Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School warned against ‘slapping’
Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School. Photograph: Benjamin Mortimer
An ultra-religious independent Jewish school has been warned not to use slapping as a punishment after an emergency Ofsted inspection ordered by the Department for Education (DfE).
Children at Stamford Hill’s Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School, which educates boys aged five to twelve from the strictly observant charedi community, told inspectors of “incidents where a teacher had given a small ‘slap’ with the hand”, adding that this was sometimes threatened as a punishment.
Ofsted’s report requires that in future “no form of corporal punishment is used or threatened” at the school.
Child protection certificates for senior staff were out of date on the day of the inspection and the school lacked detailed child protection policies.
“Staff were not able to explain in detail what to do if a pupil disclosed any concerns or showed signs of abuse”, inspectors added.
Children had a “very limited understanding of other cultures and faiths” and “only a sketchy understanding of public institutions and services in England”.
The report also describes teaching at the school as ‘inadequate’.
Abraham Jacobson, a Lib Dem councillor for Cazenove ward and a prominent member of the Stamford Hill Jewish community, said he was surprised by the report.
He said: “It’s a long-established school with a good reputation. I’m sure they will take on the inspection’s findings and act on those findings. Every Jewish school has a no-slapping policy. There is no corporal punishment in Jewish schools.”
Ofsted’s report also said pupils use of a “steep metal fire escape” to access the playground was “potentially unsafe”.
The school’s headteacher Rabbi Samuel Hoffman did not reply to a letter offering him the right of reply.
Independent schools such as Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz are not required to teach the National Curriculum and strictly religious Jewish schools in Stamford Hill have been the focus of concern from the DfE for a number of years.
You would thought intensive Talmud study would be enough of a punishment ;). That will be two sin offerings for you Rabbi Hoff!
Nearly every Jewish boys’ school in Stamford Hill hits children – regularly – and as official school policy. Sometime children get beaten viciously. There have been broken bones in the past, but no one will dare to testify that it happened. It helps that we have our own ambulance service ‘hatzolah’ which can aid in covering up such cases.
Children (and adults) are warned that reporting abuse to police or any other non-Jewish authority is the worst possible crime to do, punishable by death.
Punishable by death? Is that true Lehavdil? That’s some story if it is
It is shameful that Abraham Jacobson, can make such a fallacious statement.
Corporal punishment is very common and systemic in Hasidic boy schools in Stamford Hill. One school does require the teachers to seek permission from the headteacher before smacking kids, but in other schools – smacking in regular and daily.
Sad that a Lib Deb in particular, who should stand up for vulnerable children, is inadvertently doing the opposite. I suggest he actually talks to some kids to find out the truth,