Charedi schools make progress with Ofsted

Behaviour was found to be improving after the introduction of a new policy by school leaders.

But RSE did “not take fully into account the required content about different forms of relationships that people may have”, Ofsted said.

Chaim Meirim primary had improved the quality of its curriculum content and pupils had “more time to learn secular subjects than they did before”, Ofsted said.

Many standards unmet at the previous inspection were now met, inspectors reported.

Vishnitz Girls, which takes girls from two to 16, set high expectations for pupils, who achieved “highly”, and had developed early reading, Ofsted said.

Although girls were taught the importance of being respectful to the belief of others, relationships education did not cover the “required content”, inspectors said.

Bnos Israel, a large school in Salford teaching nearly 650 girls from three to 16, achieved good ratings in three areas and outstanding in one. Girls were “wonderfully talkative, animated and joyful outside of class”, Ofsted said.

Nevertheless the school was still given a “requires improvement” rating overall — the same it was awarded two years ago — since it did not teach about gender reassignment or sexual orientation.

Tiferes, an independent Charedi girls’ secondary school in Hendon, also remained at “requires improvement” level after its latest Ofsted assessment.

A high number of pupils successfully took separate science at GCSE, inspectors reported. But while they achieved well overall, “they could do better”.

The RSE programme did not cover all the required content, Ofsted said.

The inspections were carried out in the summer term. From the start of the new academic year, Ofsted is dropping single-grade overall ratings of schools.