From the council's own report - they having done their utmost to set up straw men and brush this under the carpet so without a doubt not independent.
Quote:
In a 151-page report for Birmingham City Council, Ian Kershaw concluded: "The evidence shows individuals have been seeking to promote and encourage Islamic principles in the schools with which they are involved, by seeking to introduce Islamic collective worship, or raising objections to elements of the school curriculum that are viewed as anti-Islamic."
Mr Kershaw's report said the problems had been allowed to run "unchecked" due to what he branded "weaknesses in the system and poor oversight of governance" mainly by the city council, but also by Ofsted, the Education Funding Agency and the DfE.
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Quote:
The leader of Birmingham City Council has accepted that the authority had "shied away" from dealing with governance issues in a number of east Birmingham schools "out of a misguided fear of being accused of racism".
Sir Albert Bore said despite having issues raised to the council and the Department for Education since 2007, "opportunities to pull together an overview of what was happening in east Birmingham were missed".
The report has highlighted areas where we have either taken no action, were too slow to take action, or have simply done the wrong thing. The report further states this has often been because of the risk of being seen as racist or Islamophobic.
Our proper commitment to cohesion in communities sometimes overrode the need to tackle difficult questions about what was happening in a small number of schools.
– SIR ALBERT BORE, LEADER OF BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL
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The official government report is even less flattering.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-28419901
Though do ignore the nonsense from Tristram Hunt - none of these schools were academies until last year and some still aren't.