For the second time in a week, a Chasidic school in Stamford Hill has been taken to task by Ofsted for refusing to mention LGBT people.
Inspectors said Bnos Zion of Bobov girls’ school, which has 230 girls on its roll from three to 13, unnecessarily restricted girls’ knowledge of equality issues.
Earlier this week the Wiznitz Cheder School, which teaches boys of a similar age range, was criticised for failing to comply with equality requirements.
On the positive side, Bnos Zion was ranked inadequate a year ago but climbed one grade higher this time to a school which “requires improvement”.
In the latest report, Ofsted commented, “Insufficient progress has been made to ensure that the school actively promotes respect for all of the protected characteristics.
“Leaders continue to deliberately omit mention or coverage of some of these characteristics in the curriculum. This was also a concern in the school’s previous inspections.”
Protected characteristics in equality law include same-sex orientation and gender reassignment.
While girls’ understanding of British institutions was good, “the restricted coverage of protected characteristics unnecessarily limits pupils’ knowledge of rights and equalities”.
Inspectors said the school’s curriculum was well-organised and girls understood the importance of learning.
However, teachers’ expectations were too variable, particularly when students wrote.
The school had wanted to expand from its official registration of 165 to 221 and increase the age range to 16 but inspectors in 2018 said they could not recommend this because there were unmet independent school standards relating to the age group it wanted to admit.
Bnos Zion, the latest report observed, “exceeds the number of pupils for which it is registered and occupies premises which are not part of its original registration.”
Ofsted’s findings on equality will be noted more widely within the Strictly Orthodox community as the inspection came after changes which Charedi leaders hoped would ease pressure on their schools.
According to revised Department for Education guidelines in spring, there is flexibility for schools to decide at what age LGBT content can be introduced.
This week’s inspections, however, suggest that Ofsted will expect schools to address the topic when children are of early secondary age.
But it would ultimately be up to the DfE to decide whether to allow Bnos Zion to expand.
