Jewish secondary school?

[Cholvezes]

We are looking for secondary schools for our ds next year and were thinking about the local jewish secondary school. We are considering other schools but this is our closest school and we are jewish although not very observant.
I was wondering how going to a jewish school would impact on somebody and whether a non denominational school may be the best option.

Which Jewish secondary are you looking at? They are all quite different in character.

All the schools expect you to complete a SIF (supplementary information form) which gives you "points" based on your level of Jewish activity. You can gain these "points" by doing things such as attending synagogue frequently, sending your child to a Jewish primary school or Cheder, or Jewish community action e.g. volunteering. In order to get enough "points" you would want to start preparing now e.g. start attending shul more often.

Currently about ? of Jewish children attend a Jewish school. The most popular reason why parents send their children to Jewish schools is the outstanding academic achievement. All the mainstream Jewish secondary schools achieve exam results far higher than their local non-denominational counterparts, and several are among the top comprehensives in the country.

Other advantages of attending a Jewish school are learning Hebrew (useful for going to Israel), kosher food, festival and Shabbat observance (probably less relevant to you as you are not very observant) and an active Jewish social life.

Disadvantages of attending a Jewish school are losing the opportunity to mix with individuals of all religions (and none) and backgrounds. I have heard that some Jewish schools have had issues with racism because of this isolation. I have also heard that some schools can be a bit homophobic. Although the education at all the Jewish secondaries is excellent, some areas of the curriculum that they sometimes fall down on (compared to non-Jewish schools) are languages (other than Hebrew), religious studies (other than Judaism) and music.

Advantages of attending a non-Jewish school are being able to mix with children of all faiths and backgrounds. They may be able to experience a wider more varied curriculum as time will not be spent on Jewish education. Many larger schools with larger Jewish communities may have a Jewish society, and this may allow your child to mix with other Jewish children within school.

Disadvantages of attending a non-Jewish school would be that as potentially one of the only Jewish children in their school, your child could feel isolated, and could encounter antisemitism. Conversely they may also be seen positively as the "token Jew" but in this respect may be expected to have a full knowledge and understanding of all things Jewish, which would be fine for a confident knowledgable child, but intimidating for a shy or less knowledgable child.

The most important thing would be which school, Jewish or non-Jewish, would fit your child best. Which school will allow your child to develop their own individual talents, whilst supporting them pastorally and giving them additional support in any areas they are weaker in?

Thank you for your very detailed reply frogspoon. Were looking at King Davis in Liverpool. Apart from it being a jewish school it is our local school.
They have a great academic track record and people from the community try to get their children in even if they are not jewish. They seen to have a great curriculum and ive heard you can opt out of Jewish Studies and Ivrit to do Religious Studies and German but I need to do a bit more enquiring about this. Other than this they have a perfectly "normal" curriculum similar to that of closest the non denominational school.
They seem to be inclusive of all religions and it states in their ofsted that only half for the students are jewish so this may be an advantage for getting a mixed view of the world.
However, my main concern was sending ds to a school where everything is not how it is in the outside world. There is not a huge jewish community here unlike somewhere such as London or Manchester so there can be a bit of anti-Semitism. Other local schools don't have as many jewish students but coming from a secular primary this wouldn't be a problem.
Thank you for the advice about the SIF, I hadn't really thought about it until I looked at how often we need to attend to get the right number of points.

This is a very good school , and people outside the Jewish faith , fight hard to get there kids into this school . The new build is great , all children have to eat lunch supplied by school , so no noticeable difference between any child at this school .
Jewish children do do Hebrew , but otherwise all classes are mixed or set according to ability.
If you can get a place I would grab it with both hands .
Your other local schools to this one don't get nearly as good academic results.

I find the concept of substituting German for Hebrew at a Jewish school extremely ironic.
Another factor worth considering is your son may become more observant than his parents by attending a Jewish school. I am an American who has seen this happen when nominally Catholic or nonCatholic children attend parochial Catholic schools. It makes perfect sense.

All kids learn French regardless of whether they learn Ivrit or Geman. German is just another language like all other languages. All other secondary schools in the area teach german and they probably have some jewish kids.
I wouldn't mind if my dc became more observant. As he gets older it is his life and if that is what he wants im not going to stop him. It is his religion after all.
My main concern as I have mentioned above, is not getting a wide view of the real world outside of a jewish comminuty. Id have the same concern about sending ds to a CofE or Catholic school as well.
Thanks homework, sorry to pry but do you have dcs at King David?
Yes it is a lot better than other schools around here.

King Davids is an excellent school. We made the mistake of not considering it and going private if our DCs didn't get into the grammar, due to how awful the comprehensives are in this area of liverpool, until one day I (for some unknown reason) decided to go to the open day.

The school has a great atmosphere, excellent parent involvement and keeps kosher (well it is a Jewish school) which is an excellent diet. My dc who is there now is starting to eat kosher at home and is much healthier. They have outstanding pastoral care and have all the Jewish holidays off school (something which can get a bit confusing to start with).

King Davids is probably on par with the grammar school in every way except from the 100% A*-C King David got 91% so nothing to worry about there. They are a lot more friendly and welcoming, not just an exam factory. My second youngest did pass the 11+ for Blue Coat but decided to put King David as first choice due to the atmosphere, the fact she didn't feel pressured and the extra curricular.

You say you are worried about not having a mixed experience OP. This is nothing to worry about, less than 25% of the kids are Jewish. Although proportionally more than in the local population there are many Christians (of all denominations), Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. It is very mixed and inclusive. They do have religious services but these are optional even for Jewish kids. However, Jewish kids do have to wear a Kippot (boys of other religions can choose) and the school day is one period longer on Thursdays to compensate for the early finish on Fridays. You will probably find you ds becomes more observant but as you said, you don't mind.

If you are going to apply, apply through the "I am religious section". This will guarantee you a place especially if your Jewish, but you need to start being more observant and attend a synagogue a least twice a month until ds is guaranteed a place. ie from now until the first week of march next year.

Thanks Northerner7777, we were thinking about entering ds for the 11+ but we aren't going to hire a tutor or do any tutoring ourselves. We believe that if he is able to pass it on merit then good. Otherwise, like some of the kids who get tutored for months beforehand, he may not cope.
King Davids seems like a good alternative and we will be going to the open evening. My worry about it being "too Jewish" has been overcome. its nice to know they are not an exam factory as this may not suit ds well (hence the uncertainty of grammar school).
Looks like we'll be going to the synagogue a lot more often :)

Cholvezes my dd has just found out she got into King Davids and is over the moon. She is the only one from her primary going but looking forward to it.

Well done northerner , bet your both pleased .

very pleased, thanks homework. DS4 is there and loves it so now DD2 is joining him. Its such a good school. All the rest have gone to the grammar school and ds 1 to a private school. DD actually turned down a grammar place for King Davids.
We never considered it until a few years ago and im really glad we did. We will try to get the youngest in when the time comes.

Thank you everyone, we will be definitely be going to the open day. They all start soon so that should be fun :)
Congratulations northerner for your dd!

Northerner I have read King David have introduced a sibling rule as of this year so getting your youngest in should be no problem :-))

Lovely, lovely school, I have visited it twice in the past couple of years on a professional basis and thought it was great. The pupils are delightful. No bias, I work in a RC school!

I wonder if anyone can help and give any advice on the Musical aptitude test for King David? My son is due to take the test this month. On the schools open evening I was told they need to play a piece of music and expect the test to last 15 minutes. Any advice welcome 😊