Headmistress hit with death threats in ‘new Trojan Horse’ storm

A HEADTEACHER says she is being forced out of her role amid a new ‘Trojan Horse plot’ at her state school.

Trish O’Donnell, head of Clarksfield Primary School in Oldham, has received death threats and ‘harassment and intimidation’ from Muslim parents pushing an ultra-conservative religious agenda.

In an email sent to Oldham council in December, Mrs O’Donnell said she had ‘very strong reasons to believe that... a “Trojan Horse” agenda [is] being played out’ and that her position was becoming untenable.

She said she had received threats to blow up her car, aggressive verbal abuse and had even been physically attacked by one parent. She has been so worried that she has worked from home for short periods in recent months.

The majority of pupils at the school are of Pakistani origin.

The headteachers’ union, the NAHT, said it was supporting several members in the area with a variety of apparent Trojan Horse issues.

A counter- extremism official has raised concerns about another Oldham school, Horton Mill, which recently hosted a speaker who had justified the killing of British troops, according to The Sunday Times. And Oldham Academy North has been investigated by Ofsted for failing to teach ‘British values’ and donating to an organisation linked to extremists.

The Trojan Horse plot refers to an organised attempt to introduce an Islamist ethos into several state schools in Birmingham three years ago. The name comes from a leaked letter in March 2014, alleged to be written by hardline Muslims, detailing how to get control of schools and speculating about expanding the tactics to other cities.

A confidential report on Clarksfield by Oldham council this month, seen by The Sunday Times, said Mrs O’Donnell’s problems began in 2013 after Ofsted inspectors criticised levels of attainment at the school.

The report is thought to refer to the activities of Nasim Ashraf, who was a parent governor at the time. Mr Ashraf, whose sister, Shasta Khan, is serving an eight-year sentence for her part in a plot to attack Jewish targets in Manchester, is friends on Facebook with Tahir Alam – the named leader of the Birmingham Trojan Horse plot.

According to the council report, Mr Ashraf hosted ‘Islamic teaching sessions’ on Clarksfield school premises and his wife, Hafizan Zaman, told Asian staff members they should wear a veil and cover their heads. The report said the couple were trying to ‘intimidate staff’, ‘undermine the headteacher’ and ‘ secure changes at the school to reflect their interpretation of Islam’. Like the Trojan Horse plotters in Birmingham, it noted that they were ‘seeking to mobilise other parents and the wider community’ against Mrs O’Donnell. But the report stopped short of constituting it as a Trojan Horse-- style plot, adding that Mr Ashraf was not an extremist. There was also no suggestion that he and his wife were involved in the threats of violence.

Mr Ashraf, who denied any Trojan Horse plot, said: ‘It’s my duty to keep an eye on things… the school is still a failing school – we need to remove Mrs O’Donnell and replace her with a better headteacher.’

Clarksfield was rated ‘good’ in its latest Ofsted report, which praised Mrs O’Donnell’s leadership. Oldham council said it had no concerns about Oldham Academy North or Horton Mill.

‘Trying to intimidate staff’