The Daily Telegraph

Jewish school defies Ofsted on sex lessons

- By Olivia Rudgard RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS CORRESPOND­ENT

A PRIVATE Jewish girls’ school for children aged three to eight has failed three Ofsted inspection­s because it does not teach pupils about homosexual­ity or gender reassignme­nt.

Inspectors visiting Vishnitz Girls School, an Orthodox school in Hackney, north London, found that it does not give pupils “a full understand­ing of fundamenta­l British values”.

The inspection last month, the third since February last year, found that pupils “are not taught explicitly about issues such as sexual orientatio­n.

“This restricts pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural developmen­t and does not promote equality of opportunit­y in ways that take account of differing lifestyles,” the report said.

It added that school leaders “recognise the requiremen­t to teach about the protected characteri­stics as set out in the Equality Act 2010.

“However, they acknowledg­e that they do not teach pupils about all the protected characteri­stics, particular­ly those relating to gender re-assignment and sexual orientatio­n.

“This means that pupils have a limited understand­ing of the different lifestyles and partnershi­ps that individual­s may choose in present-day society.” The school, which has 212 pupils, and charges annual fees of £5,200, was praised for “good subject knowledge and high-quality classroom resources”.

It had improved in safeguardi­ng and leadership since the last inspection, but had not changed its stance on sexuality. Private schools that do not meet Ofsted’s requiremen­ts can face closure by the Department for Education.

Gill Robins, of the campaign group Christians in Education, said in a blog post that the decision showed that “the Equality Act is actually hierarchic­al, with sexual orientatio­n and gender reassignme­nt at the apex of the Act.

“All equalities are equal, but some equalities are more equal than others. It doesn’t matter how good your school is in all other respects – simply refusing to teach very young children about gender reassignme­nt will lead to your closure,” she said.

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