The numbers of Jewish children attending Jewish schools in the UK has fallen for the first time in nearly 30 years, reversing a trend of dramatic growth..
The 36,064 Jewish pupils in the 2023/24 academic year represented a fall of 471 — 1.3 per cent — from the peak of 36,535 in the previous year, according to a new report from the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.
Enrolment in the Charedi sector dropped last year by 1.6 per cent — which researchers believe was mainly due to restrictions on pupil entry imposed by the Department for Education on schools failing to meet standards.
The report’s authors Carli Lessof and Adam Possener said, “After decades of growth, the number of Jewish pupils attending registered Jewish schools appears to have peaked in 2022/23 and may have started to decline.”
Jewish school numbers more than doubled since 1995-96 when annual data first began to be collected.
There are twice as many Charedi schools (91) than “mainstream” Jewish schools (45), with 60 per cent of Jewish pupils attending Charedi institutions.
Numbers have fallen in mainstream Jewish primary schools for the past three years and for the last two in secondary schools.
JPR executive director Jonathan Boyd observed, “In the mainstream sector, it is unclear whether it is a consequence of smaller cohorts due to lower fertility or about changes in parental preferences, and looking ahead, questions remain about whether concerns about antisemitism will prompt parents to make different school choices for their children.”
In the strictly Orthodox sector, he said it was “unclear to what extent it is about practical, economic or political pressures, or indeed whether the latest counts are simply a temporary blip.”
Chart showing numbers of Jewish children at Jewish schools in the UK over the years (JPR)[Missing Credit]
The figures were based on government statistics for Jewish children in registered Jewish schools.
The fall in the strictly Orthodox sector -— from 21,529 to 20,960 pupils — was a likely reflection, JPR said, of “pupil restriction orders preventing new admissions at some schools due to concerns about perceived inadequate standards and overcrowding, alongside difficulties opening new schools due to urban space constraints and Department for Education compliance issues”.
The pupil numbers did not include the many children attending yeshivot, seminaries or unregistered settings “as these educational facilities are not ‘schools’ per se”.
According to JPR estimates, there are around 2,500 Charedi boys in the 11 to 15 age band who are not learning in a registered school.
Looking ahead, the report’s authors say pupil numbers could fluctuate for various reasons “for example, if parental preferences shift towards a Jewish education following October 7 and the war in Gaza, or if the increased costs of a private school education, due to the introduction of VAT on school fees, lead to a higher number of applications to mainstream Jewish state schools.”
Most Charedi pupils are in independent schools — 81 per cent — while only 7 per cent of mainstream Jewish pupils are educated in Jewish private schools.
Since the mid-90s Charedi enrolment has almost tripled —188 per cent — while pupil numbers at mainstream Jewish schools rose by 57 per cent.
