Jews' Free School

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School staff in the 1930's

Jews' Free School (also known as JFS) is a Jewish secondary school in Kenton, north London. It presently accepts both male and female students. At one time it had more than 4,000 students attending and was known as "the largest (or biggest) school in the universe."[1]

Jewish free school was founded on 13 April 1732 as a boys-only school in Ebenezer Square, London. JFS was relocated in 1822 to Bell Lane of the East End of London, where it remained until the building fell victim to World War II and was destroyed. The school was rebuilt in 1958 in Camden Town. It was once again relocated in 2002 to its present location in Kenton. JFS currently holds approximately 2,000 students in the new school building and is the largest all-Jewish school in Europe. The school also holds the record for having 660 computers in the school.

Mr Jonathan Miller is now the new headteacher starting from December 31st 2007, who held one of the Deputy Headteacher positions when Dame Ruth Robins was headteacher. The poet Daljit Nagra currently teaches English at the school, as well as other support staff roles including Learning Resource Centre Staff Member. The actor Nicholas Frankau better known for his role as Flt. Lt. Carstairs in the British sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! also worked at the school as a supply teacher in the 1980's. Moses Angel was headmaster from 1842 to 1897.

JFS has an excellent academic record. 2007 saw record-breaking achievement, with 53% of the school's attempted GCSE exams receiving grades of A* or A. (Source: JFS Home. Retrieved on 2007-09-06.)

JFS has been named as the top mixed comprehensive school in the official DFES league tables. In an independent analysis of the 2007 A Level results of almost 1000 secondary schools in England and Wales, JFS was placed in the top 1% of schools for value-added achievement.The analysis was undertaken by ALPS (A Level Performance System) an organisation funded by the Learning and Skills Council - the government agency which funds all post 16 and adult education in the country.