Newsline 19 December 2014

Government forces local authority to hand over £1 million site to 'Sikh ethos free school'

News | Tue, 16th Dec 2014

Leeds City Council has been ordered to hand over a former primary school site worth almost £1 million to enable an undersubscribed Sikh free school to relocate.

Leeds was considering plans to use the former primary school site as the premises for a new special needs school, but the Department for Education has ordered the site to be transferred to the Khalsa Education Trust for free.

The Trust in question runs the undersubscribed Khalsa Science Academy, a Sikh-ethos free school. The Academy has 10 spare places at present and, according to the Yorkshire Post, out of the 12 Leeds pupils in the academy's reception class just three had chosen the Sikh academy as their first preference school.

The academy is currently based in temporary premises and hopes a permanent location will allow it to attract more pupils.

Regardless of the lack of demand for the school and despite huge pressure on school places locally, the Department for Education is using its powers under the Academies Act 2010 to force the council, which owns the site, to hand over the property. The Department will not compensate Leeds City Council for the loss.

Lord Nash, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools, says the move will have a positive impact on community relations. In a letter to the council, Nash wrote that any "negative effect" on special needs pupils is "outweighed by the benefits of providing greater choice for parents who may be seeking a Sikh ethos education."

Concerns have been expressed locally that the site will now be used to house a very small number of students, many of whom did not opt for a Sikh ethos school in the first place.

Local councillors say that demand for the Sikh-ethos school is demonstrably low in the area. One councillor said: "we are concerned with providing school places in the areas of greatest need and Khalsa's numbers so far give us cause for concern."

Mark Rudd, a local school governor who contacted the National Secular Society (NSS), said: "Given the shortage of school places in the area this is a patently ridiculous and politically driven decision from the very top of government."

Another Leeds school, in this case a Jewish free school, attracted just 8 pupils when it opened with "state-of-the-art" facilities earlier his year. Only 11 are thought to have joined since. The government had provided £3 million to open the school. According to the Yorkshire Evening Post the school "has fewer children across two year groups than many secondary schools have in a single class."

NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans, said: "It beggars belief that the government has ordered that the land be given over to a faith based school where there appears to be little demand for one. The decision appears to be ideologically driven and makes a mockery of the government's localism agenda. Once again we see the wishes of religious organisations placed above the very real needs of children and families. Where school places are needed, they should be created in inclusive secular schools – not faith based schools that have the effect of dividing local children along both religious and ethnic lines."

In 2013 a site for another Sikh faith school in South Buckinghamshire village of Stoke Poges was purchased by the DfE for a reported £4.5m. The Khalsa Secondary School is now the subject of a legal dispute concerning Eric Pickles' decision to grant approval for the use of site for school despite objections from the Parish Council and local residents.

The school caused controversy earlier this year after children were allocated places at the undersubscribed school against the wishes of their parents.

Schools Minister writes to Rabbi over advice to avoid science questions at Jewish faith school

News | Mon, 15th Dec 2014

The Minister for Schools, David Laws MP, has written to the principal of Yesodey Hatorah, an Orthodox Jewish school, after the National Secular Society raised concerns that the school was failing to teach the National Curriculum in full and advising pupils to not answer exam questions on evolution and human reproduction.

Both Ofsted and the Department for Education have now written to the National Secular Society regarding the Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School, after the NSS raised concerns that school leaders have a policy of instructing students not to answer "sensitive" exam questions, after previously redacting them from papers.

David Laws MP writing to the NSS, said that "it is unacceptable for any school to redact exam papers, because this denies pupils the opportunity to demonstrate their full potential across the curriculum they have been taught."

The Minister added that "Yesodey Hatorah School has previously assured the department that it will teach the National Curriculum in full, with certain topics taught in a sensitive manner to respect its pupils' religious beliefs and that it will not redact questions in exam papers. It is important that they honour these commitments."

The NSS wrote to the DfE and Ofsted after Rabbi Pinter, principle of Yesodey Hatorah, said that the school would no longer redact exam questions as they had in the past, and instead simply instruct students not to answer them when the subject matter conflicted with the school's strict, Orthodox Jewish ethos.

David Laws has now written to Rabbi Pinter, "seeking reassurance that his school remains committed to teaching the full National Curriculum, as well as important non-curricular subjects like PHSE and SRE." The Minister added that "I have also asked him to confirm whether pupils will be advised not to answer certain questions that may arise during next summer's examinations."

Ofsted, responding to the concerns of the NSS, wrote that during the school's last inspection by Ofsted, in September 2014, "inspectors considered the school's practice of redacting examination questions." According to the Ofsted letter, inspectors were aware that "there had been correspondence between the school and an examination board" which had privately authorised the school's practice of redacting questions, but that an understanding had now been reached that "the school's practice of redacting examination questions would no longer continue."

In response to our concerns about the teaching of science, Ofsted write that "the school made it clear that a creationist belief is taught within the Kodesh (Jewish faith) curriculum, but that students also know that there is another viewpoint."

The NSS also asked the schools regulator to investigate comments made by Rabbi Pinter indicating that he regards homosexuality as incompatible with the school's religious ethos. In response, Ofsted say their inspection report found students were "aware of different discriminatory forms of bullying, although there is no specific reference to homophobic bullying."

Despite indicating no plans to take action against the school, Ofsted have said that they will "take very seriously any first-hand evidence that this or any other school were continuing to redact examination questions, failing to teach the statutory science curriculum (including evolution and genetics), or failing to promote tolerance and respect for people from all cultures and lifestyles."

NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans, commented: "We were successful last year in ensuring the redaction of exam papers was considered malpractice, but the issue goes beyond the blacking out of certain questions. This time we raised concerns of a very specific nature, and fail to see how Ofsted's reference to their September report addresses them. In the responses from both Ofsted and the DfE, there seems to an unwillingness to engage with the specific allegations.

"Young people's education should never be compromised when scientific facts happen to conflict with a school's religious outlook – and homosexuality shouldn't be 'incompatible' with the ethos of any of our publicly funded schools.

"Rabbi Pinter's comments clearly indicate that the intransigent attitude extends beyond exams and into science classes. It is inconceivable that the sensitivity over exam questions on religious grounds is not a symptom of science not being taught properly, particularly reproductive biology and evolution.

"If Rabbi Pinter is unable to confirm to the Minister for Schools that pupils are now taught the National Curriculum in full, and are free to answer all exam questions, then a much stronger line should be taken with this school – and indeed any others that allow their religious ethos to stand in the way of child's right to a broad and balanced education."

The full background of the story can be found here.

Jewish faith school’s admission policy amounts to “discrimination on the basis of race”

News | Thu, 18th Dec 2014

The Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) has instructed two Jewish faith schools to revise their admissions policies after it found they breached the Admissions Code, with one of the schools found to have a policy which amounted to "discrimination on the basis of race."

In their most recent finding, about King David High School, the OSA wrote that "Jewish Schools cannot base their oversubscription criteria on whether a child is halachically Jewish." The school in question is an Orthodox Jewish Academy.

The complaint was brought about by the Fair Admissions Campaign, who argued that "Orthodox Jewish synagogues typically (if not always?) refuse membership to individuals on the basis of whether or not an individual's mother is Jewish." Given this, the Fair Admissions Campaign questioned "whether giving preference to children who have a parent who is a member of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue makes it much harder for children whose mother is not ethnically Jewish to gain admittance, and therefore is discrimination."

In the event of the school being oversubscribed, the academy prioritised children "whose family are members of an Orthodox synagogue," over "children whose parent/parents or guardian/guardian are members of a Non-Orthodox synagogue" and both of those categories above "all other applicants."

In response, the OSA determined that "in significant ways the admission arrangements for King David High School do not comply with the requirements relating to admissions. The faith-based oversubscription criteria cannot be based as now on membership of a synagogue and the oversubscription criteria as whole lack the required clarity and objectivity."

The Fair Admissions Campaign also argued that the admissions policy "requested other information which was not necessary to apply the oversubscription criteria. This included the child's gender, details of both parents/guardians, whether the child resides with their natural parents and whether parents/guardians reside at the same address and the mother's maiden name."

The OSA concluded that this "information is not necessary to apply the admission arrangements" and cited guidance that states that admissions documents "must not ask for 'any personal details about parents and families, such as maiden names … marital status."

The OSA also concluded that this additional information "is not necessary to apply the oversubscription criteria and which cannot therefore be lawfully sought."

The objection from the Fair Admissions Campaign was "partially upheld" and the OSA determined that "the arrangements for both years do not conform with the requirements relating to admissions arrangements."

On 8 December 2014, the OSA published a similar finding about the Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School.

Yesodey Hatorah, a strict Charedi school, stated that "Charedi homes do not have TV or other inappropriate media and parents will ensure that their children will not have access to the internet and any other media which do not meet the stringent moral criteria of the Charedi community."

The school also said that "families will also dress at all times in accordance with the strictest standards of Tznius (modesty) as laid down by the Rabbinate of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew congregations."

The school's admissions documents included a statement for parents to sign that said "I/We understand that if at any time I/we do not conform to the standard set by the Rabbinate this endorsement will be rescinded." The OSA adjudicator wrote that "I was concerned that this could imply that a place might be removed perhaps even after a girl had started to attend the school. The circumstances in which offers of places can be withdrawn once offered … do not include where parents change their religious practice." Yesodey Hatorah was thus required to changes its admissions documentation "as quickly as possible."

According to The Hackney Citizen the school's headteacher, Rabbi Abraham Pinter, argued that the admissions policy was "academic" and, due to the school being undersubscribed, was "untested."

In conclusion however, the OSA wrote that "the arrangements for this school do not conform in a significant number of ways with the requirements relating to admissions. The fact that the school is not usually oversubscribed does not relieve it of the duty to have Code compliant arrangements." The objection was therefore partially upheld.

Yesodey Hatorah has been embroiled in a long-running row over the redaction of exam questions, followed by Rabbi Pinter telling students not to answer exam questions which conflicted with the school's religious "ethos." The Schools Minister has now written to the Rabbi.