An Islamic school which was raided by anti-terror police as a suspected jihad training school has been ordered to shut down by education bosses.
The Jameah Islameah school near Crowborough on the Kent and Sussex border was raided by more than 100 anti-terror officers on September 1 last year after a lengthy surveillance operation by the security services.
The independent school, which is set in 54 acres of countryside and is worth £3 million, was targeted after the arrest of 14 terror suspects in London the same day.
Scotland Yard linked the school search with the terror raids when 12 people were arrested at a London restaurant and two others were held elsewhere in the city.
The 100-room school, which was visited by jailed radical cleric Abu Hamza , was founded in September, 2003.
The Department for Education and Skills removed the school from the Register of Independent Schools, saying it was 'no longer good enough to operate'.
This makes it illegal for the school - which failed to meet an action plan set out last year - to operate in any capacity.
Ofsted reports on the school - which only had nine pupils aged between 12 and 15 - had consistently criticised its performance, adding that the school had "a significant number of major weaknesses", and that it "prevented pupils making the progress of which they are capable”.
The school - which is not currently operating - was ordered to satisfy an action plan drawn up by the Department for Education and Skills, but it was ordered to be shut down after it failed to meet the targets set.
A spokesman said: "The department has now concluded that, while some progress has been made, the school nevertheless continues to fail to meet the standards which all independent schools must meet under the Education Act 2002.
"This relates to the quality of education provided; the welfare, health and safety of pupils and the standard of the premises and accommodation.
"In these circumstances, the department has no choice but to delete Jameah Islameah from the Register of Independent Schools."
Nobody at The Jameah Islameah school was available for comment.
POSTED: 12/02/2007 11:09:57
Bookmark with:
Email to a friend: