‘Not a decision we wanted to make’: King Solomon High to pause sixth form enrolment

Essex’s only Jewish secondary school is pressing pause on providing sixth form education. 

King Solomon High School has written to parents of students currently in Year 11 to let them know of the “extremely difficult decision” not to enrol a Year 12 group next academic year.

In a statement seen by Jewish News, headteacher Michele Philips wrote: “King Solomon High School’s long term financial viability is central to the turnaround plan and providing an excellent quality of education for our students.”

She added that the decision “follows a steady drop in sixth form numbers in the last few years, and following our sixth form taster day at the end of last week, it became apparent that we were highly unlikely to secure sufficient numbers of students to next year’s Year 12 year group to make this viable.”

Philips and school governors spent “a great deal of time deliberating, alongside external professional advice that supported the final decision.”

The news comes as the school finds itself “in the midst of a national staffing crisis – a situation that is by no means unique to King Solomon High School. There are few specialist teachers available to teach in key subjects, including English and Spanish. This means that lessons may have relied on cover staff, non-specialist teachers or be cancelled altogether, which is far from the world class education that our students deserve.

The school says its priority now “is to ensure that the small number of Year 11 students who have applied solely to King Solomon are well supported in continuing their post-16 education at another school or college. We are working with our partners including The United Synagogue, PaJeS and the Local Authority to support students who wish to seek alternative Sixth Form provision. We have allocated support staff to ensure the most positive outcomes for all involved.”

King Solomon High School was judged to be ‘Requires Improvement’ in November 2021. New headteacher, Michele Phillips, along with governors and a new senior leadership team, have put in place a new school improvement plan to secure the future of the school.

As reported by Jewish News, parents stood firmly alongside the school leadership when 38 members of staff voted to go on strike for eight days in March. The industrial action was called off three days in.