JFS (school) explained

JFS[1]
Coordinates:51.5812°N -0.2814°W
Pushpin Map:United_Kingdom London_Brent#London#England#United Kingdom
Head:David Moody
Chair:Andrew Moss
Address:The Mall
Country:England, UK
Postcode:HA3 9TE
Dfeno:304/4033
Urn:133724
Ofsted:Good
Enrolment:1800
Lower Age:11
Upper Age:18
Houses:Angel, Brodetsky, Weizmann & Zangwill
Colours:Blue, Yellow/Gold
Website:https://www.jfs.brent.sch.uk/

JFS (formerly known as the Jews' Free School[2] and later Jewish Free School[3]) is a Jewish mixed comprehensive school in Kenton, North London, England and was founded in 1732. Amongst its early supporters was the writer and philanthropist Charlotte Montefiore.[4] At one time it was the largest Jewish school in the world, with more than 4,000 pupils.[5]

Location

The school moved from Camden Town to a new site in Kenton in 2002 to represent the demand of London's Jewish population moving further out towards the suburbs. The school is within the jurisdiction of the London Borough of Brent, while its postal town is Harrow.

Staff

Headteachers

2021–Dr David Moody[6]
2021Paul Ramsay (Acting Joint Headteacher)Anna Joseph (Acting Joint Headteacher)[7]
2021Martin Tissot (Interim Headteacher)[8]
2021Sir Michael Wilshaw (Executive Headteacher)[9]
2018–2021Rachel Fink
2018Simon Appleman (Acting Headteacher)
2016–2017Debby Lipkin (Executive Headteacher)Simon Appleman (Acting Headteacher)
2008–2016Jonathan Miller
1993–2007Dame Ruth Robins[10]
1985–1993Josephine Wagerman, OBE[11]
1973–1984 Leslie Gatoff[12]
1958–1972Dr. Edward S Conway
1897–1907Louis Barnett Abrahams[13]
1842–1897Moses Angel
1732–1757Samuel Grant
1700-1732Marcelo Bielsa

Other staff

Houses and other traditions

JFS operates the house system and has four houses for organisational purposes. Students must wear a tie with stripes in their house colour.

HouseNamed afterColour
AngelMoses AngelRed
BrodetskySelig BrodetskyBlue
WeizmannChaim WeizmannGreen
ZangwillIsrael ZangwillYellow

Both Brodetsky and Zangwill were former students, Angel was a previous and long-serving headmaster and Weizmann, who has several links to the school, was the first President of the State of Israel.

Students are split into their respective houses for most classes in Years 7, 8 and 9 as well as inter-house competitions, such as football and basketball.

A tradition called "muck-up day" involves Year 11 students celebrating the last day of formal schooling before their GCSE examinations with various pranks. In May 2015 this descended into "a near-riot", with more than 300 pupils barred from the campus after a small minority spread foam, eggs, flour and dead chickens around the school. The police were called after some students broke through a security fence and let off fireworks, but no arrests were made.[14] [15]

Academic results

In 2007, 53% of the school's attempted GCSE exams received grades of A* or A.[16] In 2012 JFS was at the top of the School League Tables for GCSE in Brent and its A-Level results were the best of all the mainstream Jewish schools.[17]

Awards

The school won a Wellbeing at School Award in 2021.[18]

Controversy over admissions criteria

See main article: R(E) v Governing Body of JFS. In October 2006, a Jewish father made enquiries with the United Synagogue as to whether his son, born to a mother who had been converted to Judaism under the auspices of the Masorti (Conservative)[19] denomination, could convert under Orthodox auspices for entry to JFS in September 2007. He was advised the process could take several years and that such applications to JFS are very rarely successful given that the school is highly oversubscribed. He applied for his son but did not declare to the school's admissions board the mother's conversion history.

By April 2007, he had not supplied JFS with the requested information, whereupon the school advised him that, being oversubscribed that year, it was unlikely his son could be offered a place. He thereupon unsuccessfully appealed for reconsideration of his application.[20]

In July 2008, the father sought to prosecute JFS on the grounds of racial discrimination, but High Court judge, Mr Justice Munby, ruled contrariwise, holding JFS' selection criteria were not intrinsically different from Christian or Islamic faith schools and their being declared illegal could adversely affect "the admission arrangements in a very large number of faith schools of many different faiths and denominations".[21]

The Court of Appeal, however, in June 2009 declared that JFS, under the Race Relations Act 1976, had illegally discriminated against the child on grounds of race. They ruled that the mother's religious status, and thus her child's religious status, had been determined using a racial criterion rather than a religious criterion.[22] [23] The school subsequently issued revised admissions criteria based on religious practice including synagogue attendance, formal Jewish education and volunteering.[24] [25] JFS and the United Synagogue appealed to the Supreme Court, with the support of the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.[26] On 16 December 2009, the UK Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal's ruling.[27] [28] [29]

Notable former pupils

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Jewish school JFS in Supreme Court to deny it broke law by turning boy away. 2009-10-27. 2009-11-09. Nicola Woolcock . TimesOnline.co.uk . JFS, formerly the Jewish Free School, which is heavily oversubscribed,.... London.
  2. Web site: Jews' Free School journal – The Jewish Museum . Jewishmuseum.org . 16 December 2015.
  3. Web site: Jewish Free School, Camden Road, Camden LB . Discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . January 1973 . 16 December 2015.
  4. 105616. Montefiore, Charlotte Simcha.
  5. Book: International Handbook of Jewish Education. Miller. Helena. Grant. Lisa D.. Pomson. Alex. 2011-04-02. Springer Science & Business Media. 9789400703544. en.
  6. Web site: New JFS head with zero tolerance for ill-discipline. 2021-11-26. Thejc.com.
  7. Web site: JFS appoints acting joint heads as search for full-time hire stepped up. Jewishnews.timesofisrael.com.
  8. Web site: Catholic schools chief made JFS interim head . The Jewish Chronicle.
  9. Web site: Former Ofsted chief to become new JFS headteacher. Richard. Ferrer. Jewishnews.co.uk. 2 June 2022.
  10. Web site: Dame Ruth Steps Down As JFS Head. https://web.archive.org/web/20120218110139/http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/?content_id=6148. dead. 2012-02-18.
  11. Later elected first female president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Web site: Rachel Sylvester . Rachel Sylvester . First woman elected to lead Jewish board. 17 July 2000 . . 16 August 2012.
  12. I, Jonathan Goldsmith, left in 1975 and Gatoff had been there 2 years by then
  13. News: Jews' Free School - The New Headmaster. 1897-12-10. The Jewish Chronicle. 2017-04-24.
  14. News: 300 pupils are sent home after exam day 'riot'. Freeman. Simon. 8 May 2015. Moore-Bridger. Benedict. London Evening Standard. 21.
  15. News: School mayhem was exaggerated. Name withheld. 14 May 2015. London Evening Standard. 59. Letter to the editor. ... it was no more than five or so students out of three hundred ....
  16. Web site: JFS Home . Jfs.brent.sch.uk. 2007-09-06 .
  17. News: Secondary school league tables in Brent . BBC News . 21 March 2012.
  18. News: JFS wins wellbeing award. Rocker. Simon. 2021-02-15. Jewish Chronicle. en.
  19. News: JFS puts faith schools in the dock. 2009-10-27. Jonathan Romain . 2009-11-09. Guardian.co.uk . London.
  20. Graham Tibbets, "Boy refused admission to leading Jewish school was 'not victim of racial discrimination'", The Daily Telegraph, 3 July 2008
  21. R(E) v Governing Body of JFS. EWHC. Admin. 1535. 3 July 2008.
  22. Web site: Jewish school admissions unlawful. 25 June 2009. 2 June 2022. News.bbc.co.uk.
  23. R(E) v Governing Body of JFS. EWCA. Civ. 626. 25 June 2009.
  24. Web site: JFS – Admissions . 2009-08-28 . 2009-11-16 . JFS . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090203071620/http://jfs.brent.sch.uk/admissions.aspx . February 3, 2009 .
  25. Web site: Admissions Year 7 JFS. Jfs.brent.sch.uk. 2016-02-08.
  26. Simon Rocker, "JFS: What's Next?", Jewish Chronicle, 3 July 2009
  27. News: Jewish school loses places fight . BBC News . 16 December 2009 . 6 May 2010.
  28. R(E) v Governing Body of JFS [2009] UKSC 15
  29. Web site: The UK Supreme Court Dismisses the Jewish Free School Appeal. Humanrightsinireland.wordpress.com. 16 December 2009. 2 June 2022.
  30. https://www.thejc.com/culture/interviews/interview-gina-bellman-1.52051 Interview: Gina Bellman
  31. Web site: Love Island's Jewish contestant Eyal Booker's brother tells all . . 2018-06-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200613182506/https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/love-island-s-jewish-contestant-eyal-booker-1.465021 . 2020-06-13 . live . Doherty . Rosa.
  32. Web site: Simon Rocker . Bibi and the boy wonder. 11 February 2010 . . 25 February 2010.
  33. Web site: Ingham . Tim . David Joseph: 'We creatively empower our artists globally. I'm proud of that.' . Musicbusinessworldwide.com . 17 October 2018 . 14 December 2017.
  34. Web site: From the archive: The Drapers Interview with River Island founder Bernard Lewis. Drapersonline.com. 2 November 2015. 23 September 2016.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "JFS (school)".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.