Beis Hatalmud School

Beis Hatalmund School 62 Wellington Street West, Broughton, Salford, Lancashire, M7 2FD

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement 3

Leadership and management Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3

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This is school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Teaching is inconsistent, particularly in secular studies (chol). Consequently, progress in secular subjects is similarly inconsistent.  The development of English and mathematics is limited beyond Year 9. Students are not provided with an opportunity to secure a good GCSE in these core subjects if they have not achieved a grade C when they sit external examinations at the end of Year 9.  Although standards in mathematics and physics are broadly average by the time students leave Year 10, standards in English are not as high as they should be, given students’ starting points.  Teachers’ expectations of what students can produce when recording in English are not always high enough. The quality of students’ recorded work is variable and some is poorly presented.  Leaders and managers have begun to evaluate the quality of work in students’ books but this is a recent development and has not led to improvements in the quality, quantity or

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This is school that requires improvement. It is not good because

presentation of work in books.  Although leaders and managers have a reasonable knowledge of the school’s strengths and areas for development they have been over generous in their self-evaluation of the school’s effectiveness. Consequently, they have not acted rapidly enough to address the shortcomings in English.  Although the relevant standard is met leaders and managers have not ensured that all documentation related to welfare, health and safety, including risk assessments is always accurate.  A small number of the independent school standards are not met.

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The school has the following strengths

 Leaders and managers have successfully engendered a harmonious school community where students are polite and friendly.  The teaching and the curriculum of religious studies (kodesh) is a strength. Consequently, students make good gains in these areas.  The school offers good support for any students who are struggling in kodesh. As a result, they are able to keep up with their peers.  Students behave well in lessons and around the school. They are tolerant and respectful of others, including those of different faiths and cultures.  Parents are extremely supportive of the school.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 The school must take action to meet the schedule to The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 and associated requirements. The details are listed in the full report.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection was conducted at the request of the Department for Education (DfE) because of some concerns about the school.  The inspectors observed teaching in almost all classes and all classes were visited as part of a learning walk with the headteacher. Inspectors toured the inside and outside of all buildings, including the newly acquired temporary classrooms on land across the road to the main building.  During visits to classrooms, inspectors reviewed students’ work and spoke with them about their learning. Inspectors scrutinised students’ work in a range of subjects and held meetings with teachers and students.  Inspectors checked the school’s compliance with the independent school standards. They examined school policies and documentation, including students’ records and assessment information. The inspection team also looked at the school’s documentation, including teachers’ planning and the school’s

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Information about this inspection

policies and procedures for safeguarding, welfare, health and safety.  Inspectors observed lunch and break times along with an assembly led by an external speaker.  Inspectors considered 37 completed paper questionnaires sent out to parents by the school and six staff questionnaires. Not enough responses to Ofsted’s on-line questionnaire (Parent View) were made to enable inspectors to review the results.  The school asked for a material change request to be included as part of this inspection. This was to seek approval to use a newly acquired site with temporary classrooms as part of the school’s teaching space.

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Inspection team

Amraz Ali, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Information about this school

 Beis Hatalmud is an Orthodox Jewish independent day school for boys aged 11 to 16 in the West Salford area of Manchester.  The school opened in August 2006 with Year 7 students only. There are now 76 students in Years 7 to 10, all of whom live close to the school, none of whom have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.  The majority of the school day is devoted to kodesh with chol at the end of the afternoon. The school is open six days per week and was last inspected in October 2010. No alternative provision is used by the school.  The school aims to provide an educational programme for students aspiring to become Talmudic scholars. Through these studies, the school also aims to educate students to become caring, discerning, secure and well-balanced individuals.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and attainment, particularly in English, by providing staff with the opportunity to learn from the more effective teachers raising the expectations of the quality and quantity of written English in all lessons providing more opportunities for students to develop their English and mathematics skills beyond Year

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

ensuring that written marking leads to improved work and progress ensuring that the presentation of recorded work is always of a good quality.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that documentation related to welfare, health and safety, including risk assessments, is more thorough and robust the checks that are made on students’ work guide and support teachers to better develop students’ English and mathematics skills that schemes of work more systematically detail how Talmudic studies contribute to other areas of the curriculum.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 The school must meet the following independent school standards. Ensure students have access to accurate, up-to-date careers guidance that is presented in an impartial manner, enables them to make informed choices about a broad range of career options and helps to encourage them to fulfil their potential (Paragraph 2(2)(e), 2(2)(e)(i), 2(2)(e)(ii), 2(2)(e)(iii)) Ensure suitable changing accommodation and showers are provided for students who receive physical education. (Paragraph 23(1)(c)) Ensure that the teaching at the school enables pupils to acquire new knowledge and make good progress in English according to their ability so that they increase their understanding and develop their skills. (Paragraph 3, 3(a)) Ensure that leadership and management fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently. (Paragraph 34(1)(b))

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Leaders and managers know about and accept the need to improve standards in English but have not acted robustly to address this. They understand the importance of the independent school standards but have not ensured that the school consistently meets all requirements.  The quality of teaching is inconsistent and as a consequence students’ progress is also inconsistent. This is despite the fact that middle leaders have begun to observe and evaluate the quality of teaching with the support of external consultants. Although the skills of middle leaders are developing in this area not all guidance and support has led securely to good teaching in all subjects. Middle leaders have begun to check on the quality of work in books but this has not led to improvements in the quality of English work across the school.  The curriculum requires improvement because there are no formal mathematics or English lessons

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The leadership and management require improvement

routinely timetabled for students beyond Year 9. Students are not entered for any GCSE examinations beyond Year 9. Consequently, any students who do not secure a Grade C or above in English or mathematics at the end of Year 9 have no opportunity to secure one.  There are some strengths in the religious studies curriculum and its impact on student’s personal development. However, the limited number of secular subjects which are studied to GCSE level limits students’ achievement. All of the required areas of learning are provided. Religious studies account for around two-thirds of available curriculum time between Years 7 and 9 and in Year 10 it is almost 100%. Through their studies Year 10 students learn about world geography and history. Adherence to Jewish festivals provides students with opportunities to take part in singing and dance activities. The whole school appreciated an ad hoc performance when a group of older students spontaneously broke into

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The leadership and management require improvement

song. However, the planning to demonstrate how the religious curriculum contributes to the wider curriculum is underdeveloped.  The school provides appropriately for students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, with strengths in their spiritual and moral development. Students are appropriately prepared for living in modern British society. For example, they are taught to respect the law of the land as well as the place of religious law. Students used Talmudic text to consider their responsibilities to others using a contemporary example of what accidents might occur if a wheelie bin was left in the middle of the road. They enthusiastically considered both the consequences of such actions and who could be responsible. They are taught about democracy and are given opportunities within the school to take part in secret ballots to elect students to positions with extra responsibilities. Students are taught to be respectful and

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The leadership and management require improvement

tolerant of other faiths and cultures. Consequently, they are able to talk about their own and other religions, identifying similarities and differences. However, their knowledge of the full range of protected characteristics is underdeveloped.  Sound arrangements are in place to manage the performance of staff, which includes an annual review of each teacher’s work. The use of peer observations has been introduced as a way of supporting the development of teachers’ skills, particularly for those teachers who are relatively new to their roles. However, not all have benefitted from observing and learning from the most effective teachers.  Parental support for the school is strong. Although there is not a school website, parents are provided with access to all of the required information. This now includes a list of all of the policies that should be made available to parents, including access to the safeguarding policy. The school is in the process of re-

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The leadership and management require improvement

introducing a prospectus. The complaints policy has recently been updated so that it includes all of the required information.  The school’s documentation indicates that it is committed to equality of opportunity and in general terms all students make similar rates of progress. Students’ say that discrimination within the school is non- existent and their respect for others means that good relationships flourish.  The arrangements for safeguarding meet requirements. The safeguarding officer has attended appropriate training and all staff have received at least the minimum level of training.  The school does not provide students with independent careers’ education and advice. All students indicate that they will move on to a Yeshiva to continue their religious studies. Although students were able to talk about some of the future options open to them when they are older and about the entry requirements for further and higher education courses they are not being fully prepared for their future

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The leadership and management require improvement

beyond the school.  The school has acquired a piece of land directly across the road from the school. Four mobile buildings have been moved to this site. This additional space offers two good-sized classroom, two very large classrooms, a large dining hall with kitchen area, two offices and four separate toilet cubicles, including one designated as a disabled toilet, with hand washing facilities. Outside is a reasonably sized play space. The site is secure and enclosed totally by fences and is accessed through a secure gate. There are appropriate risk assessments in place to ensure that students move between the two sites safely. The new site is currently used only by the oldest students. Inspectors agree with the school that this new accommodation is fit for purpose.  The school buildings do not provide the required changing facilities and showers for students of this age. School leaders cannot identify any space within the building to allow changing rooms and showers to be

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The leadership and management require improvement

provided. In order to overcome this difficulty leaders have organised physical education lessons to take place towards the end of the school day so that students may then go home and shower if needed.  The governance of the school: The sole proprietor, who is also the headteacher, has a reasonable understanding of the school’s strengths, the school’s attainment data and GCSE results and where further improvement is needed. The performance of teachers is managed appropriately and each has an annual review. He is aware of where teaching is most effective. Underperformance is challenged. The proprietor has used external specialists to provide both challenge and support to school leaders. As a consequence the skills of middle leaders are being developed and staff are beginning to learn from one another.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of students is good. They behave well in classes and around the school. Their very positive attitudes to the school and the community help to ensure that the school is a calm, orderly and welcoming place for students and visitors.  Students’ behaviour around the school, such as in the breakfast and dining room, during assembly and outside in the playground, was observed to be good. Most require only minimal supervision. They are polite to one another and get on well with each other. They state that bullying is rare and are confident that if there are any incidents staff will deal with them.  Students are invariably polite and respectful to their teachers. They typically listen attentively to their teachers, with good levels of concentration.  Students say they feel safe and enjoy coming to school. Their attendance over the six-day school week is high.  Students compete to take on roles of responsibility and many students help to take care of the school and

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Behaviour

classroom equipment. However, the space adjacent to the table tennis room is not always left in a neat and tidy state and there remains some evidence of previous horse-play with wet paper towels that have now dried on to heating pipes above head height.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep students safe and secure requires improvement.  Risks within the building are largely identified and some action taken to reduce the risk of harm to staff and students. This meets requirements. However, some documentation does not always fully reflect this. Some policies for welfare, health and safety have been adapted from other establishments and these do not fully reflect the actual practices at the school.  The maintenance of the building and the outdoor space is adequate overall but some rooms present as in need of updating and refreshing. A particular concern is the basement workshop, which is used for woodwork. Although risks have been identified and some controls, such as securing wires to the floor with tape and the close supervision of adults, these controls do not represent a long term solution to making this area safe for students. Leaders and managers are aware of the need to improve this area but

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Safety

it is only very recently that additional work and an external risk assessment have been commissioned.  There are appropriate fire risk assessments in place, and there has been a recent fire drill and some staff have received fire safety training. Although the school meets requirements not all staff have received fire safety training and on occasion there have been significant time gaps between fire drills. This is despite the fact that this important area has been included on the school improvement plan but a date for staff training was only confirmed during the course of the inspection.  There are robust arrangements in place to control access to both the school building and the newly acquired site across the road.  Despite these areas requiring improvement the existing arrangements meet the relevant independent school standards connected to welfare, health and safety.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Although there are clear strengths teaching is inconsistent, which leads to different rates of progress for students over time and in different subjects.  Teachers know their subjects well and they communicate this knowledge confidently and enthusiastically to their students, who are usually eager in their responses. There is a strong commitment to learning among the students. However, this is not always reflected in the quality and quantity of recorded work produced.  Teachers ask helpful questions which enable students to think deeply about what they are learning and to talk about their work. Students in turn ask questions to check they understand and to deepen their thinking. Small classes help teachers to involve everybody and to check each student’s progress.  Teachers give students useful verbal feedback within lessons and this helps students to maintain their interest. However, written comments on recorded work are few and do not always lead to improvements

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

in the quality or quantity of work.  Written English work is not always of a high enough standard because students do not have sufficient opportunities to practise writing at length in a range of subjects. Sometimes teachers do not always expect students to produce their best work. Consequently, handwriting and presentation of some students is untidy and punctuation skills are weak.  Students have some opportunities to apply mathematical knowledge within other subjects such as Talmudic and Biblical studies. This enhances their mathematics work, which helps most students to make progress in this subject. However, this is not systematically planned, particularly beyond Year 9.  A particular strength is the effective development of students’ public speaking skills because of the opportunities that are provided for students to practise speaking to an audience. Consequently, many students show high levels of confidence speaking in front of their peers and adults. They learn to read in

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

both English and Hebrew, are encouraged to translate between these languages when reading texts and to summarise in their own words. This helps them develop good comprehension skills.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Students’ attainment and progress in English, as reflected in external examinations, learning in lessons, work in books and in the school’s own tracking, requires improvement.  When students join the school their attainment is assessed using national test materials for students at the end of Key Stage 2. These generally show attainment on entry to be average and below. From their different starting points students make good progress in mathematics and physics up to Year 9, where typically around two thirds secure a Grade C or above in external examinations. In 2014, 36% of students gained A and A* grades. This is particularly impressive when you consider that these students took the examinations two years before their counterparts nationally.  However, this very positive picture contrasts markedly with progress and attainment in English. Here students’ progress is particularly variable and sometimes weak. In 2014 at the end of Year 9 only 16% of

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

students secured a GCSE at Grade C or above. Few reached their predicted grade and, although the attainment on entry for this group was lower than is typical, this represented some weak progress.  Observations of teaching and learning, along with the scrutiny of books and the school’s own assessments of mathematics and English confirm these differences remain across the school. Students begin to study English, mathematics and physics GCSE courses from the end of Year 7 until the end of Year 9 when they sit external examinations. Any students who are not successful at the end of Year 9 do not have any opportunity to improve these grades before they leave the school.  Given the small number of examination courses that are followed and assessed externally, and the limited success in English along with no opportunities to continue to study English and mathematics, attainment is below average when students leave at the end of Year 10. The use of ‘early entry’, with all students

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

only able to enter examinations at the end of Year 9, limits students’ potential to reach the highest grades they are capable of.  Although within each class all students are usually set the same tasks there are opportunities to provide the most able with additional challenge. For example, in a mathematics lesson the most able were encouraged to complete their work faster and were provided with additional challenge. Additionally, where classes are divided into two separate higher and lower ability classes, the most able are taught more demanding work, particularly in mathematics.  Students largely make good progress in their Talmudic studies as demonstrated by the school’s own assessment and tracking of their skills. Close tracking means that any students who are struggling are quickly identified and provided with extra help. This is helping individual students to catch up.  The very small number of students who have special needs are provided with support from additional

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

adults. Consequently, their progress is generally the same as that of other students.

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Grade Judgement

Grade 1 Outstanding Grade 2 Good Grade 3 Requires improvement Grade 4 Inadequate

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Grade Judgement

Detailed grade characteristics can be viewed in the Non-association independent school inspection handbook which is published on the GOV.UK website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/non- association-independent-school-inspection-handbook .

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School details

Unique reference number 135168 Inspection number 464058 DfE registration number 355/6054 This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school. Type of school Jewish boys day school School status Independent school Age range of pupils 11–16 Gender of pupils Boys Number of pupils on the school roll 76 Number of part time pupils 0 Proprietor Rabbi L Ganz Chair Not applicable Headteacher Rabbi L Ganz Date of previous school inspection 7 October 2010 Annual fees (day pupils) £7300.00 Telephone number 0161 7080500 Fax number Not applicable Email address admin@beishatalmud.co.uk guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a

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School details

copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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School details

inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit

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School details

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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