A Charedi activist, who was recently at the centre of controversy over his criticism of the Board of Deputies, has met Department for Education officials to voice concerns Orthodox schools might be forced to teach same sex relationships.

Shraga Stern had planned to hold a demonstration outside the Board of Deputies dinner last week to protest that it did not represent the Charedi community, but he did not go ahead after discussion with rabbis.

On Monday, he and Professor Geoffrey Alderman, a historian of modern British Jewry, went to the DfE to discuss draft guidelines it published earlier this year saying that schools would be expected to talk about same-sex relations.

In a statement after the meeting, Professor Alderman said: “We made it clear that in our view no such Orthodox Jewish school would countenance any educational initiative that incorporated approval in any sense whatsoever of lifestyles prohibited in the Hebrew Bible.

“We also noted that in the Orthodox Jewish world it falls to parents or legal guardians, and not to schools,  to undertake RSE.”

He and Mr Stern also drew attention to the provisions on religious freedom in the European Convention of Human Rights, he said.

They also cautioned the DfE against "over-reliance" on Humanists UK, which, they said, was “hostile to the ethos of schools with a religious character”.