Ultimatum for terror-hunt school

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A school being searched by anti-terror police has been ordered to improve by the government or it will be shut down.

The Jameah Islameah School, near Crowborough, East Sussex, is also being investigated by the Charity Commission.

The Department for Education ordered it to produce an action plan to address Ofsted's concerns in December 2005, and inspectors are due to visit this term.

Police, who moved in earlier this month, said searches could take weeks but no arrests had been made there.

The Department for Education is responsible for ensuring that independent schools provide pupils with a high standard of education, premises and welfare.

The Education Act 2002 toughened the previous regime for setting out standards for independent schools.

'Unsatisfactory'

All schools have to be registered with the department, and can be shut down for failing to meet these standards.

The inspectors will assess whether the action plan is in place - if not, the school will be closed down.

The Jameah Islameah School is an independent Islamic secondary school for boys with annual fees of £1,000. At the time of the Ofsted inspection in December 2005 it had nine pupils on its roll, aged from 12 to 15.

The report stated that the school provided an unsatisfactory level of education.

<a href="/1/hi/uk/5308626.stm" class="">Profile: Jameah Islameah </a> <a href="/1/hi/england/southern_counties/5310522.stm" class="">School 'not involved in terror'</a>

It also said that provision for the health, welfare and safety of pupils was unsatisfactory and the school "does not provide a safe environment in which learning takes place".

It did, however, say that the teachers provided good role models for the pupils.

An initial action plan produced to address the concerns raised by the Ofsted report was rejected by the Department for Education.

The department then served formal notice in June 2006 for the school to supply a final action plan or face closure.

If Ofsted inspectors visiting the school this term find that the action plan has not been fully implemented the Department for Education will delete it from its Register of Independent Schools - effectively closing it down.

It is illegal for an independent school to continue to operate and educate children without registration. In the past three years more than 45 independent schools have been shut down or closed voluntarily as a result of this approach.