Jewish studies report queried by Pikuach

Pikuach, the Board of Deputies-run inspection service, has queried the status of a report rating a school outstanding for Jewish studies.

Menorah Foundation, a state-aided primary in Edgware, commissioned an external inspector to review its Kodesh department in November.

The subsequent report, circulated to staff and parents, described the inspection as “compliant with section 48” — the clauses of the 2005 Education Act that cover the inspection of religious education in state-aided faith schools.

But Pikuach has told the JC it does not consider the report  “compliant with” section 48 and that it had suggested alternative wording. It explained that it regarded the report as an unofficial exercise equivalent to a “mock-Ofsted” and that to describe it as independent could be “misleading”.

Ofsted, the national inspectorate, is not responsible for assessing the religious studies of faith schools. Instead, governors are required to arrange an inspection every three or five years, although this has been extended to eight years because of the Covid pandemic.

A spokesman for Pikuach, which is run by the Board of Deputies, said that it was the “only government-accredited Jewish inspection service for denominational section-48 inspections. 

“There are some schools who may wish to have their section 48 inspection carried out by other inspectors. If so, for Jewish schools, they would need written permission from Pikuach.”

In a statement, Menorah’s governing body said an “independent inspection compliant with the requirements of section 48 was sought and commissioned in consultation with representatives of Pikuach”.  

The inspection was led by Rabbi Yehuda Pearlman, a Pikuach inspector.

The report also listed as a “team inspector” Rabbi Jacob Ebrahimoff, who as well as being a Pikuach inspector is also a governor of Menorah Foundation.

Rabbi Ebrahimoff had offered to assist Rabbi Pearlman with data gathering, Menorah Foundation explained. “This is permitted as part of an independent inspection and was considered appropriate given his knowledge of the school and his being a registered inspector also.” 

The governors said the school was “keen for an assessment of the progress of our Jewish studies department to be undertaken and that an independent inspection would be beneficial to enable us to identify any areas of development on which the department should focus in advance of a Pikuach-branded inspection in the coming years.”

The governors maintained that it had been agreed with Pikuach that the report could be described as “compliant with” section 48. “Rabbi Pearlman… and representatives of Pikuach leadership each confirmed to us that they considered the inspection to be compliant with the requisite standards and Pikuach was consulted before, during and after the inspection itself.”

The school had agreed with Pikuach, the governing body said, to have a “Pikuach-branded inspection within the next three years”.

Pikuach told the JC that it had not been fully consulted about the recent inspection and that conversations about it had lasted a few minutes.

For authorised section-48 inspections, the spokesman said, “Pikuach has to make sure that there is no conflict of interest such as an inspector having a close connection to the school. 

“Of course, there is no problem if a school wants to conduct its own internal, informal and unofficial review along the lines of a section-48 inspection. This would be similar in intent to a ‘mock Ofsted’. Then the school can choose whoever it wants to carry out such a review.”

According to its website, Menorah Foundation was last inspected for Jewish studies in 2015 when it was ranked outstanding. The November report has not been published on its site.

But two Orthodox weekly newspapers referred to the latest “outstanding” inspection in reports about the school’s recent fundraising appeal when it raised over £450,000.

The Department for Education said it expected those conducting a section-48 inspection “to be sufficiently independent of the school to enable them to act impartially and objectively in conducting the inspection”.