Our school is ‘going places’ says the chair of King Solomon

No school could have a more impassioned advocate than Kantor King Solomon High has in Doreen Samuels, who became chairman of governors little more than a year ago.

But it took some arm-twisting from the United Synagogue, the Redbridge school’s denominational authority. The former deputy head of Sinai Primary, who is 69, had been looking to take a break from communal office, having served for eight years first as a women’s representative on the US trustee board and then as one of its first women’s trustees, holding the education portfiolio for much of the time.

She does not regret having allowed herself to be persuaded. “I love this school,” she said.

As a preparation for mixing in Britain’s multicultural society, its diversity is for her a source of strength. Around a quarter of the pupils today are Jewish.

“If you only want to send your child to a Jewish school where there are only Jewish children, then no, it’s not for you,” she said. “This is a school where Jewish children learn to hold their heads up in the UK in 2020 because they make the Jewish community part and parcel of the local community, respected, loved, looked up to.

“If your kids are cocooned in Jewish schools from three up to 18, they’ve got a huge learning curve when they leave and some of them can’t cope with it.”

She arrived as chairman shortly after a poor set of A-level results last summer had left despair in their wake. But the appointment last year of two new deputy heads, Bradley Abrahams and Deane Marwa, has helped Kantor King Solomon turn a corner, Mrs Samuels believes.

This year’s results were “phenomenal”, she said. “We had students we didn’t think were going to get their five 9 to 4s at GCSE and did. Students did brilliantly and we are very proud of them.”

It might not figure as high as other Jewish schools in the grades tables but then its make-up is broader. According to Department for Education records in 2019, 40 per cent did not have English as a first language (more than twice the English school average) and 29.5 per cent were receiving free school meals. The respective figures for Yavneh College in Borehamwood were 3.4 per cent and six per cent.

During lockdown, one problem was“delivering education by wireless technology because a lot of our children don’t have wireless technology or even broadband. We applied to the government for 21 devices—not excessive, you would think — and they gave us 16. Pathetic.”

But fortunately, the family of the school’s eponymous benefactor, Dr Moshe Kantor, “donated a very good grant to buy enough for all the children who needed and for mentoring for those who had fallen behind. They have 
been incredibly supportive.”

Lockdown brought out the best in the school, she said. Pupils and staff continued with charitable efforts for the local community and beyond. The “Hear Our Voice” series of videos showcased some of its diversity. A weeklong summer school gave some on-site learning to year 7 and 8s before the return of school proper.

And during all the Covid-related challenges, the school was guided by the “calm, rational and sensible” leadership of headteacher Hannele Reece, who was made permanent head just over two years ago after a turbulent period which saw the unexpected departure of her two of her immediate three predecessors.

Mrs Samuels sings the praises too of assistant head Melanie Shutz, who oversees the school’s Jewish ethos. “She is a total star. Local rabbis are falling over themselves to come in to do shacharit or clubs.”

The involvement of alumni is also an encouraging sign. A former head boy, Sacha Johnstone, who is a magician, has “come back as an associate governor, he can’t do enough to help the school”.

Another old boy, Jodeci Joseph, who has joined as an informal Jewish educator in the kehillah department, is “an amazing young man”.

Sometimes, she will leave her home in Pinner in North-West London before 7 in the morning in order to get to Essex for for a school meeting at 9. While she recovered from a bout of coronavirus earlier this year, “sometimes at 7 o’clock at night, I feel as if I have been hit by a sandbag but I just push through it”.

But she will continue to be a standard-bearer for King Solomon for a little time yet. “The school is going places. I would have walked away a long time ago if I didn’t think I could help to make it a good school.”