Ofsted has admitted to wrongly highlighting the fact that a Chasidic primary school in Stamford Hill does not “explicitly” teach children about issues such as sexual orientation.
The Vishnitz Girls School, which was ranked “inadequate” in November 2017, achieved a “good” rating when it was revisited by inspectors earlier this year.
But the secularist campaign group, Humanists UK, protested after discovering that Ofsted rewrote an earlier report into the school in May 2017.
The original May 2017 report said the school’s leaders “were not able to show that pupils are taught explicitly about issues such as sexual orientation”.
However, references to sexual orientation were subsequently edited out, and the amended report said the school did not pay sufficient regard to groups who “may have protected characteristics” under the 2010 Equality Act in its teaching of respect for other people.
Protected characteristics under anti-discrimination law include sexual orientation and gender reassignment.
Ofsted explained the report was amended shortly after publication because it had incorrectly stated the school did not meet the independent school standards for teaching British values.
The inspection service said this week: “The standards do not expect schools to teach pupils in detail about different lifestyles, gender reassignment or sexual orientation.
"Only that they encourage respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equalities Act. The report also now clearly states this.”
But Humanists UK expressed “serious alarm” at the revision, accusing the inspection service of backsliding over LGBT equality in schools.
The latest report into the Vishnitz school, published earlier this month, makes no mention of protected characteristics.
Ofsted’s admission comes amid increasing debate over what should be taught in schools following the publication of government guidelines on teaching about relationships and sex education.
Muslim parents with children at a number of state primaries in Birmingham and Manchester have recently complained about programmes which teach about families with same-sex parents.
Earlier this week, a new campaign group to promote “traditional family groups” in education, the Values Foundation, backed by a number of strictly Orthodox rabbis, launched in Parliament.
