Manchester Jewish school again branded ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted
Report from November 2021 inspection repeats 2019 verdict which was quashed after a legal challenge
Jeremy Last is assistant web editor at the Jewish News. He lives in Israel, and is currently in his second stint at the JN, having worked for the paper back in the early 2000s!
A prominent Manchester Jewish school has again been branded “inadequate” by Ofsted, just two and a half years after having a similar verdict quashed.
In the new report published on Monday, King David High School was criticised for having ineffective arrangements for safeguarding, and for enforcing “discriminatory” arrangements for pupils in the all-girls section.
The school is split into three streams- the all-girls Yavneh Girls and all-boys Yavneh Boys which offer a modern orthodox Jewish eduction and a mixed boys and girls section.
But the school’s Chair of Governors has hit back. In a letter to parents, Joshua Rowe wrote that he believed the “sweeping negative statements and their massive downgrade are way beyond the mark and border on the absurd.”
In the nine-page document, Ofsted inspectors wrote that “some pupils and their parents and carers told inspectors that leaders have not created a culture where concerns, including worries about bullying, can be easily reported.”
And the school was accused of being “discriminatory” because pupils in the separated Yavne Girls stream are not able to mix with the children in the mixed boys and girls section, while pupils attending the boys-only stream are.
The report, which was compiled after a two-day visit to the school on 10 and 11 November 2021, also said “a few” members of the governing body “do not understand their roles and responsibilities.”
“They are overly involved in the day-to-day running of the school. This hampers senior leaders’ ability to take appropriate steps to improve the school and to safeguard pupils,” the report said.
The verdict comes after a 2019 Ofsted report, which also described the school as inadequate, was withdrawn after a legal challenge to Ofsted’s claim that separating boys and girls was unlawful.
This meant the school’s status “Outstanding” rating, achieved after a 2015 inspection, was reinstated.
However, in the latest report, Ofsted again claimed King David was breaking the law.
Referring to the different arrangements for the separated boys and girls, the inspectors wrote: “This constitutes unlawful direct discrimination on the ground of sex, contrary to the Equality Act 2010.”
Rowe said he strongly disagreed. He wrote: “As to the Equality Act, in our view, they are wrong in fact and wrong in law [this was clarified to us by the Court and by the DfE, in 2019].”
He added: “The report presents a picture of the school which is unrecognisable to those who know it. Prior to the 2019 inspection, the school was inspected in May 2015 and was judged ‘Outstanding’. T
“This was under a previous inspection framework. This reflected the school’s overall effectiveness under the inspection framework in use at the time.
Regarding safeguarding, the report said there have been “widespread failures in how leaders protect pupils from harm.”
“Consequently, too many pupils and their parents have little confidence in how well leaders manage safeguarding and welfare concerns.”
It also said some pupils said that staff have unrealistic expectations of what they can achieve academically. “These pupils said that this places them under a great deal of pressure. It has a detrimental impact on their mental health and well-being,” the report said.
But addressing the safeguarding issues, Rowe said: “We believe that the evidence base is not well founded.
“Moreover, as is the case in all schools, there will always be instances where the school might have done better but in general, our school makes a huge effort to ensure the safety and wellbeing of pupils and this was recognised in all previous Ofsted reports, including the report in 2019 which rated safeguarding as ‘effective’.”
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