A surprise snap inspection by British government education inspectors has found the Beis Malka Belz hasidic girls school in the Stamford Hill neighborhood of London – the same school that threatened to expel students whose mothers drive an automobile – has an insufficient child protection policy.
Hasidic School That Threatened To Expel Students Whose Mothers Drive Automobiles Rapped By Government For Having Insufficient Child Protection Policy
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A surprise snap inspection by British government education inspectors has found the Beis Malka Belz hasidic girls school in the Stamford Hill neighborhood of London – the same school that threatened to expel students whose mothers drive an automobile – has an insufficient child protection policy, the Jewish News reported.
The OFSTED report published earlier this month found Beis Malka’s child protection policy is vague and advocates using out of date procedures.
As an example of vagueness, when a complaint is made against the headteacher, the person assigned to deal with the complaint, a member of the board of governors of the school, is told to do so, but the steps he is supposed take are not spelled out. Similar vagueness was evident throughout the child protection policy.
The OFSTED inspectors also found hasidic principles often take precedence over the school’s legal obligations.
Beis Malka – which has 500 students who run in age from 6 through 16 – also intentionally blocked any discussion of sexual orientation. When asked why it was doing that its headteacher told the inspectors Judaism forbids discussing the subject.
“If we had to teach that we would have to close as an orthodox school,” the headteacher said.
Further, Beis Malka students were not given fair or clear notice of educational options available to them after graduation. As a result, the students all continued their education at hasidic seminaries in the UK or Israel.
The report also found Beis Malka has an unregistered a nursery (called a créche in the report).
Beis Malka students were familiar with the basic tenets and institutions of British democracy, the report also found, although their knowledge lacked some depth.
In October, a similar report by The JC cited many of the same deficiencies cited in today's Jewish News report. But that JC report did not mention the schools deficiencies in child protection.
The OFSTED inspection report:
OFSTED Beis Malka Belz London Snap Inspection Report Dated 7-2015 Published 12-2015
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