BySimon Rocker, Simon Rocker
One of the largest Chasidic schools in London has been warned it could face closure if it does not improve provision for pupils' welfare, health and safety.
Inspectors found arrangements at the independent Talmud Torah Yetev Lev, in Stamford Hill, unsatisfactory after an unannounced visit in June.
They said that staff had inadequate training in child protection, polices for promoting good behaviour were not fully implemented and children were sometimes left unsupervised.
Too many parts of the building were "untidy, dirty and in a poor state of repair," inspectors said.
Yetev Lev, which is run by the anti-Zionist Satmar Chasidic sect, teaches 762 boys from three to 12, spread across four premises. Nearly all speak Yiddish as a first language.
While boys were polite and courteous, they were sometimes "over-boisterous", while the school did not present any record of punishments for serious misbehaviour, according to inspectors.
Pupils mentioned that "common sanctions were additional homework, writing lines, sitting at the front of the class or 'standing up' for up to 20 minutes. Not all these sanctions are appropriate."
Anti-bullying policy included no information on cyberbullying - although pupils explained to inspectors they had no access to computers or mobile phones.
A spokesman for the Department for Education said this week that inspectors had found that "the school had not been meeting all of the Independent School Standards - which are designed to ensure every school prepares children for life in modern Britain. The school has now produced an action plan to address these failings, which we are currently considering."
In a letter in July, the DfE warned the school that if the action plan were rejected, it could face closure.
Another local Chasidic school, Chaim Meirim, which is run by the Vishnitz community, is currently appealing against a closure order from the DFE.
A Yetev Lev source said that it would "do whatever is necessary in order to satisfy the department's requirements".