The National Secular Society has warned Hackney Council against letting an independent orthodox Jewish faith school into the state sector.
Last month, the council granted a temporary licence to Beis Yaakov Girls School to occupy the vacant site of a former community school.
As reported by Jewish News, the council stated that, when considering the use of vacant school sites by independent schools, its criteria include a ‘Good’ Ofsted judgement and a “willingness to explore joining the state sector – both of which Beis Yaakov meets”.
Writing to the council, the NSS raised concerns about the prospect of Beis Yaakov joining the state sector. It said that at a time of “strained community cohesion and pressure on public finances, expanding publicly funded faith schooling is the wrong approach”.
It said that faith schools are “divisive” because they “embed religious, and by extension ethnic, discrimination” as a “fundamental feature”.
Independent faith schools joining the state sector are most likely to do so as voluntary aided (VA) schools. VA schools are legally entitled to select religiously in 100% of pupil admissions and in the hiring of staff.
The NSS said schools made up almost entirely of pupils from one religious background and which discriminate against pupils who don’t share their faith are “exclusionary” and “isolate different religious communities from another”.
The NSS also highlighted that in 2020, whilst Beis Yaakov received a ‘Good’ Ofsted grading, it failed to meet the independent school standards. Ofsted found school leaders were not enabling pupils to “learn about the range of different families in modern Britain” and pupils did not learn about “homophobic bullying”.
This suggests Beis Yaakov was not teaching about the range of protected characteristics as required by government guidance, the NSS said. Such practices are common at orthodox Jewish faith schools, which often breach these requirements because they have religious objections to teaching about LGBT people.
The NSS told the council that schools which fail to meet their legal obligations by refusing to teaching about the human rights of all citizens have no place in the independent, much less state, education sector.
The NSS also raised concerns about the potential for regressive religious ideology to be imposed on pupils and families by Beis Yaakov, should it join the state sector.
Last year, another orthodox Jewish school, Nancy Reuben Primary, became state funded. It bans women from wearing trousers and penalises families who attend non-kosher restaurants.
Other state-funded orthodox Jewish schools similarly impose religious practices on families, including via their admissions policies. In 2023, the NSS published research into how a dozen such schools seek to control families’ private lives, including parents’ sexual activity.
In April, the NSS warned the Government against encouraging independent faith schools to become state-funded.
This week, Barnet Hill Academy, an independent Islamic faith school that requires girls as young as seven to wear the hijab, joined the state sector. Despite prioritising Muslim applicants ahead of children from non-Muslim backgrounds, Barnet Council claimed the school will operate “inclusive admission arrangements”.
NSS: Schools must bring children together, not divide by faith
National Secular Society spokesperson Jack Rivington said: “State-funded schools should bring children together, not divide them by faith and, by extension, ethnicity. Equally, decisions about public services must be reached transparently and with accountability, not rubberstamped by unelected officials.
“It is essential that Hackney Council now clarify what discussions it has had with Beis Yaakov school about joining the state sector, and its policy towards independent faith schools which seek public funding.
“As our society becomes increasingly diverse, we must ensure it does not become increasingly divided. Faith schools promote religious segregation, and in some cases regressive ideas about women. They should not be funded by the taxpayer.”