Faith school where women are banned from wearing trousers becomes state funded

It’s not enforceable.

as they tacitly accept by saying that Nannies and au pairs can wear trousers.

I don't see the problem, it's a school for Jewish kids and they and their families will be completely used to these guidelines. If you aren't Jewish you wouldn't chose this school anyway so it won't affect you. If you don't want to wear modest clothing to work then don't apply for a job here. I don't understand or agree with the trouser thing but again if it bothered you that much you wouldn't send your kids there.
My daughter went to a secondary school which wasn't affiliated to any religion and their rules for sixth form were no vests or off the shoulder tops. A lot of sixth forms specify suits these days which is completely outdated.
It isn't as though it's a campaign to get all schools to follow suit.

It is not entirely up to them. They are a school providing services to the public. The discrimination they are allowed to engage in because they are a religious school is quite limited and does not give them free reign to ignore the equality Act.

This was the case when they were a private, fee paying school too, but oversight and the extent to which people are prepared (or even want) to stand up against such discrimination when they have paid to go there and can be asked to leave pretty easily is more limited.

Once tax payer money is involved, there tends to be far more sunlight. The Department of Education should have reviewed the school's policies before granting VA status, but I suspect they limit that to things like the admission policy, not all the policies the school has. The EHRC should be able to order the school to amend any discriminatory policies. Maybe we (or, at least, feminists on this board) should write to them.

I don't think Jewish schools are the harshest but imo any dress code like that which restricts girls & women on the basis of 'modesty' is, and should not be state-funded.

How would it be enforced? Could a state school actually expel a student because a mum wore jeans to pick up?

Yes it's an Orthodox Jewish school...named after a woman. There's others in North London and a particular need with the recent rise in anti-Semitism.

No I don't think schools should expect girls and women to wear skirts in 2025, but as that's their
religious dress that's up to them. Or perhaps Ofsted if they care to get involved.

There are also restrictions placed on fathers and male pupils to be fair.

I suspect the vast majority of parents who apply for places at this school are doing so because of the adherence to their religious and cultural preferences.

If the state funds schools who follow other religions then why not this one?

Anyone else checked the Ofsted rating. I have.

Well I agree ( re religion in state schools) but I don't think Jewish schools are by any measure the worse culprit though. They're generally very pro- woman/ equality ime.

I agree with this comment in the article: "Schools funded by the state should aim to serve the whole community."

Fine if a school wants to impose religious requirements on students and parents but only if they are not state funded. In Australia all government schools are secular by law - makes things simpler and fairer.

School choice is an illusion. Families are regularly assigned to schools that do not align with their personal beliefs.

Then you add the layer that children may not share the beliefs of their parents x

It’s like whack-a-mole. Of course if a girl or mum chooses to wear a head scarf, or a boy/dad chooses a turban or kippah, fill your boots.

IMPOSING a sexist dress code on women in a state-funded school is wrong.

Do you know any schools that require parents and visitors to wear headscarves out of interest?

I’d ban making headscarves compulsory.
Secularism is about neither privileging nor discriminating on the basis of religion.

All our primary schools are CofE (we are rural) and none of them have a dress code for visitors or parents. If you receive government funding you aside by the normal standards of British society, simple as. Couldn’t care what your religion says, if you take taxpayer’s money you don’t get to treat women like second class citizens.

Are we banning headscarves etc in schools then? A one size fits all approach?

Feel free to go away and check every single post of mine about religion in schools, and religious schools.

I hate it all. And it shouldn’t exist. Whatever religion it is. It’s worse when it polices women’s clothes. But it’s still baffling that state education isn’t separated from religion.

It's not great is it. There are schools similar near me - in fact worse in terms of controlling the dress of really quite young children. Knee length skirts are the norm for most schools (and were at my entirely standard secondary school) so while I think trousers should be an option, knee length skirts for girls are not a hill I'd die on. There's a school near me that compels Year 3 girls to wear ankle length skirts and a particular style of headscarf, it's a state school. A brief google suggests the National Secular Society is as yet unaware of it.

So Jewish orthodox school....enforces Jewish orthodox dress code?! I actually don't agree with government funded religious schools at all but if the government are funding Catholic, CoE and Muslim schools which all have "rules" I don't agree with, I'm not sure what the difference is, are you are only objecting to Jewish tradition?

Not everyone who posts on this board is a feminist.

I don’t think any school should police women’s dress, and I also don’t think the state should be funding any religious schools at all. Schools should be teaching kids how to think, not what to think.

Quite. The overnight crowd tends… odd sometimes.

They’re not. They’re discriminated against if their parents don’t have the right beliefs or won’t pretend to have them and attend church often enough to meet the entry criteria.

I’m amazed at some of the responses. Do people on a feminist board really support the state funding institutions that police women’s dress?

Your first point. You can’t see any difference between a place of worship and a state school?

I’m genuinely amazed you don’t see that.

It does cause problems. Religious discrimination and segregation, and now this. The state (i.e. my taxes) funding sexist education.

I don’t think any religion in schools or religious schools, should be state funded. I honestly don’t think they should be allowed. Let children learn in an environment of shared learning and experience. Religious worship and practise can stay in church, temple, synagogue, gudhwara and home. Keep it out of state-funded schools. Learning about is great. Not this.