Were delayed
and religious freedom continues to be a headache for some of the more frum schools. The impact on Jewish schools from a court ruling that it was illegal entirely to segregate boys and girls at a state-aided Muslim school is still unclear but Hasmonean High School, which teaches boys and girls on separate sites, will probably have to divide into two schools.
More recently, a Jewish teacher successfully sued an Orthodox nursery for discrimination when she was fired after it learned she was living with her boyfriend.
Strictly Orthodox independent schools are likely to face continuing travails at the hands of Ofsted, though whether the DfE will take the drastic step of closing any remains to be seen.
Ofsted is clearly frustrated that the state lacks legislative power to crack down on schools it believes are flouting secular standards. When its chief inspector Amanda Spielman said at the launch of her annual report this month that the inspection service had found “schools in which there is a flat refusal to acknowledge the existence of… lesbian, gay and bisexual people”, a number of independent Jewish schools fall into that bracket.
Ofsted also wants tougher regulation of unregistered faith institutions such as yeshivot. But the results of a government consultation on how to police such institutions is yet another delayed item.
Simon Rocker edits the JC’s Education section.
Rosa Doherty is the JC’s Social Affairs Correspondent