News
Second Chasidic school marked down by Ofsted over refusal to teach about sexual orientation
July 11, 2016 10:53
A second Chasidic school within a week has been told that it is failing to meet independent school regulations because it will not teach about same-sex relationships.
Beis Malka Girls’ School, in Stamford Hill, north London, which is run by the Belz Chasidim, had “worked hard” to comply with statutory requirements, Ofsted said.
But inspectors reported that the “issue of pupils’ learning to understand and respect different lifestyle choices” was avoided and therefore the school fell short of the required standards.
A few days ago, the Belz boys school, Machzikei Hadass,>/1b> was also pulled up by inspectors for not teaching about sexual orientation because of its strict adherence to the Code of Jewish Law.
Both schools – which had previously been ranked good by Ofsted – made the news last year when Belz rabbis threatened to bar children whose mothers drove . But the idea was dropped after the intervention of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The two schools then received emergency inspections on the orders of the Department for Education.
Beis Malka, which teaches 482 girls aged from two to 16 and already offers GCSEs, has since broadened its curriculum, the latest inspection found.
“All national curriculum subjects are taught and additionally pupils learn the Hebrew language,” Ofsted said. There were plans to introduce combined science whereas previously only single science was taken for GCSE.
Career guidance had been improved, the girls learned about democracy through a visit to the Houses of Parliament as well as holding mock elections and they were raising money for children in Sierra Leone.
The school had “implemented strategies to ensure that pupils are enabled to contribute more widely to society outside their faith group,” inspectors said.
Dovid Spitzer, a governor at Beis Malka said that the report made clear that the area where the school still fell short related to provisions of the Equality Act, which covers sexual orientation and gender.
Mr Spitzer said that “our pupils are encouraged to respect everyone, no matter their background or life choices. We have always taught about personal relationships at home. We believe this part of our children’s education is the duty and responsibility of the family. We do not believe that these subjects are to be taught at school.
“Unfortunately, simply teaching respect for everyone appears not to have been enough for us to have met all the independent schools’ standards.”
Despite its aspirations for improvement, he said that “it seems that our religious beliefs about the teaching of relationships are now a barrier to our school’s success. However, I am proud of the progress we have made and would like to pay tribute to our staff and pupils for getting us to this position.”
The school, he said, would “continue to work with the government and its agencies and, while maintaining our religious standards, will strive towards being an outstanding school”.
