Charedi leaders in Hackney praise Green council for securing temporary home for girls school

Charedi community leaders in the London Borough of Hackney have praised the Green Party-led Council after it granted a temporary site to a girls primary school in desperate need of a new home.

Beis Yaakov Girls School, which teaches over 100 girls from Strictly Orthodox Jewish families and is rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted, was evicted from its previous premises at the end of July 2026.

The Council has responded to talks with Charedi leaders by agreeing to grant a short-term licence for the school to occupy part of the former Oldhill Community School building.

Oldhill Community School closed in August 2025 after merging with Harrington Hill Primary School.

The spacious site, with a capacity for 420 children, is currently only partially in use by the Oldhill Children’s Centre, which is managed by Harrington Hill Primary.

Beis Yaakov Girls School is expected to move into one wing of the Oldhill building within weeks, in time for the new school year.

The arrangement is set to run initially from September to December 2026.

The Council has stated that, when considering the use of vacant school sites by independent schools, its criteria include a ‘Good’ Ofsted judgement and a willingness to explore joining the state sector—both of which Beis Yaakov meets.

Motty Pinter of Chinuch UK expressed his gratitude, telling Jewish News:“We are extremely grateful to Mayor Zoë Garbett, Councillor Soraya Adejare and Hackney’s Director of Education Jason Marantz for working with us so diligently to find a solution for a school that urgently needed a new home.

“For Beis Yaakov and its pupils, this makes an enormous difference. It also shows what can be achieved when the Council and the community work constructively together. This is a promise made and a promise delivered, and we very much welcome it.

“We look forward to continuing those discussions about this and other sites, so that buildings which would otherwise stand largely empty can continue to serve the educational needs of Hackney’s children.”

This positive response from Charedi leaders stands in marked contrast to the criticism Hackney Greens have faced in recent months over their move to detwin the borough from Haifa, Israel—a decades-old civic partnership.

Tensions increased further when Mayor Garbett was forced to apologise after she initially set the deadline for a response from Haifa’s mayor regarding the de-twinning proposal as October 7, coinciding with the day of the Hamas terror attacks.

Garbett later described this as a “deeply regretful oversight” and extended the deadline to October 14.

During the recent local election campaign, the Greens had engaged in discussions with the Charedi community to explore how vacant school buildings—arising in part from falling pupil numbers—could be used to support local independent schools.

As of August 2026, only a small part of the Oldhill site is occupied, and the building needs minimal adjustments to reopen more widely. The Council also noted the site’s multiple entrances and flexible floor plan make it possible for different organisations to share the space while remaining separate.

Mayor Garbett said the Council is committed  to partnership and sustainability in education, saying:“As a local authority, we have a duty to ensure that all of our children have a place to learn. Our education strategy focuses on partnership, and supporting our entire family of schools, regardless of their type, to strengthen their long-term sustainability.

“We will continue to work together with all local schools to help them find long-term solutions that allow them to offer a sustainable, high-quality education that respects the needs and values of the communities they serve.”