Ilford Jewish primary welcomes pupils to new building

Ilford Jewish Primary School’s new building welcomed pupils for the first time this week following its multi-million pound move to the King Solomon School campus in Barkingside.

The primary’s nearly 400 pupils gathered outside the new state-of-the-art facility where the shofar was blown on Monday morning at the start of the first school year at a new home.

An inaugural assembly featuring a special blessing and tours of the campus followed.

“It was an amazing day in our fantastic new building,” said head teacher Ros Levin. “The children are extremely excited by their new surroundings.”

The reorganisation of the Jewish schools in North East London – whose Jewish community has declined over the past 30 years but where demand for school places remains strong – was an urgent recommendation of the Jewish Leadership Council’s Commission on the Future of Jewish Schools.

The JLC and its members led a fundraising drive to make up the £2.7m shortfall required to bring the project to fruition following the sale of the IJPS’s former building.

Chief Executive Jeremy Newmark said he hoped other communal facilities would be housed on the campus in the future and “should encourage new vitality in the local community”. He added: “We are really thrilled that we have been able to play a part in securing top quality Jewish education for another generation of children in the area.  The feedback we have had from pupils, teachers and parents has been tremendous. Jonathan Goldstein who chairs our PaJeS Division deserves huge congratulations for his assiduous work.”