A Chasidic primary school in Salford has been told it is concentrating too much on Yiddish in its early years at the expense of English.
Beis Ruchel, which is linked to the Satmar community, is one of the first Charedi independent schools to be inspected by Ofsted under a new assessment framework.
Inspectors said the school had “chosen to focus mainly on the development of the Yiddish language in the early years, with an aim of promoting the school's Jewish culture. However, this means that the promotion of English language is poor…”
Children were not equipped with the skills and knowledge needed for the curriuculum for key stage 1 of their education (for ages five to seven) and beyond, Ofsted said.
“Nursery class are taught almost entirely in Yiddish. This means that their understanding of phonics and the development of their writing and communication skills are not addressed until midway through the reception year.
“This has a considerable negative impact on children making the progress that they should through all of the areas of learning.”
But efforts to resolve weaknesses in English knowledge were “showing some positive signs of improvement”, inspectors found.
The key stage 2 curriculum (from seven to 11) was more ambitious and structured, which helped “some pupils to catch up from the slow start they make earlier in their education”.
Although the school was rated inadequate at its last full inspection two years ago, its quality of education was then considered good.
Under the new inspection scheme, schools are no longer given an overall grade. Instead they are assessed on a five-point scale in a number of areas.
Beis Ruchel met the expected standard in only two out of seven areas: for attendance and behaviour; and inclusion. Two areas were judged to need attention: achievement; and curriculum and teaching. And three required “urgent improvement”: early years; personal development and wellbeing; and leadership and governance.
According to inspectors, the school offered a “positive culture” where everyone felt welcome and valued and which promoted respect for others, along with a “calm and harmonious learning” environment.
Pupils had a “strong moral grounding” in distinguishing between right and wrong. They understood the principles of fundamental British values such as democracy and within the requirements of the school’s religious ethos, leaders had taken steps to extend their awareness of other cultures, for example by learning about different countries in “world weeks”.
But they did not learn enough about other faiths or were taught that some pupils come from different family structures other than their own, Ofsted reported.
The school was approached for comment.
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