Humanists UK has expressed alarm after a recent Ofsted report revealed that every single pupil at a Charedi Jewish faith school in Gateshead has been withdrawn from sex education by their parents.
Ateres Girls High School is a private Charedi girls’ school in Gateshead with around 250 pupils. It has failed to meet the Independent School Standards – which set out the basic education standards that all private schools must meet to stay registered – for over six years. The latest report says the school provided relationships education and ‘prepared a separate sex education policy’. It had also consulted with parents on how sex education would be taught by ‘an external provider from the Jewish community’. But ‘the policy anticipates that all parents are likely to withdraw their child’. And, during the inspection, school leaders explained that, in fact, ‘all parents have exercised their right to withdraw their child from the teaching of sex education.’
Despite the safeguarding risks to children that mass withdrawals from this subject clearly pose, inspectors found the school had met its legal duties for the teaching of relationships, health, and sex education. The law allows parents to opt their children out of sex education (but not relationships education). However, Ofsted did find the school had failed to provide an adequate personal, social, health, and economic (PSHE) curriculum because of the school’s ‘continuing refusal’ to teach about LGBT people. Sexual orientation and gender reassignment are ‘protected characteristics’ under the Equality Act 2010. The report therefore concluded that the school does not fully prepare pupils for ‘the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life in British society’.
Significant withdrawal from sex education is common in Charedi Jewish schools and Humanists UK has regularly raised concerns about this with the DfE. For example, in 2014 Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School in Hackney admitted that it did not teach sex education at all because it believed, in practice, all parents would withdraw. And, in 2019, parents at Lubavitch Senior Girls School, also in Hackney, were in fact pressured by staff to withdraw their children to prevent the subject from being taught.
Humanists UK Education Campaigns Manager Dr Ruth Wareham said:
‘It is deeply concerning that every pupil at this school has been denied a vital part of their education merely because of their parents’ beliefs. What’s more, whistleblowers from the Charedi community have told us how difficult it is for members to say anything that contradicts community leaders. As a result, we know of cases where pressure has been put on parents to remove their children from sex education in large numbers so the school does not have to provide it. With this in mind, it is difficult to know whether this mass withdrawal is really down to the wishes of the parents or whether it actually says more about the wishes of school leaders.
‘Comprehensive, fact-based lessons on sex and relationships that are inclusive of LGBT people are hugely important to helping all children grow up healthy, happy, and safe, as well as to respect the rights and interests of others. If the UK Government is serious about safeguarding children, it must end the parental opt-outs and make sure that every child can access the full RSE curriculum as a matter of urgency.’
Notes:
For further comment or information, please contact Humanists UK Education Campaigns Manager Ruth Wareham via ruth@humanists.uk or phone 07725 110860.
Read the full Ofsted report.
Read our most recent article on why Ofsted’s safeguarding review must consider the role of faith-based RSE in rape culture.
Read our article about the Jewish school encouraging mass withdrawal of pupils.
Read our article about the failure to teach any sex education at Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ School.
Read more about our work on RSE.
Read more about our work on independent schools.
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