Another Charedi primary school has been told it is not complying with independent school regulations because it will not talk about LGBT people in class.
The Keser Girls’ School in Gateshead, rated good in three out of the four inspection categories, was told it “requires improvement” because it did not fulfil the conditions for good leadership and management.
The Keser Torah Boys’ School in Gateshead also fell down on its recent inspection over its avoidance of LGBT equality.
But the Ofsted inspections raise questions about the interpretation of educational guidelines, which were believed to exempt primary schools from having to mention same-sex relationships if they believed this was not appropriate for pupils at that age.
Ofsted said that Keser Girls leaders “confirmed that the school would not be teaching pupils respect for those who are protected by the Equalities Act 2010 because of gender reassignment or sexual orientation.
“The impact of this action is that pupils will not be taught about gay, lesbian or transgender people during their time in school.”
Because they had “failed to ensure that all the independent school standards have been met, the school’s leadership requires improvement,” the inspectors reported.
This reduced girls’ understanding of “some types of bullying behaviour” - although generally they reported few cases of bullying.
The school had an “ambitious and carefully sculpted” curriculum, which was generally well taught and high pupil attendance reflected their clear enjoyment of school.
Keser Girls and Keser Torah Boys previously formed a single school with separate teaching for boys and girls, but divided into two different schools last year in order to comply with new equality rulings.
Meanwhile, an independent Charedi boys’ school in Stamford Hill was told it was failing to teach about “all of the protected characteristics” in equality law.
Although registered as an infant school, Bnei Zion Community School was currently taking pupils as old as 15.
Ofsted, which rated it inadequate, said it had more than 90 pupils, more than its official registration terms, which put the upper age limit at seven.
Although behaviour was outstanding, the school was rated inadequate in the other three inspection categories with poor English and weak secular education.
“Through their time at school, most pupils do not manage to learn English to an acceptable standard. This is a failure of the school’s leadership to prepare pupils for modern Britain,” Ofsted said.
Pupils had a “severely limited” knowledge of other faiths and cultures, there were no plans for geography or history teaching and pupils learned only Jewish history.
