Shiras Devorah was opened against a background of rising demand for places in Charedi girls's secondary schools in North-Westen London and in particular to take girls from Beis Soroh Schneirer in Hendon.
A pre-opening visit from Ofsted last year concluded it was likely to meet independent school standards.
But Ofsted has now reported girls were not making enough progress in secular subjects and standards fell below expectations for their age range, while the school’s leadership had an “over-generous” view of pupils’ achievements.
Girls had too few opportunities to practise writing or use reasoning skills in maths.
But Ofsted recognised that leaders were taking “corrective action”, had expanded the secular curriculum to include art, textiles and citizenship and were working on other improvements in subjects such as science.
Where links were made between Jewish studies and secular subjects, such as history or geography, “the school’s evidence suggests that pupils remember important information for longer,” the inspection report said.
The Jewish studies curriculum, taught in English, was “well-thought through", with Hebrew writing and speaking a strength, Ofsted found.
It noted too that girls showed understanding of people with physical or mental disability which was “because they put themselves into the shoes of such a person”.
