JFS (formerly known as the Jews' Free School and later Jewish Free School) is a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
mixed comprehensive school in
Kenton, North London, England and was founded in 1732. Amongst its early supporters was the writer and philanthropist
Charlotte Montefiore
Charlotte imcha/SchöncheMontefiore (14 April 1818 - 21 July 1854) was an British Jews, Anglo-Jewish author and educational philanthropist.
Life
Charlotte Simcha (or Shönche) Montefiore was the daughter of Abraham Montefiore (brother of Sir M ...
. At one time it was the largest Jewish school in the world, with more than 4,000 pupils.
Staff
Head teachers
Other staff
*Poet
Daljit Nagra
Daljit Nagra (born 1966) is a British poet whose debut collection, ''Look We Have Coming to Dover!'' – a title alluding to W. H. Auden's ''Look, Stranger!'', D. H. Lawrence's ''Look! We Have Come Through!'' and by epigraph also to Matthew Arn ...
taught English at the school, as well as having other support staff roles including Learning Resource Centre staff member
*
Michael Adler taught
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
at the school in the late-19th century
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.
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
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
.
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
Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...
, but no arrests were made.
Transport and location
![London Buses route 628 The Mall Kenton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/London_Buses_route_628_The_Mall_Kenton.jpg)
The school moved from
Camden Town to a new site in
Kenton in 2002 to represent the demand of
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
'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.
There are
special bus routes, provided by
Transport for London (TfL), between the school and several areas with a large Jewish population, such as
Edgware
Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...
,
Mill Hill
Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross. Mill Hill was in the historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it became part of Greater London. Its population counted 18,45 ...
,
Southgate,
Barnet,
Hendon,
Muswell Hill
Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross.
Neighbouring areas include Highgate, Hampstead Garden Suburb, East Fi ...
,
Radlett,
Bushey
Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It has a population of over 25,000 inhabitants. Bushey Heath is a large neighbourhood south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow ...
and
Elstree
Elstree is a large village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is about northwest of central London on the former A5 road, that follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of t ...
. The nearest train station is
Kingsbury Kingsbury may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Kingsbury, London, a district of northwest London in the borough of Brent
** Kingsbury tube station, London Underground station
* Kingsbury, Warwickshire, a village and civil parish in Warwickshi ...
(
Jubilee line
The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in east London and in the suburban north-west, via the Docklands, South Bank and West End. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the Underground network, although some secti ...
), which is a few minutes' walk away.
Preston Road (
Metropolitan line) is also nearby.
The list of bus routes are as follows: 653, 683, 688, 628 and B77.
Academic results
In 2007, with 53% of the school's attempted GCSE exams receiving grades of A* or A. 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.
Awards
The school won a Wellbeing at School Award in 2021.
Controversy over admissions criteria
In October 2006, a Jewish father made enquiries with the
United Synagogue
The United Synagogue (US) is a union of British Orthodox Jewish synagogues, representing the central Orthodox movement in Judaism. With 62 congregations (including 7 affiliates and 1 associate, ), comprising 40,000 members, it is the largest ...
as to whether his son, born to a mother who had been converted to Judaism under the auspices of the
Masorti (Conservative) denomination, could convert under
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
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.
In July 2008, the father sought to prosecute JFS on the grounds of
racial discrimination
Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin color, race or ethnic origin.Individuals can discriminate by refusing to do business with, socialize with, or share resources with people of a certain g ...
, 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".
The
Court of Appeal, however, in June 2009 declared that JFS, under the
Race Relations Act 1976
The Race Relations Act 1976 was established by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race. The scope of the legislation included discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic and n ...
, 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. The school subsequently issued revised admissions criteria based on religious practice including synagogue attendance, formal Jewish education and volunteering.
JFS and the United Synagogue appealed to the
Supreme Court, with the support of the Chief Rabbi
Jonathan Sacks
Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks ( he, יונתן הנרי זקס, translit=Yona'tan Henry Zaks; 8 March 19487 November 2020) was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United ...
. On 16 December 2009, the UK Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal's ruling.
Notable former pupils
*
Barney Barnato,
Randlord
Randlords were the capitalists who controlled the diamond and gold mining industries in South Africa in its pioneer phase from the 1870s up to World War I.
A small number of European financiers, largely of the same generation, gained control of th ...
*
Gina Bellman
Gina Bellman (born 1966) is a New Zealand-born British actress best known for her performances as grifter Sophie Devereaux on the 2008-12 TNT television series '' Leverage'' and in the revival '' Leverage: Redemption'' when the series moved to ...
, actress
*
Raphael Benjamin, rabbi in Australia and America
*
Selig Brodetsky
Selig Brodetsky, זליג ברודצק (10 February 1888 – 18 May 1954) was a Russian-born English mathematician, a member of the World Zionist Executive, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and the second president of the ...
, mathematician, Zionist leader, and President of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
*
Benjamin Cohen, journalist and
Channel 4 News
''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982.
Current productions
''Channel 4 News''
''Channel 4 News'' ...
presenter
*
Morris Cohen, adventurer
*
Dean Furman (born 1988) - professional footballer
*
Maurice Glasman, academic, social thinker and Labour life peer
*
Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 13, 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's ...
, first President of the
American Federation of Labor
*
Ray Kelvin
Raymond Stuart Kelvin CBE (born on 11 December 1955 in north London) is the founder and former chief executive of the retail clothing retail company Ted Baker. He started working in his uncle's menswear shop in Enfield at the age of eleven and ...
, founder of luxury clothing retail company Ted Baker
*
Josh Kennet
Joshua Simon Kennet (born 27 September 1987) is an English-Israeli footballer currently with London Lions.
Early and personal life
Kennet is Jewish, and was born to a Jewish family in Camden, England. His father Eilon was born in Israel, an ...
(born 1987), English-Israeli footballer
*
David Joseph, chairman and CEO of Universal Music UK
*
Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near ...
, founder and owner,
River Island
River Island is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores and online.
Best known for its trend focused womenswear offering, River Isl ...
*
Joe Loss
Sir Joshua Alexander "Joe" Loss (22 June 1909 – 6 June 1990) was a British dance band leader and musician who founded his own eponymous orchestra.
Life
Loss was born in Spitalfields, London, the youngest of four children. His parents, Isr ...
, musician
*
Jez San
Jeremy Elliott "Jez" San OBE (born 29 March 1966) is an English game programmer and entrepreneur who founded Argonaut Software as a teenager in the 1980s. He is best known for the 1986 Atari ST game ''Starglider'' and helping to design the Supe ...
, game designer,
Argonaut Games
*
Ian Stone, comedian
*
Joel Samuels – DJ Luck, DJ
*
Steven Reingold, cricketer
*
Eyal Booker, Love Island Contestant
*
Barbara Roche
Barbara Maureen Roche (; born 13 April 1954) is a British Labour politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hornsey and Wood Green from 1992 until 2005, when she lost her seat to the Liberal Democrats, despite having enjoyed a maj ...
, Labour politician
*
Jonny Benjamin, mental health campaigner
References
Further reading
* Black, Gerry (1998). ''A history of the Jews' Free School, London, since 1732''. Tymsder Publishing ISBN 09531 110419.
External links
JFS official websiteOFSTED Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jfs (School)
1732 establishments in England
Educational institutions established in 1732
Jewish English history
Jewish schools in England
Kenton, London
Secondary schools in the London Borough of Brent
Voluntary aided schools in London