Last week, a JFS "muck-up day" caught the attention of national headlines. Year 11 students "celebrated" the end of their first five years at JFS. Some students took the celebrations too far.
The whole year was escorted out of school after fireworks and raw chicken were found on the premises . The police were called and news spread fast across the cafes and nail bars of north west London.
By Shabbat, the reports had assumed epic proportions, with talk of 40 live chickens running amok and missiles being fired. The eruv couldn’t contain the story.
The actions of the few vandals were cruel. Highly visibly graffiti from the school to the station named a member of staff. Attempts to introduce non-kosher food were offensive to many. Fireworks could have been potentially life-threatening indoors. Breaking a security fence was destructive and alarming.
Most schools tolerate a degree of misbehaviour on "muck-up day", but no school would allow such extreme provocation.
While condoms around the school are comical and honey on banisters left a few students in a sticky situation, some individuals clearly took it too far. The real losers were the cleaners who had to clear up the mess.
By Friday morning, the inside of school was spotless. Only the public park next to JFS still bore signs of the egg and flour fight that took place there after the mass suspension of the entire year group.
It was clearly a minority who behaved in this disgraceful way. For most of us, it doesn't reflect the school we know. JFS is more than just a school; it’s a community. And it offers more entertainment and drama than any soap.
The stellar exam results suggest that plenty of work gets done too. It can feel a bit like a military regime at times, but that's probably necessary to prevent anarchy in such a large school.
After the event, students and a teacher took to twitter to defend the school’s reputation. Ex-deputy head girl Ella Taylor started the hashtag "#iLoveJFSbecause", saying she “couldn't watch a single incident ruin the reputation of a remarkable school".
The collection of memories and sense of unity in successive tweets showed that it will take more than a few negative headlines to undermine the morale of the student body.
Emma Jacobs, 17, is in year 12 at JFS and is about to sit her AS levels in English Literature, Religious Studies, Politics and Photography
