JFS is Europe’s largest Jewish secondary school with approximately 2,000 pupils on its roll. It was established in 1732 and today is based in a new state-of-the-art campus in Kenton – which was built in 2002. The school has 300 places on offer for Year 7 and offers places to between 40 and 60 students who wish to transfer into the Sixth Form after GCSEs.
JFS is voluntary aided and is co-educational, where boys and girls are taught together in the same lessons. The school offers pupils a wide ranging curriculum from traditional subjects like History and Science to more modern areas like Sociology, Psychology, Media Studies, Photography and various more vocationally oriented subjects including Child Care, Media and Business Studies . The entire curriculum is supported with purpose-built facilities for Theatre Studies, Music, Sport, Dance, Media Studies, Art, Science and Technology and a beautiful synagogue with a Beit Midrash. There is a dedicated Sixth Form Centre with its own mezzanine.
Additionally, there is a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities ranging from visits to galleries, museums, and theatres to visits abroad to Poland and Israel. Two days a week there is an after school programme. Offerings vary from Krav Maga and Drama to text based “Chavruta learning”, Music and Debating. This rich programme of extra-curricular activities, together with a comprehensive programme of pastoral support ensures that there is someone, somewhere and something for all our students throughout their time at the school.
JFS is an Orthodox school, whose foundation body is the United Synagogue and one of its main aims is “to ensure that Jewish values permeate the school”. Jewish Studies is a core subject for all students, all of whom take the GCSE examination in Religious Studies.
