Stamford Hill girls school ordered to increase number of student places

In what has been described as “an epic win for Stamford Hill girls and parents”, the Schools Adjudicator has ruled against the Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School over its admission policies.

The school, which is voluntary-aided, had been arguing for a lower number of places available, claiming that the size of its buildings did not allow it to teach more students, and also suggesting that there was no demand for school places.

But the Schools Adjudicator’s report says firmly that the school must increase its Published Admission Number, or PAN, by 10 new places. This means, says the Stamford Hill commentator If You Tickle Us, that as long as there are not more than 80 applicants, “every single girl will get in” — and this has not been the case previously.

In September 2022 six girls were rejected because of a claimed shortage of places; the previous year eight girls could not gain admission. Some of the unsuccessful applicants, it has been claimed, spent a year out of school.

The Schools Adjudicator, whose ruling is binding on the school, was alerted to problems at Yesodey Hatorah by a local resident in 2022. The “referrer”, as he is known throughout the Adjudicator’s report, asked to remain anonymous. Besides the referrer, the other parties to the case are the governing board of the school, the London Borough of Hackney as the local authority, and the Union of Orthodox Synagogues as the supervising rabbinate.

Now the Adjudicator, Bryan Slater, has ruled that Yesodey Hatorah has two months from January 20 2023, to “revise its admission arrangements for both 2022 and 2023”.

In his hard-hitting report, Mr Slater takes issue with the school’s claim that its buildings were not adequate for the higher number of girls wanting to attend. He writes: “The school is by no means unique in wishing its accommodation were different, or in having budgetary difficulties or staff who feel that they are working under pressure. I certainly do not accept the school’s suggestion that some spaces such as the library should reasonably be discounted from its capacity calculation because it finds them less than ideal in practice, and I am mindful that it has said that such modifications are needed if its own view of the capacity of its buildings is to be supported”. He adds: “As far as the physical capacity of the school is concerned, I am in no doubt that there is room for more girls to be admitted than will be the case if the Year 7 PAN remains at 70”.

He also says that “there is no doubt in my mind, either, that there is an ongoing level of demand from parents for places at the school which is unsatisfied by a PAN of 70, and that this is in all probability going to continue at its present level, at least”. In other words he believes there is a higher demand for school places than the school claimed it was able to provide.