Lessons in impressing Ofsted

WHILE CHAREDI schools have found themselves under increasing pressure from Ofsted over the past two years, two girls’ schools in Stamford Hill have demonstrated how to get into the inspectors’ good books.

Both Beis Malka — one of Hackney’s largest strictly Orthodox schools with 492 girls aged from two to 16 — and the smaller Beis Yaakov have been ranked as good in their latest Ofsted reports.

Ofsted found that Beis Malka’s “wellmannered” pupils showed a thirst for learning and were excited at the prospect of studying Shakespeare now the school has introduced English literature at GCSE.

They were well-prepared for life as “responsible and active citizens in modern Britain” and the school had taken steps to ensure they gained “a much broader understanding of the diversity of faiths and cultures” in the UK.

“Underpinned by their religious ethos and belief that all people are created in a godly image, leaders actively encourage pupils to respect everyone without exception,” they reported.

The school is run by one of the biggest Chasidic groups in the community, the Belz.

Members of other faiths and cultures have visited the school, and pupils have met “a range of different people” at external events.

Beis Yaakov, which teaches 86 girls aged from three to eight, offered a “broad and balanced curriculum” and strong promotion of fundamental British values, according to inspectors.