Two Jewish comprehensives in Times top 10 this year

King David High School Liverpool has been named by The Times as the best comprehensive in North-West England in the newspaper’s annual Parent Power tables.

Three Jewish secondary schools appear in the top 10 comprehensives nationally, with JFS fifth, JCoSS sixth and Hasmonean Girls eighth. In the overall state school list which includes selective schools such as grammars, JFS is at 81, JCoSS 94, Hasmonean 108 and King David Liverpool 127.

The placings are calculated on the percentage of top grades at GCSE and A-level achieved by pupils in this summer’s exams.

In London, JFS is 17 in the list of state schools — including selective entry schools; JCoSS 19 and Hasmonean Girls 21.

Michael Sutton, headmaster of King David, said the award was “great testament to the hard work and dedication shown by King David’s students, staff, parents, governors and wider community. The spirit of this school is embodied in the word kehillah.

“We are told that kehillah is the best type of community – one which recognises the individuality of its constituent members, working together for a common good. This has enabled us to develop and grow our Jewish ethos into one which places us at the heart of the Liverpool Jewish community as well as being a welcoming school to a diverse student body of many cultures, faiths and nationalities.”

The vast majority of the school’s pupils come from outside the Jewish community.

Sutton said that over the past year, “we have worked closely with members of the Muslim and Christian communities — both within and outside the school — to proactively ensure we all feel supportive of each other especially in times when this goes against the grain.

“We have completed a memorial project which involved the production of a sculpture, the first to commemorate the Holocaust on Merseyside. This was, again a unifying experience and one which reached far beyond the school and into the city as a whole.”

Its development plans next year include a cafe and modern study area for its sixthformers, he said.

In the list of top private schools, Immanuel College was ranked joint 128th nationally. Its GCSE results include IGCSEs (international GCSEs) which are not included in the Department for Education tables but counted by The Times. Its average points score of 69.4 per pupil would have placed it top of the GCSE list for Jewish schools.