Family & Education
Chasidic school pulled up over LGBT issues
Ofsted says it is compulsory to year-7 pupils to learn about LGBT issues
May 5, 2021 15:51
Ofsted says it is compulsory to year-7 pupils to learn about LGBT issues
May 5, 2021 15:51One of Stamford Hill’s largest schools is still failing to meet official requirements because it will not talk about about LGBT people with older pupils.
Inspectors found improvements on a return visit to Talmud Torah Yetev Lev, which was ranked inadequate by Ofsted two years ago.
But the independent school, run by the Satmar Chasidim, which has 1,048 boys on its roll, was not meeting equality regulations, Ofsted said.
Parents were “unequivocal” that issues to do with gender reassignment and sexual orientation were not appropriate for primary-aged children.
(It is not compulsory to teach LGBT issues at primary age, as long as schools have consulted with parents.)
But the school taught pupils in year 7, for whom teaching about “all” the protected characteristics in the Equality Act was compulsory, Ofsted said.
Inspectors noted improvements in reading skills and the general curriculum which gave pupils a broad experience including “of human and social, aesthetic and creative education.”
Leaders recognised that “there is some way to go to ensure that all pupils are fully fluent in English. Nevertheless, the building blocks are now in place.”
But pupils did not learn subjects in “enough depth” because only 90 minutes a day were allocated to secular studies.
Required safeguarding standards were now met, Ofsted found.
The school’s roll was considerably more than its official registration maximum of 567, Ofsted reported.
Inspections were carried out in February – when lockdown was still in force in England – and in April. Ofsted reported that 951 pupils were on site at the time of inspection because they were considered vulnerable.
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