At least one of the Jewish faith schools in Gateshead seems to be in a protracted stand-off with Ofsted, the schools inspectorate, over the teaching of some aspects of the law on protected characteristics.
Inspectors carried out an additional, unannounced progress monitoring inspection at Gateshead Jewish Boarding School in July at the request of the registration authority for independent schools and their report published this month leaves the school rated as requiring improvement, as it has been since 2018; in 2016 was rated as inadequate.
It was “judged to not meet all of the independent school standards and associated requirements.”
The school’s failure to achieve a “good” rating – the next step up the rankings – following the July inspection is due almost entirely to the failure of its leadership to meet the standard required in teaching about the protected characteristics of sexual orientation and gender reassignment. In most other respects the school did meet the requirements.
The protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
Some progress, but…
The inspection found that there had been some progress in developing aspects of the school’s personal, social, health and education (PSHE) and reading programmes, and school leaders had developed a more comprehensive programme of extra-curricular activities so that pupils enjoyed a broader range of experiences at the school.
However: “During this inspection, inspectors found that the school still does not teach pupils about the protected characteristics of sexual orientation and gender reassignment. The action plan submitted by the school was found by the Department for Education to be unsuitable in ensuring that all of the independent school standards are met consistently and over time…
“Leaders have not ensured that the school’s curriculum meets the statutory requirements in relation to teaching around protected characteristics and relationships and sex education (RSE). Leaders are of the view that they pay regard to statutory requirements related to protected characteristics, but they do not ensure that pupils learn about all of them.”
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Curriculum
This failure, which Ofsted judges first as one of school leadership and management, has consequences for the curriculum, where the regulator again judges the required standard not to be met, in spite of steps to assess and improve the reading ability of pupils.
“In the PSHE curriculum” it says, “there are now dedicated lessons that help pupils to understand the emotional changes associated with growing up. There is more direct teaching about the health-related aspects of growing up, for example linked to hygiene.
“However, there has been no change in the school’s approach to the teaching of protected characteristics. The protected characteristics of sexual orientation and gender reassignment are still not taught. Leaders assert, correctly, that pupils are taught to be respectful to all people. However, pupils are not taught about, for example, the different types of family relationships that exist in modern Britain and the curriculum in place does not support them to understand this.”
Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
Once again, the inspectors found improvements in broadening the experiences on offer to pupils through art, music, outdoor events, fundraising and trips to the beach. But once again, standards are not met because of the way the school taches about protected characteristics.
“Leaders acknowledge that they have not developed this aspect of their work but aim to foreground to pupils the respect they should show to all people at all times. This does not meet the specific requirements of the standards.”
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DfE warning
Gateshead Jewish Boarding School, which is a boy’s school with 140 pupils aged 10-16, was one of four serving the Orthodox Jewish community in the town which have been served with warning notices by the Department for Education (DfE), as reported by North East Bylines in May 2023. In three cases the schools were found at that time to be following the wishes of parents or their wider community in not teaching the protected characteristics and in one other case a school was reported to be refusing to teach about various other forms of sexuality as well. One of the schools, Keser Girls School, was subsequently judged “good”, as reported in North East Bylines in September 2025.
Though all the schools were praised in 2023 for some aspects of their work, sometimes in glowing terms, two of them were told by Ofsted that because of their failure to teach about all nine protected characteristics they are not preparing their pupils for life in modern Britain.
*Gateshead Jewish Boarding School has been approached for a response.
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