Al-Madinah free school under scrutiny again

The education watchdog Ofsted will pay a further monitoring visit to the controversial Al-Madinah Muslim School in Derby. Inspectors want to find out if there have been any improvements since the school hit the headlines last October over accusations of extremism and mismanagement. At that stage it was placed in special measures.

In November last year a monitoring visit by inspectors found the school had made little or no progress and in some areas it had slipped further back.

The School Minister, Lord Nash, has ordered that the secondary section of the school be closed this summer and has also accepted the resignations of the free school's original founders.

Meanwhile, Barry Day, chief executive of education charity Greenwood Dale Foundation Trust, is to oversee the school and chair a newly-created trust board.

A school improvement plan has been implemented, and its progress will be checked by Ofsted during this visit.

The controversy surrounding the school was a severe embarrassment to Education Minister Michael Gove and a blow to his free schools policy.