Probed by Ofsted

AN UNREGISTERED Jewish school is under investigation by the educational authorities, it emerged this week.

The inspection service Ofsted said it had identified three Jewish institutions since its taskforce on unregistered schools started work last year.

“One has stopped operating, one is registering with the Department for Education in order to operate on a lawful basis and another is under investigation,” an Ofsted spokesman stated.

But he would not release names or further details of the schools involved.

It is illegal to operate a school teaching children under 16 for 20 or more hours a week without registration.

Hackney Council last year said it had a list of more than 30 unregistered strictly Orthodox yeshivot.

But while many of the yeshivot are believed to teach boys under the age of 16, Charedi representatives argue that a yeshivah does not fall under the legal definition of a school.