OFSTED, PIKUACH and Head's Reports
Dear Parents,
Please find below the OFSTED report (March 2019) which judges the school to be ‘inadequate’, primarily on the grounds that the Yavneh provision amounts to ‘unlawful segregation’ of boys and girls – in breach of the Equality Act 2010 [and its antecedents].
The Yavneh structure has been in place for almost 30 years now - always with the approval of the LEA [when we were an LEA school] and DfE. The Yavneh structure has been through some 7 OFSTED and HMI inspections [the last one was in 2015] and no issues were ever raised.
Yavneh now forms some 30% of the school.
The school lawyers and counsel believe that Ofsted is wrong on the law. Segregation is top-down: those in authority determining where a person may or may not attend whereas at our school, it is the pupils who choose where they wish to attend. Last year, the school also sought and received [via the Jewish schools’ organisation – PaJeS] the approval of the DfE that we were compliant.
The dialogue with Ofsted has been ongoing [mainly, on this segregation point] for 3 months but their stance remains that we are ‘inadequate’ because of unlawful segregation.
In the process, possibly as a tactical move [in case they are wrong on the segregation point], they also amended their initial stance on ‘personal development, behaviour and welfare’[PDBW] from ‘good’ / ‘outstanding’ [given at the ‘feed-back’], to ‘requires improvement’
Moreover, this focus on segregation and discrimination appears to have informed and coloured the whole inspection and means that inspectors spent relatively little time on anything else. As a result, in the school’s view, judgements were made on the basis of a very partial inspection of the school and sometimes without relevant information.
We are seriously concerned that the judgements are flawed and unsafe [the concern is corroborated by the fact that all previous inspections noted the many outstanding features of the school whereas this inspection found absolutely nothing to be outstanding]
Where do we go from here?
The following are the options we have;
Notwithstanding the OFSTED report, the school is outstanding and is having an excellent year. The pupils make us proud, as do our dedicated teachers. Eight pupils have been offered places at Oxford and Cambridge, virtually all others have been offered places at top universities of their choice, 9 out of 10 medical applicants have been offered places at medical schools [national average is 1 in 10], pupils and students on vocational courses are achieving the highest grades, the school is consistently at the top of National League tables and, most importantly, pupils are happy and well looked after. We hope that the results this year [for each and every pupil, at their level] will reflect this.
Having said that, clearly there are areas which OFSTED have correctly highlighted as requiring improvement and, in those areas, we have already began taking steps to do just that. The school is never complacent and will always endeavour to achieve the highest standards.
I also attach a more elaborate covering note which some parents may find interesting
Best wishes – Joshua Rowe
Please find below the OFSTED report (March 2019) which judges the school to be ‘inadequate’, primarily on the grounds that the Yavneh provision amounts to ‘unlawful segregation’ of boys and girls – in breach of the Equality Act 2010 [and its antecedents].
The Yavneh structure has been in place for almost 30 years now - always with the approval of the LEA [when we were an LEA school] and DfE. The Yavneh structure has been through some 7 OFSTED and HMI inspections [the last one was in 2015] and no issues were ever raised.
Yavneh now forms some 30% of the school.
The school lawyers and counsel believe that Ofsted is wrong on the law. Segregation is top-down: those in authority determining where a person may or may not attend whereas at our school, it is the pupils who choose where they wish to attend. Last year, the school also sought and received [via the Jewish schools’ organisation – PaJeS] the approval of the DfE that we were compliant.
The dialogue with Ofsted has been ongoing [mainly, on this segregation point] for 3 months but their stance remains that we are ‘inadequate’ because of unlawful segregation.
In the process, possibly as a tactical move [in case they are wrong on the segregation point], they also amended their initial stance on ‘personal development, behaviour and welfare’[PDBW] from ‘good’ / ‘outstanding’ [given at the ‘feed-back’], to ‘requires improvement’
Moreover, this focus on segregation and discrimination appears to have informed and coloured the whole inspection and means that inspectors spent relatively little time on anything else. As a result, in the school’s view, judgements were made on the basis of a very partial inspection of the school and sometimes without relevant information.
We are seriously concerned that the judgements are flawed and unsafe [the concern is corroborated by the fact that all previous inspections noted the many outstanding features of the school whereas this inspection found absolutely nothing to be outstanding]
Where do we go from here?
The following are the options we have;
- De-amalgamation – creating 3 separate academies [single-sex schools are exempt under the Equality Act] all under a multi KD academy (MAT). This is a cumbersome project but one which may work
- Work with the DfE [who are very supportive] to find a solution
- Apply to the Court for a Judicial Review [the only mechanism to challenge Ofsted]
Notwithstanding the OFSTED report, the school is outstanding and is having an excellent year. The pupils make us proud, as do our dedicated teachers. Eight pupils have been offered places at Oxford and Cambridge, virtually all others have been offered places at top universities of their choice, 9 out of 10 medical applicants have been offered places at medical schools [national average is 1 in 10], pupils and students on vocational courses are achieving the highest grades, the school is consistently at the top of National League tables and, most importantly, pupils are happy and well looked after. We hope that the results this year [for each and every pupil, at their level] will reflect this.
Having said that, clearly there are areas which OFSTED have correctly highlighted as requiring improvement and, in those areas, we have already began taking steps to do just that. The school is never complacent and will always endeavour to achieve the highest standards.
I also attach a more elaborate covering note which some parents may find interesting
Best wishes – Joshua Rowe
Ofsted Reports
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Head Teacher's Reports
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