A Charedi girls’ school in Stamford Hill branded inadequate by Ofsted last year has emerged as the best Jewish state school for progress in 2019, according to provisional figures released by the Department for Education.
Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ School was ranked at number 31 in England with another strictly Orthodox girls’ school, Menorah High, in Dollis Hill, North-West London next at joint 52. Menorah was the best placed Jewish state school last year .
The progress score measures how far pupils have come academically since they started school.
A score of one means, on average, pupils achieved a whole GCSE grade better than other similar schools nationally.
No fewer than eight Jewish schools were rated “well above average” for progress, which places them in the top 15 per cent in the country.
Yesodey Hatorah was downgraded by the inspection service last year for censoring school text books and not providing sufficient opportunity for girls to learn about other cultures and faiths. Ofsted also said that governors had an over-inflated view of its educational quality and did not hold the principal, Rabbi Avrohom Pinter, to account.
Yesodey Hatorah was the only Jewish state school to earn a progress score above one this year — repeating the feat of last year when it scored 1.2 — although Menorah High was very close.
In all but one of the 13 Jewish state schools, a higher than average proportion of pupils achieved grade 5 passes in English and maths GCSE.
Under the new grade system phased in since 2017, grade 4 is still considered a pass — the equivalent of a lower C before.
The latest stats also show the number of points per pupil. In this category, JFS was top of the Jewish schools with an attainment score of 61.9, meaning pupils achieved on average above a grade 6, or a B in the old system, across a spread of subjects.
The confirmed results will not be published until early next year, although are unlikely to differ much.
What the table means:
Progress: Measures the academic progress from entry to GCSE. A score of one means children achieved on average a grade higher at GCSE than similar schools nationally.
Scores in red: well above average progress. The other progress scores are all average.
Attainment: Average points per pupil across a range of eight GCSEs including maths, English (which count double) and at least three other English Baccalaureate subjects (science, languages, history or geography). A score of 60 represents average grade 6. The English school average is 46.6.
English/maths: percentage of pupils attaining at least grade 5 in GCSE English and maths. The national average is 43 per cent.
