Three independent strictly Orthodox Jewish schools remain the subject of warning notices from Ofsted, the inspection service confirmed this week.
One of the schools is registered with the education authorities, while the other two are unregistered.
In a fourth instance, a previously unregistered Charedi school which was served a warning notice has since registered with the Department for Education.
While Ofsted brought four cases of unregistered schools to the attention of the Crown Prosecution Service in the past 15 months — though no charges ensued — none of these was Jewish.
But Ofsted leaders have reiterated concerns about unregistered schools over the past week. Amanda Spielman, its chief executive, said in a speech, “they often teach a narrow curriculum of just a few subjects, perhaps with a particular single-faith focus and are often housed in buildings that wouldn’t pass the most basic of health and safety checks.”
Matthew Coffey, Ofsted’s chief operations officer, also called for inspectors to be given greater powers to force entry into institutions which are believed to be operating illegally, the Daily Telegraph reported.
l Meanwhile, more than one in five of registered independent faith schools which Ofsted has found to fall short of the required standards over the past three years is Jewish, according to figures obtained by Schools Week.
For some Charedi schools, the main sticking point with Ofsted is their refusal to talk about same-sex orientation or transgender status.
