Reflecting on Judaism

In parts 1-9 of this history the story flowed and I was able to describe and collate progress in cohesive paragraphs. After the Authorities agreed to the transfer of the Stepney Jewish School to Ilford many aspects of its progress occurred simultaneously and it is difficult to collate them all in such paragraphs. I therefore present the facts by way of a diary in order that the picture be clear.

          On 19th March 1968 the Managers and Committee of the Stepney Jewish School were informed “that provision of kosher meals in the County Primary Schools in East London (other than this school) is ceasing at the end of this term. Jewish children from these schools are being directed to this school for kosher meals if they want them.” Thus ended a service which had been provided for some thirty years and illustrated the drift, by Jewish families, away from East London.

          On 29th May 1968 I, together with many others, including all the parents of children attending the local Hebrew classes, received an invitation to attend the inaugural meeting of the ‘Friends of the Ilford Jewish Day School’ for the purpose of introducing the school’s Headmaster Mr. Stanley Rosslyn B.A. to the community. ‘The meeting will also be addressed by Dr. Sidney Gold, Mr. Tom Philips M.B.E. and by Rev. Sidney Black B.A.’. The invitation was signed by Jeremy Goldstein its Vice-Chairman. In a letter from Tom Philips received prior to the meeting he suggested that not too much stress be put on the 5 guinea Covenant as some people may wish to give more. 

          Sam Stone to be in the Chair and he planned to call on David Glass who agreed to lead the appeal for the 5 guinea Covenants. Another purpose of the meeting was to arouse enthusiasm in the community at this exciting new project. Within a week letters began to arrive from parents wanting to reserve a place for their children in the school. Some two months after this meeting the committee was informed that the Inland Revenue is considered a charity and exempt from Income Tax.  

          On 17thJune1968 a letter from Mr. Rosslyn invited members of the local committee to the School’s forthcoming Prize Day. Evelyn and I were among those who attended and she was recognised by a teacher who had taught her in that school in the 1930’s. She was however greeted by her elder sister’s name. Can such a thing happen today?

          On 25th June 1968 a letter received from the Department of Education and Science rejecting the plans submitted by our architect as they failed, on six grounds, to meet the requirement of the 1959 School Premises Regulations. In reply the architect sent a three page fighting letter in which he refuted all of the allegations made and I quote from his final paragraph. “It does appear to me that practically all the points raised by the department are in no way enforceable from the point of view of the 1959 regulations. In the six points listed, the only one that is strictly related to the regulations is the first item apropos acoustics.” He then went on to assure the Authority that the standard of acoustics will be at least as high, and probable better, than in any other school. He pointed out that  new regulations were being discussed by the Authority and that the objections raised were possibly a rear guard action on the part of those who objected to some of the proposed changes. The Authorities approved the plans on 25th July 1968.

          On 11th July 1968 a bank account in the name of the ‘Friends’ was opened the signatories to be, Sam Stone, Jeremy Goldstein, Sidney Lancet and Malcolm Melbourne. One signature of the first two named and one signature of the second two named. The funds raised by the Day School Committee to-date were transferred to the new account.

          On 28th July 1968 Tom Philips sent a formal letter to the Jewish Chronicle formally announcing the transfer of the Stepney School to Ilford together with details of its construction, future plans and aspirations. The paper had heard rumour of the proposed transfer and was phoning him on a regular basis for confirmation which he was reluctant to give until the transfer had been approved by the Authorities.

For 18th September 1968 a meeting was planned for 8 p.m. in the James Hawkey Hall, Woodford Green, Essex. Chief Rabbi Dr. I. Jakobovitz kindly agreed to attend as did Nat Rubin and the architect or his representative to explain the structure and layout of the school. The Chairman, Managers, Committee Members and Headmaster all intended to be present at what was to be a major public function of the proposed new school. In the event the Chairman, Tom Philips, could not attend but sent the following message:

          GREETINGS to you all.  I am very sorry indeed not to be with you this evening.  Indeed I have put down on paper some of the things I would have said to you.

          The Stepney Jewish School is just over 100 years old. It actually started in a private house also used as a Synagogue in 1863.

          The first purpose built school was opened at 11 Stepney Green in 1871. In 1906 considerable additions were made including the Marcus Adler Hall and from then until the 1930s there were always some 800 pupils in the three schools, the boys school, the girls school and the infants.

          It was in 1933 that I became the Honorary Secretary of the school and one of its Managers, in succession to the late Rev. J. F. Stern and I remained so for    35 years. So my interest in the school is of long standing and just as keen today as ever. At this most important stage of the School's history I find myself Chairman o£ its Committee and pledge that I will do whatever I can to help it to re-establish itself in its new area.

                           For nearly 20 years we have known that eventually we should have to bui1d a new school as the present building is in a development area. In the new layout ofStepney Green the school was allotted a site, and the indications were that by 1970 the change would become imminent. But for many years now the whole district has been changing; the teeming Jewish popu1ation of other days has gone and the number or Jewish children in the school has been steadily diminishing. We watched the situation and considered it for a long time and then came firmlyto the conclusion that we should not be justified in bui1ding a new Jewish school in Stepney Green. In these circumstances we were faced with two alternatives, either to close the School which had served the Jewish community of the neighbourhood for so long or to re-establish it elsewhere so that it could continue to serve for perhaps another 100 years.

          We chose the latter. An existing School has very important rights on transfer which were too va1uable to throw away. These include the right to a site in the area to which the school is transferred and a grant of 80% of' the cost of the new building. In addition we felt that its long tradition might well be of use elsewhere.

          So we made contact with your committee here and learnt of your plans to establish a Jewish Primary School in Ilford. We called on the local Education Authority and discussed the matter with the Inner London Education Authority under which the school at present comes. Mr. Miles, the Chief Education Officer of Redbridge, was most kind and helpful, and we were pleased to findthat we would be warmly welcomed if the School was moved here. When all the Authorities, Redbridge, the I.L.E.A. and the Department of Education and Science had agreed to al1ow the school to move to Ilford with the transferred rights I have described, we invited a number of members of your committee to serve on the School committee and some of them also serve on the building committee we set up to see the project through.  May I say what a pleasure it has been to me to meet such genuine keenness and to work together with you?

          Some years before this happened your committee had consulted as an architect Mr. R. Duncan Scott of Messrs. Scott Brownrigg & Turner. Mr. Scott thus already knew much of our requirements and we decided we could do no better than to retain his services to design the new S chool. Our instructions to him were to produce a building which would be up to date and modern in twenty years time. Mr. Duncan Scott has great experience of planning schools, and he and his staff have kept themselves abreast, and possibly in advance, of present day thinking and design. He has placed his knowledge freely at our disposal, and has been with us at most of the meetings with the experts in this part of the education field. We have finally agreed to a plan which you will hear about later, and which I am sure you will find as interesting and exciting as we do. We are tremendously pleased that it gained the approval of the Redbridge Education Authority and of the Department of Education and Science.

          We are particularly fortunate in having Mr. Stanley Rosslyn as Headmaster of the School. He has been with us throughout our discussions and has added his encouragement to us to make provision for the new methods of teaching. You will be delighted to know that he will come with the School to Ilford, as also will, we hope, a number of his excellent staff. They are all regarding it as a stimulating and exciting challenge.

          The Treasurer, Mr. S.J.Birns, will talk about finance and explain what is required. Many of you have already given your support and I know that you will do what you can. In moving the school to Ilford we are coming among friends. There are many old pupils of the school in your community, and many old members of the Stepney Jewish Lads’ Club which is coming too. The new club will be built alongside the school, connected to it by a gymnasium which will be common to both. I know that this is only a start. The new school, which will accommodate 300 children, will soon be full, but for many reasons it cannot and should not be larger. We hope it will open a year from now and that your dream will then come true to have your own Jewish school for the children for this large and growing community.

          The meeting was considered a great success in bringing information of the School to the community. The response by parents for places in the school for their children was overwhelming. Another positive development resulting from the meeting, which unfortunately aborted in the short term, was a discussion I had with the Chief Rabbi at the meeting. He suggested that we investigate the possibility of establishing a private secondary school in the area presumably to be funded from the fund which he had established for just such a purpose. Initially the classroom Block adjoining Beehive Lane Synagogue was considered and when this idea was subsequently dismissed as being impractical several other buildings in the area were visited but eventually the concept of a private school petered out. The provision of a Jewish secondary school was raised with the Authorities who were sympathetic to the idea but at that time the central Authorities were insisting on a minimum of a five-form entry school, something Redbridge did not consider it could fill with local children. A meeting of the Education Officers of neighbouring boroughs was arranged to see whether they would collaborate with Redbridge but local politics militated against it being a success.