JFS (school) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids JFS |
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| Location | |
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| The Mall Kenton, Harrow, Greater London, HA3 9TE, England |
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| Coordinates | 51°34′52″N 0°16′53″W / 51.58118°N 0.28135°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Voluntary aided comprehensive |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Modern Orthodox Judaism |
| Established | 1732 |
| Ofsted number | Good |
| 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 and later Jewish Free School) 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. At one time it was the largest Jewish school in the world, with more than 4,000 pupils.
Contents
Location
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
Headteachers
| 2021– | Dr David Moody | ||
| 2021 | Paul Ramsay (Acting Joint Headteacher)
Anna Joseph (Acting Joint Headteacher) |
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| 2021 | Martin Tissot (Interim Headteacher) | 2021 | Sir Michael Wilshaw (Executive Headteacher) |
| 2018–2021 | Rachel Fink | ||
| 2018 | Simon Appleman (Acting Headteacher) | ||
| 2016–2017 | Debby Lipkin (Executive Headteacher)
Simon Appleman (Acting Headteacher) |
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| 2008–2016 | Jonathan Miller | ||
| 1993–2007 | Dame Ruth Robins | ||
| 1985–1993 | Josephine Wagerman, OBE | ||
| 1973–1984 | Leslie Gatoff | ||
| 1958–1972 | Dr. Edward S Conway | ||
| 1897–1907 | Louis Barnett Abrahams | ||
| 1842–1897 | Moses Angel | ||
| 1732–1757 | Samuel Grant |
Other staff
- 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
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.
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.
Notable former pupils
- Barney Barnato, Randlord
- Gina Bellman, actress
- 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
- 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
- Bernard Lewis, founder and owner, River Island
- 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
- Barbara Roche, Labour politician
- Jonny Benjamin, mental health campaigner
- Ofra Offer Oren, Israeli writer, poet, blooger and translator.
