A headteacher at a Tottenham school has been accused of institutional racism against black students.

Harris Academy Tottenham, which is part of the Harris Federation, was accused by a former PE teacher of permanently excluding three black Year 11 pupils, and introducing a “zero-tolerance’ behaviour policy disproportionate to ethnic minorities and special educational needs (SEN) students.

The Harris Federation has since said that its executive headteacher has become victim of death threats following a petition calling for his resignation, launched by the former teacher Joshua Adusei

As a result the petition, which was focused on alleged discrimination, became the catalyst of a police investigation after at least four death threats were made.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson has said that patrols in the area has been arranged following the reported threats.

Over 6,000 people have signed the petition as of Tuesday (May 11), which states that the head is “not acting in the best interest of the school”.

He added that there has been a “restructuring of the school staff" and the school is “bullying” staff into accepting redundancy.

Mr Adusei later revealed that he had been suspended from the school.

A school letter to parents reportedly seen by Schools Week pledged to “avoid compulsory redundancies wherever possible,” blaming falling pupil numbers in Haringey.

The head was initially named in the petition, but reference to the name has since been removed. All comments were also removed from the petition.

Mr Adusei said he did not condone the death threats, but accused Change.org of “taking away the free speech” of signatories by removing all comments.

A spokesperson for Harris Federation told the Schools Week that the petition was a “misleading, vindictive and vexatious campaign.”

All allegations of racial discrimination were denied, and the spokesperson said that a previous behaviour policies audit found no discrimination.

In a statement, the federation said: “The Harris Federation and the leadership team of Harris Academy Tottenham, which is in itself a diverse group, fully rejects all of the allegations made by Mr Adusei.

“He has used online platforms to conduct a misleading, vindictive and vexatious campaign in order to defame his colleagues and destabilise his school. It is concerning to us, as it will be to teachers and school leaders everywhere, that he cannot be challenged on an equal footing because GDPR and his rights as an employee protect him from being challenged on his allegations, his motivations and the facts of the situation disclosed.”

The spokesperson added that the content in the petition was “demonstrably untrue”, but said they were “reluctant to divert time and resources” from their children to provide the proceedings required to remove the petition from Change.org.

The statement concluded that he has "free reign" to "attack innocent colleagues".