Choosing a Jewish School

There are over 135 Jewish day schools in the UK and an increasing number of children applying to them for places. In fact the number of children receiving a Jewish rather than secular education has risen by over 500% since the 1950s.

As a parent, faced with this degree of choice it is important ask yourself the right questions when deciding where to send your child. Finding a school that will meet his or her needs and personality are crucial to how well he or she will perform there.

We have compiled the checklist below to help you decide which schools to apply for:

1. Work out what is important to you and your child

Is you child very academic? If so, you will need to find somewhere that he or she will thrive and be challenged intellectually. Examination results are an indication of a school’s academic standards.

Or is your child into sports? If so, you might want to think about the facilities that the school has and whether it has any after school sports clubs.

2. Compile a shortlist of Jewish schools you are interested in

3. Visit the schools on your list

Walking round a school and talking to both staff and pupils can give you an excellent insight into its character.

4. Ask questions like:

• How many applicants are there per place to give you an idea about how competitive the school is
• Ask what the ‘teacher turnover’ is. If more than 10-20% of teachers leave per year it indicates that the staff are unhappy which could suggest broader problems.

5. Keep a careful note of the responses so that you can compare different schools

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