Pupils at the new cross-communal secondary school, JCoSS, enjoyed government support for their Mitzvah Day activity - bringing in hats, scarves and gloves for World Jewish Relief's Operation Winter Survival campaign.
Transport Minister and Chipping Barnet Tory MP Theresa Villiers visited the school on Friday, where students deposited their warming items into decorated boxes, receiving a Mitzvah day sticker in return. The clothing will be dispatched to needy Jews in Eastern Europe.
"Young people are always getting negative press," she noted. "It's so positive when children can be seen in a good light. It's brilliant that the Jewish influence has a place in the wider community."
JCoSS social action co-ordinator Victoria Rose believed that making its contribution two days before the main event would encourage pupils "to help elsewhere in the community on the day.
