Jewish orthodox school teaching ‘insularity’ closed after 40 years

Closed: the school taught a strict form of Judaism

The government has closed a Jewish Orthodox school in Stamford Hill which taught “cultural and ethnic insularity” after ignoring years of reports it was failing pupils.

The Charedi Talmud Torah Tashbar school was allowed to operate illegally, teaching a strict form of Judaism to its 200 pupils, , despite falling below “minimum” Ofsted standards.

However, the school finally closed its doors two weeks ago after 40 years.

Ofsted inspectors said its rigid curriculum taught no lessons in English, preferring Hebrew, a language only spoken in Israel and by some Jewish minorities.

Reports seen by the British Humanist Association after Freedom of Information requests show the school survived despite the government being alerted to its failings.

“We’re glad that the government has now moved to shut this particular school down, which after all this time is an incredibly welcome move,” said Jay Harman, BHA Faith Schools campaigner. “However, there are clearly many more out there just like it.

“The situation revealed by these reports is simply outrageous and those in government who have failed to act in the past ought to be ashamed of themselves for standing idly by while thousands of children have their childhoods stolen from them.”

Ofsted inspectors said the school taught “cultural and ethnic insularity because it is so narrow and almost exclusively rooted in the study of the Torah [Jewish holy texts]”.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “It is a criminal offence to operate an unregistered independent school. This school’s application for registration has been rejected and on 30 December it was informed of this decision. It has been told to close by February 12.”

Mr Harman added: “Every year, every month, every week that these places are allowed to stay open, a huge number of children remain isolated, indoctrinated, and very likely abused, so we will certainly be writing to the government to ask that action is taken far more swiftly in the case of other schools than it has been here.”

The school was unavailable for comment.