[h=1]Headteacher is forced to work from home following death threats from Muslim parents over her 'offensive clothes' amid fears there is a 'Trojan Horse' plot to 'Islamicise' the school[/h]
Trish O'Donnell, of Clarksfield Primary School in Oldham, has been threatened
She has endured 'harassment and intimidation' by conservative Muslim parents
It is feared they are making a 'Trojan Horse' attempt to Islamicise the school
Furious parents have complained that the way she dresses is 'unsuitable'
By CHARLIE MOORE FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED: 12:02, 19 February 2017 | UPDATED: 13:15, 19 February 2017
A primary school headteacher has been forced to work from home by death threats from Muslim parents who hate her western values. Trish O'Donnell, head of Clarksfield Primary School in Oldham, has endured 'harassment and intimidation' in the form of 'aggressive verbal abuse' and 'threats to blow up her car' from parents pushing conservative Muslim values. It is feared they are making a 'Trojan Horse' attempt to Islamicise the school.
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Trish O'Donnell, head of Clarksfield Primary School (pictured) in Oldham, has endured 'harassment and intimidation'
Parents have complained the way she dresses is 'unsuitable' and that pictures of her daughters in her office are 'offensive'. The school is mostly filled with Pakistani pupils who do not speak English as a first language. A section of its website titled British values only reads: 'coming soon'. Since becoming head in 2006, Mrs O'Donnell has taken the school Ofsted rating from needing improvement to good.
But now she feels her position is untenable due to the pressure from Muslim parents trying to change the school from within. According to an Oldham council report, seen by The Sunday Times, she wrote that she had a 'very strong reasons to believe that . . . a "Trojan Horse" agenda [is] being played out'. And the head teachers' union, the NAHT, said it was 'supporting a number of members in the Oldham area with a variety of apparent Trojan Horse issues'.
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The school's 2013 parent-governor Nasim Ashraf (left) hosted 'Islamic teaching sessions' at the school. There is no suggestion he is involved in the threats
The council report says the school's 2013 parent-governor Nasim Ashraf hosted 'Islamic teaching sessions' at the school while his wife, Hafizan Zaman, 'made remarks to Asian staff members that they should be wearing a veil and covering their heads'. They took exception to Hindi music being played in class, were angered by sex education and were accused of intimidating staff and undermining the headteacher. The report said they tried to mobilise parents to 'secure changes at the school to reflect their interpretation of Islam' but did not suggest they were involved in the violent threats. Ashraf's sister Shasta Khan is serving eight years in jail for plotting to attack Jews in Manchester.
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A section of Clarksfield school's website titled British values only reads: 'coming soon'
She's friends on Facebook with Tahir Alam, the architect of a similar 'Trojan Horse' plot on several schools in Birmingham in 2014. In the plot activists launched a campaign to oust headteachers using dirty tricks such as spreading false allegations and packing governing bodies with their supporters. Tahir Alam and Razwan Faraz were part of the 'Park View Brotherhood' of teachers, which exchanged some 3,000 messages in a WhatsApp group, including offensive comments about British soldiers, the Boston Marathon bombings and the murder of soldier Lee Rigby. Mr Faraz, a former deputy headteacher of the Trojan-Horse linked Nansen Primary School, is under an interim teaching ban, while Mr Alam was banned from any involvement with schools by the Department for Education (DfE). Clarksfield Primary's Chairman of Governors Saima Kausar and Mrs O'Donnell declined to comment. Ashraf denied any Trojan Horse plot but said he wanted to remove Mrs O'Donnell because the school was failing. A spokesman for Oldham council, cabinet member for education Amanda Chadderton, said: 'We take any allegations about our schools very seriously. The report into an Oldham primary school found no basis to the "Trojan Horse" allegations.'
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Tahir Alam (left) and Razwan Faraz (right) were part of the 'Park View Brotherhood' of teachers
