Curriculum Enrichment

At JFS, we hope to deliver a well-rounded and culturally rich education. The enrichment curriculum plays a crucial part in achieving this objective, and as such, its purpose is to provide a broad range of opportunities for learning and development outside of the classroom. Staff work together at JFS to implement varied opportunities for our students to be able to develop leadership skills, knowledge, and qualities they will need to carryout roles in the future. Enrichment at JFS is open to all year groups, but the Sixth Form does have some more specific opportunities such as the trip to Poland and our bespoke Jewish Studies Programme.

We aim to provide a platform for our students to fulfil their curiosity, and to that end, we offer a wide range of opportunities both at lunchtime, and after school, in the form of clubs, societies, visits, overseas trips, and expeditions.  Our students can develop leadership and organisational skills through e.g. Duke of Edinburgh Award, overseen by JLGB. We also have several hundred students completing their Bronze and Silver awards, show initiative by debating weekly, take responsibility with the school newspaper ‘The JFS Journal’, and above all, contribute to the wider community as part of the Alan Senitt Upstanders Leadership Programme (ASULP).

The practicalities of providing these opportunities are a welcome challenge at JFS where all staff are happy to give their time and goodwill to run the activities and workshops. Some clubs are run at lunch break, whilst others are after school, ‘Extended Services’, and there is transport available accordingly.

The trips we offer are a chance for our students to deeper engage with the school curriculum, and to seek opportunities for learning and to reward those who have shown commitment and effort in their studies. Successful trips have included a visit to the Houses of Parliament, The Guardian newspaper, debating competitions held at South Hampstead School and to Germany for the Belsen75 project.

For the last four years, we have been privileged to welcome Lord Mann, Independent Advisor on anti-Semitism to the Government, and a member of the House of Lords.  He has spoken to our Year 12 students about his work and his aims for what he wishes to achieve with politicians and sportsmen alike.

The Sixth Form have also had the opportunity to welcome other Peers from the House of Lords as part of the ‘Peers in Schools’ Programme.  This is an opportunity to hear, first-hand, of the work carried out by a member of the House of Lords, to ask questions on a range of matters and to gain an understanding of how the Lords contribute to the making of our laws and statutes.

“Events in Westminster can sometimes seem very remote but it is vital that people understand what goes on and how they are able to interact with parliamentarians to promote and progress causes which are important to them. I hope that ‘Peers in Schools’ can contribute to developing that understanding among school students.”  – The Lord Speaker, Baroness D’Souza.

In autumn 2020 we welcomed Lord Borwick; and in 2021 Lord Russell of Liverpool, whose grandfather was one of the chief legal advisers during war-crimes proceedings for both the Nuremberg trials.