The New York Hamza said he was receiving a lot of personal messages and DMs about the podcast that included overwhelmingly beautiful stuff from people affected by it. Progress in Birmingham was also highlighted by Sir Michael Wilshaw on Tuesday. "I loved my job with a passion, it was a purpose. It reflects neoconservative assumptions about the nature of extremism; ignores significant testimony and viewpoints; implies the essential problem in Birmingham is simply the influence of certain individuals; discusses governance but not curriculum; ignores the concerns and perceptions of parents and young people; and is unlikely to bear judicial scrutiny. Trojan Horse scandal - Wikipedia Dubbed the Trojan Horse affair, the scandal centred around claims that extremists were attempting to wrest control of Birmingham schools in an effort to introduce an "Islamist" or "Salafist". I was dismayed and depressed to listen to this New York Times podcast, which is one-sided, misleading and, in many instances, wrong. The story of how Muslim staff helped Birmingham schools is a vivid, fascinating narrative. The podcast also takes aim at the report subsequently produced by Clarke. How did a local education story become a national security issue? But professional misconduct cases brought against a number of teachers accused over the plot were dropped in 2017 after government lawyers were found to have withheld hundreds of pages of documents during legal proceedings. Whether true or false, Operation Trojan Horse is far from evidence of creeping sharia. All rights reserved. They semi-ironically relish the gumshoe element of their project, riffing about Sherlock Holmes and Watson, sipping tea and pondering evidence, establishing an HQ in Syeds placehes living in his parents apartment while theyre out of the countryand joking about a murder wall, which they do set up, plotting out clues. The opening and closing pages, along with the names of the people writing and receiving the letter, are missing. Tahir Alam, the former head of governors for Park View Education Trust and named directly in the Trojan Horse letter, said he had always argued its claims were nothing more than "a myth". Tahir Alam, the former head of governors for Park View Education Trust and named directly in the Trojan Horse letter, said he had always argued its claims were nothing more than "a myth". Anderton Park Primary was not part of the official inquiries, but its head Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson said she had experienced similar pressures to those highlighted by the Trojan Horse letter, including intimidation from governors and opposition from the local community over issues such as sex education classes. The Trojan Horse letter was sent anonymously to the head of Birmingham City Council in November 2013 and made national headlines for months after being leaked to journalists in early 2014. The letter outlined a plan to bring in new school governors, undermine head teachers and ultimately introduce changes sympathetic to the group of conservative Muslims. Sir Mike said he believed many details in the letter "were happening [in schools], without a shadow of doubt". Many British public schools, unlike American ones, incorporate daily worship during assemblies; usually this is Christian, but Park View got permission for its worship to be Islamic. Birmingham Trojan Horse affair: Calls for new public inquiry This is the problem with the Clarke report: he provides no clear sourcing or verification for the vast majority of his allegations. Nigel Gann, John Ray and Peter Bailey highlight the impact that the allegations against schools have had on British society. The podcast raises questions about Goves role in ordering Clarkes inquiry, quoting from a 2014 opinion piece for Middle East Eye by Peter Oborne in which Gove is described as the unsung commander-in-chief of the Islamophobes inside the Conservative Party. Then came this letter, and the rest you know. The anonymous letter, which was sent to Birmingham City Council, alleged a . The professional conduct panel of . We understand he is still pressing for answers to outstanding questions raised by the podcast. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. We were changing the status quo and driving the agenda forward by valuing these children and their backgrounds," he said. The Muslim Council for Britain and Islamic organisation MEND are leading calls for a new public inquiry into the saga off the back of the podcast. It must be our highest aim. Some of the discussion of Muslim conservatism and its role in the schools can be hard to parse, with anecdotal accounts that shift depending on whos explaining them. 2023 BBC. It is time for Birmingham council and local communities to develop a clear vision for education in Birmingham.Roger KingNational executive member, National Union of Teachers, Birmingham, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. File type: PDF. These include a number of former Birmingham-based teachers and headteachers who, among others, have sought to highlight events at the citys Moseley and Saltley schools and Washwood Heath Technology College. Muslim head teacher Pepe Hart, who is still fighting allegations about her headship of a school in Somerset, said the podcast and subsequent discussions had given her fresh hope. From my own research into Islamophobia, Operation Trojan Horse would not be the first time that spurious claims have been made about Muslims and Islam in recent years. He decided to help Syed, and throughout the series we hear them working, thinking, talking, sighing, and driving around. The Trojan Horse letter was sent anonymously to the head of Birmingham City Council in November 2013 and made national headlines for months after being leaked to journalists in early 2014. But was it true? Instead, policymakers and the media were blinded by a moral panic about Muslims, a suspicion of their motives and sheer prejudice about their beliefs and customs. Here's what the team found. In it Hamza and New York Times journalist podcaster Brian Reed embark on a three year quest to try to prove who they believe fabricated the letter that purported to be an exchange between co-conspirators in a plot to Islamify schools. The anonymous Trojan Horse letter, discovered in 2013, included advice on installing school governors. Read about our approach to external linking. "Birmingham City Council needs to answer two questions: "MEND held a Twitter Space about the podcast, because we were inundated with requests to do so. "In addition, the podcast brought to light a Birmingham City Council audit report which disproves a central narrative of the Trojan Horse letter. A history of the Trojan Horse scandal | The Week UK Why have they insisted on keeping this document secret. He was forced to resign last July and now faces the possibility of being permanently banned from involvement in education. "We have FOI inquiries dating back to 2019, still with the Information Commissioner's office. 2023 BBC. Nesrine Maliks otherwise excellent analysis pays too little attention to the motivation behind Michael Goves demonisation of local engagement in school leadership (Muslims still bear the stigma of the Trojan horse scandal. In a Birmingham suburb with a significant majority of people of Bangladeshi origin, the local primary school had not a single Muslim governor. 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All children, from whatever background and no matter what challenges they face, deserve a safe environment in which they can learn. Sir Mike Tomlinson's full interview with BBC Midlands Today is on BBC One in the West Midlands from 18:30 BST on 16 July. After details of the letter were leaked to the media, both Birmingham City Council and the Department for Education launched investigations into the alleged plot. Some believe it is a conspiracy against Muslims while others cite it as evidence of a concerted effort to Islamify Britain or, to use a phrase preferred by some on the far-right, as evidence of creeping sharia. 761: The Trojan Horse Affair - This American Life The Trojan Horse affair started when an anonymous letter was sent to Birmingham City Council in late 2013, purportedly setting out a five point plan to Islamify the city's schools and impose . He later took a masters course in journalism. Inayat Bunglawala, media secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, recently wrote that he was sadly not so sure that the dossier was fake. It appealed to strong antipathy among sections of society towards Jewish people. PDF Report into allegations concerning Birmingham schools arising from The podcast opens with Syed. In an effort to glean definitive proof of the hoax, the hosts and a former Birmingham-school volunteer fly to Perth, Australia, to try to appeal to a key witness in the resignation-letters imbroglio. He claims nothing found to have happened inside any of the schools was outside the law and rather than being rooted in a desire to Islamify, the school leaders were focused on raising attainment. Razwan Faraz, former deputy head of Park View, Birmingham City Council - still facing questions over the handling of the Trojan Horse claims, Protests outside Parkfield Community School over equality teaching, Former Park View School, which was at the centre of the Trojan Horse allegations, Birmingham became the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons during the Trojan Horse allegations. Several of her pledges are valuable. The new secretary of state for education, Nicky Morgan, makes various pledges following the Trojan horse reports on Birmingham schools. Other Muslims living and working in the city echo this belief that Trojan Horse served to solidify suspicion based on difference, and was used to enforce the need for the Prevent strategy - the anti extremist policy that operates across school settings and is designed to root out early any signs of radicalisation. This beneficial ownership list is accessible by UK law enforcement and international agencies via our beneficial ownership secure search system. It purports to be advice to a contact in Bradford with instructions on how to install new governors with the aim of taking over schools and introducing Islam-friendly changes. Syed mentions that many Muslims who adhere to conservative religious interpretation, Tahir Alam among them, arent accepting of L.G.B.T.Q. When I visited the show yesterday I saw that its Picassos genitals that are concealed by the toga; his masculinity looked as evident as ever. 16 July 2015 The so-called "Trojan Horse" letter came to light in March 2014, prompting four major inquiries A letter outlining a plot by some Muslims to take over schools in Birmingham. The Observer Serial Letters: the catastrophic effect of the Trojan Horse Affair The podcast about the 2013 allegations that there was an Islamic plot to take over Birmingham state schools was. 33 Posted by u/-Bridget 8 months ago Very good podcast. Chris Allen is an independent adviser to the government's Anti Muslim Hatred Working Group but receives no funding/monies for this. Indeed, West Midlands Police are currently investigating claims that it is a hoax, and some statements made within the dossier seem to suggest this might be so. In one episode, then city council leader Sir Albert Bore meets with the podcasters to hand over some papers linked to the affair, including a briefing note he received ahead of a meeting with Michael Gove that made clear the letter was likely a hoax. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. About sharing. In a letter to Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, he said the picture was "improving slowly", although problems remained at the schools placed in special measures last year. The impression you are left with the Trojan horse letter critics are a closely-knit group of influential and powerful people who are part of the same lucrative "counter-extremism" industry and at the center of lobbying for policies that view Muslims as a suspect community and support the draconian "counter-extremism" policies such as Prevent . The Trojan Horse affair had a significant impact on government counter-terrorism policy. Parents felt they had been cowed into silence before, but not again, he said. Shaming into silence is a running theme even now but this time character assassination of critics like me on social media. Progress in Birmingham was also highlighted by Sir Michael Wilshaw on Tuesday. We now live in a different world from when the Sunday Times brought a Birmingham schools matter to public notice in 2014 with all the hype that followed, but there remains a degree of negative perception among parts of our population concerning Muslims and Islam. We continue to act to prevent extremism and intolerance from gaining a foothold in our schools, including the undermining of fundamental British values., *To have the latest breaking news sent direct to your email, click here. The BBC star has warned fans: dont chuck out old sink water. 'Trojan Horse': The 21 schools in detail - BBC News Order a copy. Piers Morgan text Sarah Ferguson after cancer diagnosis and was floored by reply.

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