Beth Jacob Grammar School for Girls

Inspection of Beth Jacob Grammar School for Girls Stratford Road, Hendon, London NW4 2AT

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Inspection dates: 11 to 13 February 2025

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Sixth-form provision Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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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 appreciate the school’s kind and nurturing culture. They know leaders and school staff care deeply about their well-being. The school provides many ways for pupils to communicate their feelings and share any worries that may arise. It provides pupils with compassionate help and support if they need it. Pupils are happy and safe in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave with great maturity. They look after each other well. When pupils join the school in Year 7, they become part of the ‘big sister little sister’ programme. This arrangement ensures that Year 7 pupils have a sixth-form student friend and role model to help them settle in.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is equally ambitious for pupils’ academic achievement and personal development. It encourages pupils to be confident and speak up for themselves. Pupils share feedback and make decisions on what they want. These include advising on courses to be incorporated in the sixth-form provision and sharing their wishes for celebratory events.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is not meeting its statutory obligations to ensure the independent school standards (the standards) are met securely. This is because it has chosen to omit some essential information from the curriculum. This means pupils do not receive curriculum content in line with the law.

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better?

Pupils study both religious and secular curriculums. The breadth of secular subjects is in line with the ambition of the national curriculum. The school identifies and sequences important subject knowledge skilfully. Teaching ensures pupils revisit and recall essential information regularly. This helps pupils to connect prior learning and new ideas together confidently. For example, in Year 7, pupils are taught vocabulary to describe the parts of a poem. They revisit and build on this knowledge in subsequent years to analyse the structure and techniques poets use.

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better?

The school successfully develops a love of reading in pupils. The well-stocked school library is used frequently during lessons and breaktimes. In subjects, pupils read a wide range of books, including novels and non-fiction texts. Pupils at earlier stages of reading get the help they need to become confident, fluent readers.

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better?

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive effective support to learn the curriculum. The school works collaboratively with external experts, parents and carers to pinpoint pupils’ specific needs. Appropriate adaptations to teaching and resources help pupils with SEND learn the curriculum alongside their peers effectively. Pupils build secure knowledge and skills across a broad range of subjects as they get older. 11 to 13 February 2025 The school ensures the curriculum is delivered well. Teachers make careful activity choices to support pupils in learning the required knowledge. The school checks that pupils know and remember important information. If pupils struggle, typically, the school provides appropriate and effective support and adjustments to future teaching. Occasionally, the checks do not spot and address underlying knowledge gaps and misconceptions with sufficient rigour. As a result, on a few occasions,

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better?

adjustments to teaching do not address underlying errors quickly enough.

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better?

Pupils are highly motivated and want to do well. They engage deeply with their learning. Pupils commit to attending school regularly and on time. This is because the school frequently reminds pupils and parents of the importance of regular school attendance. If pupils’ absence becomes a concern, the school takes decisive action to support them so that it improves.

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better?

The wider curriculum offer is extensive and well thought through. For example, the length of pupils’ residential visits and types of activities build cumulatively over time. This is to help pupils gain increasing levels of self-confidence and independence as they move up through the school. Pupils have access to many extra-curricular clubs. These include Latin-inspired dance and hockey. Netball matches against other schools take place regularly to promote pupils’ teamwork and resilience. Students in the sixth form exercise leadership skills by taking on responsibilities to support younger pupils. For example, they frequently organise school events and activities to help younger pupils understand the importance of kindness.

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better?

The provision for personal, social and health education (PSHE) includes some appropriate content to support pupils’ understanding of healthy relationships and online safety. All parents have exercised their right to withdraw their children from sex education delivered as part of statutory relationship and sex education. The school has suitable provision in place if this changes. However, the PSHE curriculum does not include compulsory information about different types of relationships. As a result, the school does not meet its statutory obligation in this regard.

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better?

The school shares important messages about respect and equality. Pupils learn about prominent historical and modern figures from a range of cultural backgrounds. It also provides appropriate teaching about some religious traditions different to pupils’ own. This is to support pupils’ understanding of diversity in the world around them. However, pupils are not provided with information on the legal rights of all the protected groups under the Equality Act 2010. This includes the rights of those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ). Therefore, pupils do not find out about all the groups of people protected under UK law. This means they do not gain clear information about diverse groups in Britain. Consequently, the standards are not met in full.

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better?

The proprietor and leaders work collaboratively to ensure pupils receive a good education. The school fosters a culture of high aspiration which school staff subscribe to. The school engages effectively with staff when decisions are made, which may impact workload. The school ensures its obligations outlined in schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010 are met successfully. However, the proprietor and 11 to 13 February 2025 leaders do not ensure the school meets other statutory obligations set out in the standards.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Sometimes, the school’s approaches to assessment do not enable teachers to check sufficiently well that pupils have learned the knowledge in the curriculum. This means gaps in pupils’ knowledge are not addressed quickly with accuracy and rigour. The school should ensure that staff are equipped with the expertise to check pupils have developed secure subject knowledge.  The provision for relationships and sex education does not include compulsory information about different types of relationships. As a result, the school does not meet its legal obligation under section 80A of the Education Act 2002. The school must ensure that the curriculum includes all the required content so it complies with the law.  The school does not provide pupils with information on the legal rights of all the protected groups under the Equality Act 2010. Therefore, pupils do not gain an understanding of all the different groups of people protected under UK law. The

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

school must ensure it meets its statutory obligation to inform pupils of the rights of all the protected groups under the Equality Act 2010.  The proprietor and leaders do not ensure the school meets the standards consistently and securely. As a result, the school does not meet its legal obligations. The proprietor must make sure that the standards are met in full by addressing the unmet standards effectively.

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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. 11 to 13 February 2025

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School details

Gender of pupils in the sixth form Girls

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form

Proprietor Beth Jacob Grammar School for Girls Ltd

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form

Annual fees (day pupils) £2,600 (requested voluntary contribution per term) Telephone number 020 8203 4322

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form

Date of previous inspection 14 to 16 March 2023 11 to 13 February 2025

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Information about this school

 This is a girls’ secondary school with an Orthodox Jewish ethos. It is located at Stratford Road, Hendon, London, NW4 2AT.  The previous standard inspection of the school took place in March 2023. Following this, a progress monitoring inspection was conducted in February 2024.  The school does not use alternative provision.

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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

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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Information about this inspection

The school has failed to meet the independent school standards. These are the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, mathematics, history and PSHE.  For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also looked at curriculum plans and spoke to leaders about some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  To check compliance with the standards, inspectors toured the premises and

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Information about this inspection

examined various documents.  Inspectors reviewed responses to Ofsted’s online surveys from staff, pupils and parents.

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Inspection team

Andrea Bedeau, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 11 to 13 February 2025 Jonathan Newby Ofsted Inspector 11 to 13 February 2025

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

 2(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if- – 2(1)(a) the proprietor ensures that a written policy on the curriculum, supported by appropriate plans and schemes of work, which provides for the matters specified in sub-paragraph (2) is drawn up and implemented effectively; and  2(2) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(1)(a), the matters are- – 2(2)(d) personal, social, health and economic education which- – 2(2)(d)(ii) encourages respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the 2010 Act[9];  2A(1) The standard in this paragraph is met if the proprietor- – 2A(1)(b) ensures that every registered pupil who is provided with secondary education at the school is provided with relationships and sex education, except in so far as the pupil is excused as mentioned in sub-paragraph (2), – 2A(1)(d) in making arrangements for the purposes of paragraphs (a), (b) or (c),

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Part 1. Quality of education provided

has regard to any guidance under section 80A of the Education Act 2002 that applies in relation to the provision of education by maintained schools.

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Part 2. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils

 5 The standard about the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils at the school is met if the proprietor- – 5(b) ensures that principles are actively promoted which- – 5(b)(vi) encourage respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the 2010 Act.

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

 34(1) The standard about the quality of leadership and management is met if the proprietor ensures that persons with leadership and management responsibilities at the school- – 34(1)(a) demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their role so that the independent school standards are met consistently; – 34(1)(b) fulfil their responsibilities effectively so that the independent school standards are met consistently. 11 to 13 February 2025 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

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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Part 8. Quality of leadership in and management of schools

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