Yusuf Musa

Introduction

Yusuf Musa taught at Darul Uloom London in Chislehurst, joining in 2011 and later serving as the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead. At a Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel hearing in May 2025, he was found to have punished a pupil for not attending prayers by making him sit at the school office for approximately 13 hours without breakfast or lunch, and to have been dishonest about his criminal convictions on his 2011 application form. The panel also found that an altercation at the school in May 2018 resulted in armed police being deployed. On behalf of the Secretary of State, a prohibition order with a three-year review period was imposed, banning him from teaching indefinitely.

Background Information

Born on 6 August 1992, Musa was 19 when he signed his application form to the school on 2 May 2011. He worked at Darul Uloom London from 2011 to 2018, initially as a teacher and later as the Designated Safeguarding Lead, lived in a flat on the school premises and served as a trustee. Character statements described a former pupil who had gone on to teach the translation and commentary of the Holy Quraan and Hadeeth. Following the events of May 2018, an agreement between the school and the Department for Education saw him removed as a trustee, cease to be a teacher and end all involvement with the school. The referral to the TRA was made in 2018.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

The most serious proven finding concerned a punishment imposed in December 2017. On 19 December 2017 a pupil failed to attend prayers; Musa and the school’s general manager decided he should sit at the school office under supervision while his parents were contacted. The panel found the pupil was kept there from approximately 8 am to 9 pm — 13 hours — without breakfast or lunch, and again the following day until his mother collected him, a wait of approximately 5.5 hours. The matter surfaced through a complaint to Tower Hamlets and a referral to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). Witness A emailed the school on 22 March 2018: the complaint was considered “unfounded. However, the length of time remains a worry and I will ask for your sanctions methods to be reviewed…”.

Musa denied the allegation, telling the panel: “The claim that the pupil sat outside the school office for approximately 13 hours is inaccurate.” The panel preferred the contemporaneous Tower Hamlets referral, which drew on the accounts of the pupil and his mother, and found all three particulars of the punishment allegation proven.

The second proven strand was an altercation with two delivery drivers on school premises on or around 30 May 2018. Musa accepted in evidence that he used profanity during the heated confrontation, though he did not recall swearing. One driver called the police, and a witness statement indicated that firearm units and other officers from Bromley Police Station were deployed. The panel was satisfied that armed police were deployed to the school and found his use of profanity during the heated altercation constituted inappropriate behaviour. Allegations that he threatened the drivers, produced a firearm or imitation firearm or locked the school gates were not proven; the TRA provided no evidence for those particulars.

Finally, the panel examined the application form Musa signed on 2 May 2011, whose criminal conviction declaration — a yes/no option — was left blank. It found he had failed to declare his conviction on 3 March 2010 for driving whilst disqualified and using a vehicle whilst uninsured, for which he received a 6 month referral order and a 12-month driving disqualification. The school’s principal stated via his legal representative that “he did allow the School to employ Staff Member E [Mr Musa] as he was not aware that Staff Member E had criminal convictions.” The panel concluded that Musa knew of his convictions and chose not to disclose them, finding him dishonest and lacking in integrity. A parallel allegation about undeclared police cautions failed only on a dating discrepancy, and the remaining allegations — shouting aggressively at pupils, snatching food, keeping bladed weapons in his flat, and his handling of a colleague linked to an indecent image inquiry — were all not proven.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found the proven conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. It identified breaches of the Teachers’ Standards, of Keeping Children Safe in Education 2016 and of the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools 2015. Eight character statements spoke warmly of Musa — one called him “a thoroughly decent boy and is an extremely valuable asset to the school, its pupils and the local community” — but the panel concluded he had demonstrated no insight, reflection or remorse, and that “the chance for conduct to be repeated remains high.” It therefore recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect. Decision maker Marc Cavey, acting for the Secretary of State, agreed the order was proportionate and in the public interest in a decision dated 29 May 2025.

Current Status

Musa is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. The order takes effect from the date it is served on him. According to the decision, “He may apply for the prohibition order to be set aside, but not until 4 June 2028, three years from the date of this order at the earliest.” This is not an automatic right; if he applies, a panel will meet to consider whether the order should be set aside, and without a successful application he remains prohibited indefinitely. He also had a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of notice of the order.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The prohibition ends any realistic prospect of Musa returning to the classroom in England. He had already lost his role at Darul Uloom London in 2018 — removed as a trustee and required to end all involvement with the school — and the 2025 order bars him from teaching unless he successfully applies to set it aside after 4 June 2028. The panel accepted he had a previously good history and that the school’s safeguarding processes improved while he was Designated Safeguarding Lead, but found the public interest in protecting pupils and maintaining confidence in the profession outweighed any interest in retaining him.

Sources

• Department for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Yusuf Musa” — source