School criticised over lapse in security
V A LONDON school has promised to review security after an Ofsted inspector entered the building unchallenged.
The incident was reported in the latest inspection of the Lubavitch Yeshiva Ketanah in Golders Green — the third since Ofsted rated it inadequate in mid-2018.
The school, Ofsted stated, “employs a security guard to check visitors’ identity and get them to sign in before opening the electronically locked gate. On the morning of the inspection the security guard was absent, and the gate was left ajar, allowing access to any member of the public.”
Leaders had not undertaken a risk assessment in the event of the guard being absent but said they would correct their safeguarding procedures.
The Yeshiva Ketanah, which teaches 20 boys from 13 to 16, had made “limited progress” in tackling unmet educational standards but the appointment of an experienced head of secular studies was “a step in the right direction”.
A number of laptops had now been bought, Ofsted said, although there had been “a delay in implementation because leaders were addressing differences of opinion in the community about the use of technology to support learning”.
Arrangements have been made to apply filters for internet searches and the school had now registered with a provider for setting up a digital classroom.
A Lubavitch spokesman noted that inspectors had also found that children were “supervised well” during the day and that suitably detailed plans were in place for teaching maths, English and science.
There was good news for one Charedi school this week, the Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass in Stamford Hill.
After an emergency inspection, Ofsted said the Belz-run boys’ school met standards for safeguarding, welfare of pupils and premises.
Its updated policy was “comprehensive and covers all aspects of safeguarding, including extremism and radicalisation, child sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation and children missing in education”.
The security guard was absent and the gate was left ajar’