JFS (school)

Jewish comprehensive school in London, England

This article is about the Jews' Free School. For the other school abbreviated to "JFS", see The John Fisher School.

JFS[1]

Address

The Mall

Kenton, Harrow

Greater London

HA3 9TE

England

Coordinates| 51°34′52″N 0°16′53″W﻿ / ﻿51.58118°N 0.28135°W﻿ / 51.58118; -0.28135
Information
Type| Voluntary aided comprehensive
Religious affiliation(s)| Modern Orthodox Judaism
Established| 1732; 291 years ago (1732)
Local authority| Brent
Department for Education URN| 133724 Tables
Ofsted| Reports
President| Lord Michael Levy
Chair| Andrew Moss
Head teacher| Dr David Moody
Gender| Coeducational
Age| 11 to 18
Enrolment| 1800
Houses| Angel  , Brodetsky  , Weizmann  & Zangwill
Colour(s)| 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[edit]

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[edit]

### Headteachers[edit]

2021–  | Dr David Moody[6]

|

2021  | Paul Ramsay (Acting Joint Headteacher)

Anna Joseph (Acting Joint Headteacher)[7]

2021  | Martin Tissot (Interim Headteacher)[8] | 2021  | Sir Michael Wilshaw (Executive Headteacher)[9]
2018–2021  | Rachel Fink
2018  | Simon Appleman (Acting Headteacher)
2016–2017  | Debby Lipkin (Executive Headteacher)

Simon Appleman (Acting Headteacher)

2008–2016  | Jonathan Miller
1993–2007  | Dame Ruth Robins[10]
1985–1993  | Josephine Wagerman, OBE[11]
1973–1984  | Leslie Gatoff[12]
1958–1972  | Dr. Edward S Conway
1897–1907  | Louis Barnett Abrahams[13]
1842–1897  | Moses Angel
1732–1757  | Samuel Grant

### Other staff[edit]

* Poet Daljit Nagra taught English at the school, as well as having other support staff roles including Learning Resource Centre staff member
* Michael Adler taught Hebrew at the school in the late-19th century

## Houses and other traditions[edit]

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

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 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[edit]

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[edit]

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

## Controversy over admissions criteria[edit]

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[edit]

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (December 2013)

|

* Barney Barnato, Randlord
* Gina Bellman, actress[30]
* Raphael Benjamin, rabbi in Australia and America
* Selig Brodetsky, mathematician, Zionist leader, and President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
* Benjamin Cohen, journalist and Channel 4 News presenter[31]
* Morris Cohen, adventurer
* Dean Furman (born 1988) - professional footballer
* Maurice Glasman, academic, social thinker and Labour life peer
* Samuel Gompers, first President of the American Federation of Labor
* Ray Kelvin, founder of luxury clothing retail company Ted Baker
* Josh Kennet (born 1987), English-Israeli footballer
* David Joseph, chairman and CEO of Universal Music UK[32]
* Bernard Lewis, founder and owner, River Island[33]
* Joe Loss, musician
* Jez San, game designer, Argonaut Games
* Ian Stone, comedian
* Joel Samuels – DJ Luck, DJ
* Steven Reingold, cricketer
* Eyal Booker, Love Island Contestant[34]
* Barbara Roche, Labour politician
* Jonny Benjamin, mental health campaigner[35]
* Ofra Offer Oren, Israeli writer, poet, blogger and translator

## References[edit]

1. ^ Nicola Woolcock (27 October 2009). "Jewish school JFS in Supreme Court to deny it broke law by turning boy away". London: TimesOnline.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2009. "JFS, formerly the Jewish Free School, which is heavily oversubscribed,..."
2. ^ "Jews' Free School journal – The Jewish Museum". Jewishmuseum.org. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
3. ^ "Jewish Free School, Camden Road, Camden LB". Discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. January 1973. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
4. ^ "Montefiore, Charlotte Simcha". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/105616. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
5. ^ Miller, Helena; Grant, Lisa D.; Pomson, Alex (2 April 2011). International Handbook of Jewish Education. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9789400703544.
6. ^ "New JFS head with zero tolerance for ill-discipline". Thejc.com. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
7. ^ "JFS appoints acting joint heads as search for full-time hire stepped up". Jewishnews.timesofisrael.com.
8. ^ "Catholic schools chief made JFS interim head". The Jewish Chronicle.
9. ^ Ferrer, Richard. "Former Ofsted chief to become new JFS headteacher". Jewishnews.co.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
10. ^ "The Goody Pet - Because Every Pet Deserves More". Thegoodypet.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
11. ^ Later elected first female president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Rachel Sylvester (17 July 2000). "First woman elected to lead Jewish board". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
12. ^ I, Jonathan Goldsmith, left in 1975 and Gatoff had been there 2 years by then
13. ^ "Jews' Free School - The New Headmaster". The Jewish Chronicle. 10 December 1897. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
14. ^ Freeman, Simon; Moore-Bridger, Benedict (8 May 2015). "300 pupils are sent home after exam day 'riot'". London Evening Standard. p. 21.
15. ^ Name withheld (14 May 2015). "School mayhem was exaggerated". London Evening Standard (Letter to the editor). p. 59\. "... it was no more than five or so students out of three hundred ..."
16. ^ "JFS Home". Jfs.brent.sch.uk. Retrieved 6 September 2007.
17. ^ "Secondary school league tables in Brent". BBC News. 21 March 2012.
18. ^ Rocker, Simon (15 February 2021). "JFS wins wellbeing award". Jewish Chronicle.
19. ^ Jonathan Romain (27 October 2009). "JFS puts faith schools in the dock". Guardian.co.uk. London. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
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 [{{{year}}}] EWHC 1535 (Admin) (3 July 2008)
22. ^ "Jewish school admissions unlawful". News.bbc.co.uk. 25 June 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
23. ^ R(E) v Governing Body of JFS [{{{year}}}] EWCA Civ 626 (25 June 2009)
24. ^ JFS (28 August 2009). "JFS – Admissions". Archived from the original on 3 February 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
25. ^ "Admissions Year 7 | JFS". Jfs.brent.sch.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
26. ^ Simon Rocker, "JFS: What's Next?", Jewish Chronicle, 3 July 2009
27. ^ "Jewish school loses places fight". BBC News. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
28. ^ R(E) v Governing Body of JFS [2009] UKSC 15
29. ^ "The UK Supreme Court Dismisses the Jewish Free School Appeal". Humanrightsinireland.wordpress.com. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
30. ^ Interview: Gina Bellman, The Jewish Chronicle, 17 January 2014
31. ^ Simon Rocker (11 February 2010). "Bibi and the boy wonder". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
32. ^ Ingham, Tim (14 December 2017). "David Joseph: 'We creatively empower our artists globally. I'm proud of that.'". Musicbusinessworldwide.com. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
33. ^ "From the archive: The Drapers Interview with River Island founder Bernard Lewis". Drapersonline.com. 2 November 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
34. ^ Doherty, Rosa (4 June 2018). "Love Island's Jewish contestant Eyal Booker's brother tells all". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020.
35. ^ "The Stranger on the Bridge - All 4". Channel4.com.

## Further reading[edit]

* Black, Gerry (1998). A history of the Jews' Free School, London, since 1732. Tymsder Publishing ISBN 978-0953110407.

## External links[edit]

* JFS official website
* OFSTED Report

* v
* t
* e

Schools and colleges in Brent

Primary schools|

* Ark Academy
* Islamia Primary School
* Preston Manor School
* Sinai School
* Torah Temimah Primary School

Secondary schools|

* Alperton Community School
* Ark Academy
* Ark Elvin Academy
* Capital City Academy
* Claremont High School
* E-ACT Crest Academy
* JFS
* Kingsbury High School
* Michaela Community School
* Newman Catholic College
* Preston Manor School
* Queens Park Community School
* St Claudine's Catholic School for Girls
* Wembley High Technology College

Special schools|

* Woodfield School

Independent schools|

* Brondesbury College
* Lycée International de Londres Winston Churchill

Further education|

* College of North West London

Defunct schools|

* Crest Boys' Academy
* Crest Girls' Academy
* Kilburn Grammar School
* The Swaminarayan School

* v
* t
* e

Jewish primary and secondary schools in the United Kingdom

England|

| Greater London|

* Eden Primary School, Muswell Hill
* Getter's Talmud Torah (CLOSED)
* Hasmonean High School
* Immanuel College
* Jewish Community Secondary School
* JFS
* King Solomon High School
* Lubavitch Senior Girls' School
* Michael Sobell Sinai School
* Pardes House Grammar School
* Torah Temimah Primary School
* Yavneh College
* Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls' School

|

Greater Manchester|

* King David High School, Manchester
* Manchester Mesivta School

Merseyside|

* King David High School, Liverpool

Oxfordshire|

* Carmel College, Oxfordshire (CLOSED)

Surrey|

* Stoatley Rough School (CLOSED)

West Midlands|

* King David School, Birmingham

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