Primary ordered to shut

AN UNREGISTERED strictly Orthodox primary school has been ordered to close by the Department for Education in a further sign of a crackdown by the authorities on religious institutions operating outside the law.

Talmud Torah Tashbar in Stamford Hill, Hackney, has been told to shut down in a month.

A DfE spokesman said that it “is a criminal offence to operate an unregistered independent school. This school’s application for registration has been rejected and on December 30 it was informed of this decision. It has been told to close by February 12.”

The head of the Ofsted inspection service, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has been leading the charge against illegal schools, urging tougher action from the DfE in recent weeks after three unregistered Muslims schools were discovered in Birmingham in recent months.

The school has the right to appeal but has not yet done so.

One registered Orthodox primary school in Hackney, Chaim Meirim, had previously been at risk of closure after failing to meet inspection standards but the threat was lifted last year.

A group representing former members of the Charedi community, GesherEU, wrote to the DfE last week to call for closer scrutiny of Orthodox institutions, saying that they were failing to provide pupils with an adequate secular education.