Ofsted part of ‘secularist plot’, claims school chief
A STATE-AIDED Chasidic girls’ school in Stamford Hill has been deemed inadequate in a scathing inspection report which accuses it of censoring textbooks, failing to teach about reproduction in science and doing too little to encourage respect for other groups of people.
Ofsted said the Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ School had “blanked out” pictures in books about major artists such as Picasso, redacted passages in Sherlock Holmes and would not allow girls to visit a gallery such as Tate Modern.
The school’s principal, Rabbi Avraham Pinter, had an “over-generous” view of its educational quality and governors did not hold him to account, inspectors said.
The report triggered Theo Bibelman, chairman of governors, to accuse Ofsted of being part of a “secularist plot”. He said the school — which has now been placed into special measures — was “appalled at the way the Ofsted inspectors treated our staff and students”.
He did not give specific details but added: “This inspection was never about us; it is about Ofsted using their unfettered powers to try to force faith schools to comply with their agenda or fail.”
In its report, published on Tuesday, Ofsted said: “In science, pupils are not permitted to study animal or human reproduction and other areas such as global warming are restricted. Leaders do not fulfil their statutory duty to provide sex and relationships education.”
According to Ofsted, “photographs portraying men and women on the same page, for instance in a crowd, had been redacted”.
The principal and governors “do not encourage pupils’ respect for all other people, because they do not provide sufficient opportunities for pupils to learn about different faiths, experiences, cultures or perspectives”.
Pupils were not given opportunities to “socialise with pupils from different communities, religions, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds or with boys. Pupils have no opportunity to compete in inter-school sport, participate in events or visit universities”.
Safeguarding was judged ineffective partly because girls were not given information about how to stay safe online.
Girls demonstrated well the values of being righteous, honest and law-abiding which they were taught, Ofsted said.
They were keen to do well and their exam results reflected higher standards than seen in their books.
Theo Bibelman, chairman of governors, said: “Even a cursory reading of the report shows Ofsted has downplayed our successes and academic achievements whilst showing a clear disrespect for the Orthodox Jewish community.
“It seems unless we agree with the secularist agenda of Ofsted London then we cannot comply with their inspection criteria.”