What Immanuel College Stands For

When people ask me why I believe so deeply in Immanuel College — why my husband Yakir and I have committed ourselves to its future — my answer is always the same. Because there is no other school in London that does what Immanuel does. And because what Immanuel does has never mattered more than it does right now.

We are living through a moment that has changed the landscape for Jewish families in Britain in ways none of us predicted. Since October 7, our children face open hostility to their identity in classrooms and on campuses in ways that were unthinkable just a few years ago. Jewish students arrive at university without the knowledge, the language, or the confidence to stand up for who they are. They have not been taught what to say. They have not been prepared for what they will face.

Immanuel College exists to change that. It always has. But today, that mission is more urgent than ever.

“There is no other school in London that does what Immanuel does. And what Immanuel does has never mattered more.”

A Vision Written for This Moment

Immanuel College was founded in 1990 by Chief Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits. Its mission was written by Lord Jonathan Sacks, who described the school as one that would “unashamedly aim at creating leaders in all spheres of contemporary life, individuals whose sense of Jewish responsibility is deep and broad, encompassing identification with the Jewish people in its totality, with Jewish history in its diversity, and with the state of Israel in its centrality.”

Those words were written in 1988. They read today like a precise description of exactly what we need. A school that produces not just accomplished graduates, but proud, rooted, unbreakable Jews — young people who know who they are, why it matters, and how to defend it.

That is what Immanuel College stands for. And that is what every element of its education is designed to deliver.

Proud, Prepared and Unbreakable

The first thing I want families to understand about Immanuel is that this is a school that takes Jewish identity seriously — not as a box to tick, but as the foundation of everything. The Jewish Studies curriculum is built around equipping students for real life: Israel education, Holocaust education, campus preparation, contemporary Halachic questions. Children leave Immanuel knowing how to defend their identity in a seminar room, at a dinner table, or on a protest-ridden campus.

We do not raise children who apologise for being Jewish. We raise children who lead.

Academic Excellence, Achieved the Right Way

Immanuel College sits in the top two percent of schools nationally for success in gaining entry to the most competitive universities in the country. That is a remarkable achievement. What makes it more remarkable is how it is achieved.

We do not build our results by taking only the brightest and discarding everyone else. We build them by investing in every child — by creating a culture of genuine added value in which every student, whatever their starting point, is supported to reach their full potential. Inclusion and excellence are not in tension at Immanuel. They are the same thing.

“Inclusion and excellence are not in tension at Immanuel. They are the same thing.”

Hebrew Fluency: Where We Are Headed

One of the things I am most important ambitions for Immanuel is that every child who passes through its doors will leave genuinely fluent in Hebrew. Not functional Hebrew. Not the ability to stumble through a prayer or read a sign in Tel Aviv. Real fluency — the ability to speak, read, and think in the living language of our people and our homeland. We are not there yet. But it is where we are determined to go, and it is a commitment I believe is central to what a complete Jewish education must mean.

The aspiration matters profoundly. When we achieve it — and we will — our graduates will be able to study in Israel, work in Israel, read our sacred texts in their original language, and feel genuinely at home in the Jewish state in a way that lasts a lifetime. No mainstream independent school in London is even trying to do this. Among Jewish schools, genuine fluency is rare. At Immanuel, it will become the standard.

A Community That Lasts a Lifetime

A school is not just the years you spend inside it. It is the community you carry with you when you leave. Immanuel has one of the most remarkable alumni communities in Jewish education — graduates who span law, medicine, finance, technology, and the arts, across London, Israel, and beyond. We are formalising and deepening that network: building a mentorship programme that connects current students with accomplished Jewish professionals, creating structured opportunities for graduates to give back, and ensuring that the Immanuel family remains a living, active community long after graduation.

When your child joins Immanuel, they do not simply attend a school. They join a community for life. And that community includes some of the most impressive Jewish professionals of their generation.

Ready for the World as It Is

I am also deeply committed to ensuring that Immanuel prepares students for the world they are actually entering. That means integrating artificial intelligence into the curriculum in a meaningful way — not as a novelty, but as a genuine literacy. The graduates who will lead in the coming decades will be those who understand these tools and are not intimidated by them. Immanuel intends its students to be among them.

And it means doing all of this within the framework that has always defined the school: the warmth and intimacy of mishpacha — family. In a school of Immanuel’s size, every child is known by name. Every family matters. The pastoral care is personal in a way that no larger institution can replicate. Parents feel it on their first visit. Children feel it every day.

Part of a Global Jewish Family

Jewish life has never been contained within a single country or a single community. It is global, interconnected, and bound together by shared values, shared history, and a shared future. Immanuel College reflects that reality.

We are building partnerships with leading Jewish schools across the world — in Israel, the United States, France, Australia, and beyond. Student exchanges, joint programmes, shared curriculum development around Israel education and Jewish identity. Teachers learning from colleagues in Jerusalem and Los Angeles. Students building friendships with young Jews from communities around the world.

What this means in practice is that our students do not just grow up as proud British Jews. They grow up understanding that they belong to something much larger than themselves — a worldwide Jewish people with a shared story and a shared stake in the future.

“Our students grow up understanding that they belong to something much larger than themselves.”

What This School Is For

Lord Sacks believed that Immanuel College could produce young Jews who were thoroughly at home in both contemporary society and the full range of their Jewish heritage. After 35 years, the evidence is that he was right. Our graduates go to the finest universities, build remarkable careers, and remain proud, connected, deeply Jewish throughout their lives.

The question I put to every Jewish family considering their options is this: where else can your child receive a world-class academic education, leave on a pathway to Hebrew fluency, be genuinely prepared for the antisemitism they will face, be mentored by accomplished Jewish professionals, and be connected to a worldwide community of Jewish young people — all within a school that knows their name and treats them as mishpacha?

The answer, in London, is nowhere else. That is what Immanuel College stands for. And that is why its future matters so much — not just to the families who choose it, but to British Jewry as a whole.

Thanks to the following people for their tireless efforts in helping get to this stage:
Danielle Kestenbaum
Rabbi Yoni Golker
Deputy Heads