Lubavitch Yeshiva Ketanah of London

Inspection of Lubavitch Yeshiva Ketanah of London 1117 Finchley Road, London NW11 0QB

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Inspection dates: 30 January to 1 February 2024

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Does the school meet the independent school standards?

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils really enjoy school. They are happy here. Pupils describe the school as a ‘close-knit community’. They feel safe and cared for because they have trusted adults they can turn to for help. The staff know the pupils really well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is calm and purposeful. Routines are well established. Pupils are encouraged to be inquisitive, respectful and well mannered. They behave well in lessons and around the school. They engage positively both with friends and staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy playing a range of sports at school, including football, dodgeball and basketball. They appreciate being taken on annual team-building residential trips, including to Wales and Kent. They also enjoy the time they spend on Friday afternoons helping in their local communities.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s secular curriculum is more ambitious than it used to be. Pupils now study a wider range of subjects. They especially enjoy learning computing skills and completing creative media projects using the school’s new laptops. Typically, the school makes sure that staff expect more of pupils’ achievement than before, although this is not as routinely the case as it could be.

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better?

Leaders have worked hard to improve and extend the secular curriculum significantly since the previous inspection. They have worked effectively with a consultant to rethink what pupils need to know and be able to do in each subject, and how each subject is resourced. There are now coherent curriculum plans in place for all the required areas of learning. Pupils study a broader range of subjects than in the past, including creative media, computing and geography. Leaders have recruited new teachers with specialist subject knowledge and invested in a range of new learning resources. The teaching of key content in a logical sequence is helping pupils to build up valuable knowledge and to practise useful skills. Assessment information, based on a combination of regular tests and teachers’ knowledge of pupils, is used to inform pupils’ next steps.

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better?

However, many improvements are relatively new, and systems for ensuring quality and consistency are not embedded. For example, the work in pupils’ books does not routinely reflect the subject curriculum content. In addition, although pupils study GCSE content in English and mathematics, there are no clear plans to enter pupils for national GCSE examinations in these subjects.

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better?

Pupils are fluent readers. They are encouraged to read and do so enthusiastically. Leaders ensure that pupils have access to a suitable range of English fiction and non-fiction texts from the school’s small library, which is in the process of being expanded further. 30 January to 1 February 2024 Leaders have organised some suitably high-quality training for teachers, which has helped to improve the quality of secular education. However, while staff provide effective support to pupils who need additional help, there is a lack of training and expertise to identify and support pupils who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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better?

Pupils are taught to be kind, respectful and polite. They attend school regularly and respond well to the high expectations of their behaviour. The school actively promotes British values, including through a suitable programme of personal, social, health and economic education. Pupils enjoy taking part in extra-curricular activities, including sports, singing and various trips. They take an active part in preparing for and celebrating Jewish festivals and are also actively taught to respect the religions, faiths and beliefs of others. Pupils know all the protected characteristics and why it is important to respect these. Pupils are also taught about the range of careers available to them in the future. They access helpful advice and guidance through a range of assemblies, lessons, activities and visiting speakers. Leaders continue to ensure that the school complies with the relationships and sex education guidance.

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better?

Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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better?

Parents and carers are positive about the school’s work. Staff are equally positive. They feel supported by leaders and express no concerns about workload. Governors have invested heavily in the school since the previous inspection. They now provide formal and more effective scrutiny of leaders’ work. The school complies with the independent school standards and schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010. Leaders and governors are now demonstrating both the capacity and commitment to improve the school further.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

 Improvements to the secular curriculum are relatively new, and the systems for ensuring quality and consistency are not fully embedded. Leaders should strengthen further the training for staff and the systems for monitoring the quality of education, including to ensure that pupils’ work reflects the subject curriculum content.  There is a lack of training and expertise to identify and support pupils who may have SEND. Leaders should realise their plans to recruit new, and train existing, staff, in order to ensure that pupils with any additional needs may be accurately and swiftly identified and that their needs are appropriately supported.  The school has no clear plans to ensure that pupils sit GCSE examinations in English language and mathematics, despite being taught the GCSE examination content in these subjects. Leaders should realise their ambition to ensure that 30 January to 1 February 2024

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(Information for the school and proprietor)

pupils are able, and encouraged, to achieve well in national examinations in English language and mathematics.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school. 30 January to 1 February 2024

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School details

Date of previous inspection 16 to 18 November 2021 30 January to 1 February 2024

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Information about this school

 This is a secondary day school in Finchley, Barnet for boys of Orthodox Jewish faith.  Responsibility for the school lies with the sole proprietor, who delegates responsibility for governance to a governing body.  The school makes no use of any alternative provision.  The previous inspection was a progress monitoring inspection in December 2022. The school’s last standard inspection took place in November 2021.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors carried out this inspection under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008. The purpose of the inspection is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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Information about this inspection

The school meets the independent school standards. These are the requirements set out in the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  The inspector discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in the evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in mathematics, science and creative media. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, looked at curriculum plans, visited all available lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also considered curriculum plans and pupils’ work in English.  The inspector spoke with all pupils, the proprietor, the chair of governors and the headteacher. He also considered the views expressed on Ofsted Parent View.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and

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Information about this inspection

considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector toured the premises and reviewed a range of documentation to check the school’s compliance with the independent school standards.

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Inspection team

James Waite, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 30 January to 1 February 2024 regulates and 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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