The British Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) severely criticised two independent Jewish boys’ schools situated in north London for not preparing pupils “for the reality of life in modern British society” and the fact that they are “unable to show mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs because their knowledge of how people are different and of other faiths is very limited.”

In reports published yesterday and the day before, Ofsted inspectors said that the standards of teaching at the schools do not equip pupils with skills to integrate into modern British society. The report revealed that the Yetev Lev School that has 794 students aged between 3 and 13 provided books where “images of females had either been erased or radically changed”. The fact that lessons were carried out in Yiddish was also criticised and Ofsted said that “This continues to impede pupils’ progress in basic literacy skills and their ability to speak, read and write in English.”

A second report addressed the teaching standards at the Beis Aharon Primary School in Stamford Hill and concluded that “Pupils universally consider that the role of women is to ‘look after children, clean the house and cook’, while men ‘go to work’.” The report also found that the standard of education did not meet the required standards for an independent school and prioritised the “ethos of its faith” over educational standards.

Ofsted has also criticised 7 independent Islamic schools in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, East London for failing in its duty to protect students from terrorism. The Chief Inspector of Schools in England and head of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw sent an advice note to the Ministry of Education which provided recommendations for the necessary actions that needed to be taken with regards to these schools. The note also alluded to the schools’ dependence on a “narrow and limited curriculum” that did not provide students with the necessary qualifications to integrate into modern British life and makes them vulnerable to “extremist influences and radicalisation”.