JFS (formerly known as the Jews' Free School and later Jewish Free School
) is a
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
mixed comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...
in
Kenton, North London, England, and was founded in 1732. Amongst its early supporters was the writer and philanthropist
Charlotte Montefiore. At one time it was the largest Jewish school in the world, with more than 4,000 pupils.
Location
The school moved from
Camden Town
Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London.
Laid out as a residential distri ...
to a new site in
Kenton in 2002 to represent the demand of
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
's Jewish population moving further out towards the suburbs. The school is within the jurisdiction of the
London Borough of Brent
Brent () is a London boroughs, borough in north-west London, England. It is known for landmarks such as Wembley Stadium, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London, Swaminarayan Temple and the Kiln Theatre. It also contains the Brent Reservoir, W ...
, while its postal town is
Harrow.
Staff
Headteachers
Other staff
*
Michael Adler
Michael Adler DSO, SCF (27 July 1868 – 30 September 1944) was an English Orthodox rabbi, an Anglo-Jewish historian and author who was the first Jewish military chaplain to the British Army to serve in time of war, serving with the Bri ...
taught
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
at the school in the late-19th century.
Houses and other traditions
JFS operates the
house system
The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. The school is divided into units called "houses" and each student is allocated to on ...
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
The president of the State of Israel (, or ) is the head of state of Israel. The president is mostly, though not entirely, ceremonial; actual executive power is vested in the cabinet led by the prime minister. The incumbent president is Isa ...
.
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
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
.
A tradition called "
muck-up day" involves
Year 11
Year 11 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is the eleventh or twelfth year of core education. For some Year 11 students it is their final year s ...
students celebrating the last day of formal schooling before their
GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...
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 Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, 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 numbe ...
, but no arrests were made.
Academic results
In 2007, 53% of the school's attempted GCSE exams received 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.
In 2024 at GCSE level. 95% of students have passed both English and Mathematics, and at 48%, nearly half of all grades were a ‘Grade 7’ or above. 30% of all grades were a ‘Grade 8’ or above.
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 the largest umbrella body for Orthodox Judaism in Britain. It is structured as a charity which serves the United Kingdom, British Jewish community in the broadest possible way. One of the largest charities in the B ...
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 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 Race (human categorization), race, ancestry, ethnicity, ethnic or national origin, and/or Human skin color, skin color and Hair, hair texture. Individuals ...
, but
High Court judge, Mr Justice Munby, ruled contrariwise, holding JFS' selection criteria were not intrinsically different from
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
or
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic 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
An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...
, however, in June 2009 declared that JFS, under the
Race Relations Act 1976
The Race Relations Act 1976 (c. 74) 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, eth ...
, 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
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
, with the support of the Chief Rabbi
Jonathan Sacks
Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks (8 March 19487 November 2020) was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013. As ...
. On 16 December 2009, the UK Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal's ruling.
Notable former pupils
*
Barney Barnato
Barney Barnato (born Barnet Isaacs; 21 February 1851 – 14 June 1897) was a British Randlord and diamond magnate who was one of the entrepreneurs who gained control of diamond mining, and later, gold mining in South Africa from the 1870s up ...
—
Randlord
The Randlords () were the capitalists who controlled the diamond and gold mining industries in South Africa from the 1870s to the First World War.
A small number of European financiers, largely of the same generation, gained control of the diamon ...
*
Gina Bellman
Gina Bellman (born 10 July 1966) is a New Zealand-born British actress. She played grifter Sophie Devereaux in the TNT (U.S. TV network), TNT television series ''Leverage (American TV series), Leverage'' (2008-2012) and its Amazon Freevee reviva ...
— actress
*
Raphael Benjamin
Raphael Benjamin (June 19, 1846 – November 15, 1906) was an English-born rabbi who ministered in Australia and America.
Life
Benjamin was born on June 19, 1846, in London, England, the son of Elias Benjamin and Mary Lazarus.
Benjamin attende ...
— rabbi in Australia and America
*
Eyal Booker —
Love Island contestant
*
Selig Brodetsky
Selig Brodetsky (; 10 February 1888 – 18 May 1954) was an 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 Hebrew University of Jerusal ...
— mathematician, Zionist leader, and president of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
*
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
Maurice Glasman, Baron Glasman (born 8 March 1961) is an English political theorist, academic, social commentator, and Labour life peer in the House of Lords. He is a senior lecturer in Political Theory at London Metropolitan University, Directo ...
— academic, social thinker and Labour life peer
*
Jonathan Glazer
Jonathan Glazer (born 26 March 1965) is an English filmmaker. He began his career in theatre before transitioning into film, directing the features '' Sexy Beast'' (2000), ''Birth'' (2004), '' Under the Skin'' (2013), and '' The Zone of Inter ...
— BAFTA and Oscar award-winning film director
*
Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 11, 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
The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutual ...
*
Ray Kelvin — 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, a ...
(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 (stylised as RiverIsland and abbreviated as RI) is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis (entrepreneur), Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores ...
*
Joe Loss
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, Israel an ...
— musician
*
Ofra Offer Oren — Israeli writer, poet, blogger and translator
*
Steven Reingold — cricketer
*
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
*
Joel Samuels — DJ, associated with DJ Luck & MC Neat
*
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 Su ...
— game designer,
Argonaut Games
Argonaut Games is a British video game developer founded in 1982. It was known for the Super NES video game '' Star Fox'' and its supporting Super FX chip, and for '' Croc: Legend of the Gobbos'' and the '' Starglider'' series. The company wa ...
*
Florence Schechter — founder of
Vagina Museum and author
*
Ian Stone
Ian Stone is a British stand-up comedian, broadcaster and writer notable for appearing as a guest on shows such as the comedy panel show ''Mock the Week''. Stone was also a regular guest on BBC Radio 5's ''Fighting Talk''. His book about followi ...
— comedian
References
Further reading
* Black, Gerry (1998). ''A history of the Jews' Free School, London, since 1732''. Tymsder Publishing .
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