Two Broughton schools fail to meet Ofsted standards as “Inadequate” rating issued

Concerns have been raised after two schools in Broughton received poor Ofsted ratings.

Beis Hatalmud School was rated inadequate, the lowest possible grade, while Talmud Torah Chinuch Norim School was judged as requiring improvement.

Inspectors found that both schools failed to meet the required independent school standards set by the education regulator.

In July, Betis Hatalmud School on Wellington Street West was found to be “ill-prepared” to support students who struggle to learn to read and garnered criticism for teaching a limited curriculum.

Betis Hatalmud School is an independent boys’ school with 136 pupils aged 11-16. A report published yesterday (September 15) confirmed that the school had been downgraded from “requires improvement” to “inadequate” as a result of its poor leadership and management.

While the school was assessed to have a good quality of behaviour and attitude shown by students, with “confident and well-behaved pupils,” the report outlines that people in leadership positions do not demonstrate good skills and knowledge of their roles.

Gaps in teaching and the curriculum leave pupils unprepared to understand and respect differences between people beyond their immediate community.

“The school’s systems for identifying and assessing pupils with SEND are not strong. As a result, some pupils’ needs are not accurately identified or supported consistently well,” the report also highlights.

“The school does not teach pupils about all protected characteristics or fully deliver the statutory RSE content. This limits pupils’ understanding of diversity and prevents them from being fully prepared for life in modern Britain.”

An additional inspection was carried out on Talmud Torah Chinuch Norim School, in July, seven months after the school had received a “requires improvement” grade from Ofsted.

A report published yesterday (September 15) found that Talmud Torah Chinuch Norim School fell short of meeting the assessed independent school standards.

Talmud Torah Chinuch Norim School is an independent boys school with 352 pupils aged between 2-13.

Ofsted say that the institution fails to provide a satisfactory quality of education, does not aid the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, and lacks quality of leadership and management.

The latest report found that the school had been slow to act on the issues described in its November standard inspection report. The school continues to neglect teaching about diversity, leaving students unprepared for life in modern Britain.

Concerningly, the report notes, “Inspectors found that pupils were not fully informed about the risk of harm linked to issues such as consent and sexual harassment.”

More information about Beis Hatalmud School’s Ofsted report can be found here, while the findings from Talmud Torah Chinuch Norim School’s additional inspection are available here.