| Established | 1732 |
|---|---|
| Type | voluntary aided comprehensive |
| Religion | Orthodox Judaism |
| Headteacher | Mr J Miller |
| Specialism | Humanities |
| Location | The Mall Kenton London Borough of Brent HA3 9TE England |
| Local authority | London Borough of Brent |
| DfE URN | 133724 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 2016[2] (as of July 2009) |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | Angel , Brodetsky , Weizmann & Zangwill |
| Website | www.jfs.brent.sch.uk |
JFS (formerly known as the Jews' Free School)[1] 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[3] making this school the largest Jewish school in Europe. The school has been awarded specialist Humanities College status.[4] After a recent Ofsted inspection, JFS was rated Outstanding in all categories.[2]
Contents |
| 2008–Present | Jonathan Miller |
| 1993–2007 | Ruth Robins, DBE |
| 1985–1993 | Josephine Wagerman |
| 1973–1984 | Leslie Gatoff |
| 1958–1973 | Dr Edward Conway |
JFS implements the house system and has four houses. It has been a tradition for some years that students wear the specific tie for their house (e.g. the tie for students in Angel has red stripes, etc.)
| Name of House | Named after | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Angel | Moses Angel | Red |
| Brodetsky | Selig Brodetsky | Blue |
| Weizmann | Chaim Weizmann | Green |
| Zangwill | Israel Zangwill | Yellow |
Both Brodetsky and Zangwill were former students, Angel was the first headmaster and Weizmann was the first president of the state of Israel, who has several links to the school.
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.
The school moved from Camden Town to Kenton in 2002 to represent the demand of the Jewish population of London moving further out towards the suburbs of the city. The school has exclusive bus routes to and from several highly Jewish populated areas, such as Edgware, Mill Hill, Southgate, Barnet, Hendon, Muswell Hill, Radlett, Borehamwood, Elstree and others.[5]
The school offers numerous school trips for students, including a 3-month trip to Kibbutz Lavi in Israel in Year 9,[6] a trip to Poland in Year 12,[7] a Maths trip to Disneyland Paris and a French trip to Strasbourg in Year 10. Also in Year 9 students can go on a two week 'Taste of Israel' trip to Israel. There is also a History trip to Belgium in year 9.. The Year 13 students have a chance to go to Odessa, Ukraine to learn about the underprivileged people living there. In addition Year 12 Physics Students have the chance to visit CERN in Switzerland.
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". http://www.jfs.brent.sch.uk/. Retrieved 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.
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[8] movement, 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.[9]
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".[10]
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.[11][12] The school subsequently issued revised admissions criteria based on religious practice including synagogue attendance, formal Jewish education and volunteering.[13] JFS and the United Synagogue appealled to the Supreme Court, with the support of chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks.[14] On 16 December 2009, the UK Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal's ruling.[15][16][17]