Lubavitch progress noted by Ofsted, good grades for Charedi girls schools - The Jewish Chronicle

The state-aided Lubavitch Boys Primary in Hackney is on “an upward trajectory”, executive headteacher Judith Nemeth said after its latest inspection.

While Ofsted ranked it as a school that “requires improvement”, this was a grade better than its “inadequate” rating in 2016.

Inspectors noted the warm, friendly atmosphere at the primary and teachers’ high expectations.

While boys haveJewish studies in the morning and secular classes in the afternoon, teachers have tried to ensure the curriculum is as broad as the national curriculum and think how to make lessons enjoyable, Ofsted said.

But while the curriculum is well-planned in maths and early reading, this is “not the case in all subjects”.

Ofsted also reported that “pupils do not have any meaningful education about faiths, beliefs and cultures that are different from their own”.

Mrs Nemeth, executive head of the Lubavitch Multi-Academy Trust, commented that the school achieved “good’ in two areas “ behaviour and early years - and literacy and numeracy were observed as a great strength throughout the school. Furthermore, mention was made a number of times in… the report that school leaders are very aware of developments that are needed and have already embarked on many of these.”

The newly appointed head of school, Rabbi Jonathan Kohn, was “already embedding strong educational practices”, she added.

Beis Soroh Schneirer, an independent girls primary in Hendon, also moved up a grade since its last inspection three years, achieving good in all categories this time.

Ofsted said that leaders had “worked effectively to improve the quality of education”.

Pupils achieve well, study a broad range of subjects and like “the balance between religious studies in the mornings and secular subjects in the afternoons”. Inspectors noted that religious studies teachers had made links between learning about healthy lifestyles to what was being learned in science about tooth decay.

There was also happy news for Me’or, a small Strictly Orthodox, independent girls high school in Salford, which opened last year. It was rated good overall and outstanding for behaviour.

Among features that impressed inspectors was that “pupils learn useful techniques such as mindfulness and sensory break techniques to help them manage stressful situations successfully”.

However, another Charedi girls school in Salford, Bnos Yisroel, which has more than 600 pupils aged from three to 16, just missed out on a good grade; while it was rated good in four out of five areas, inspectors said overall it “requires improvement”.

Girls had a “broad, interesting and ambitious curriculum”, but leadership was not fully developed in some subjects in the primary section and older girls did not learn about LGBT relationships.

For the third inspection in a row, the Yesodey Hatorah School in Hackney, which teaches boys from five to 15, was ranked as “requires improvement”. Early years pupils got off “to a good start”, Ofsted said, but the secular curriculum from years 1 to 10 was “not as broad and ambitious as it could be”.

But there was praise from inspectors for the “high-quality experiences” provided by the S Pinter Youth Project in Stamford Hill, which runs a club for children in the holidays.

Topics:

Ofsted

Charedi