Boutique Immanuel aims to bring out the best

He believes the next government will restore the charitable relief on rates but “I think VAT is here to stay”.

Immanuel pupils (Photo: Immanuel College)[Missing Credit]

Even before the tax began to bite, Immanuel had to contend with falling rolls after a boom 10 years ago, which saw a Year 7 intake of 85 to 90 children for several years. Its preparatory school, which opened in 2011, closed last year, with the final Year 6 students completing their primary studies at the college this year.

This Year 7 numbers 38, helped by additional subsidies to support families who would otherwise have been unable to afford a place. Amid a growing demand for Jewish secondary school places in London - in part prompted by the antisemitic fallout from October 7 - Immanuel increased its bursary provision for this year by around 50 per cent.

Dan Endlar, the college’s new head, who was confirmed in the job in April, said: “We knew there were so many students… sat on waiting lists. First and foremost, we are a school that is part of the community. We were resolutely determined to do everything we could to provide places for as many students as wanted and needed them.”

While the financial climate may be tough, he is convinced that the college, which marks its 35th anniversary this year, can more than hold its own. “Immanuel’s numbers have fluctuated massively over the last 30 years, from the point when the school opened, it had 40 students. The most difficult year the school had in recent times was in 2012 when JCoSS opened and we had 28 in that year.”

But he believes that Immanuel “almost let itself grow too big” in the recent past, which detracted from its essential character. “The highest numbers the school had at any point were 688, but at that point, the school didn’t work for what Immanuel does best,” he explained. “It is that personal experience where we know each child.

"The class sizes were getting a bit bigger than we wanted them to be, there wasn’t the space there needed to be for the number of classes we wanted, and the teachers weren’t able to give that individual attention on which we pride ourselves.”

Imanuel head Dan Endlar (Photo: Immanuel College)[Missing Credit]

Quoting a remark made by Immanuel’s first head Denis Felsenstein at one of its anniversary celebrations last month, he said: “It was never about the pupils; it was about the pupil.”

Now with a total of 360 students, he says it is “sustainable” with two-form entry but three-form would be “ideal”.

Endlar arrived from Brentwood, an independent school in Essex, as senior deputy head in January 2024, and by the end of October, he had been made interim head.

“I was expecting a school that needed much more work,” he said, but found “there is so much brilliant stuff here already”. Over the past 12 months, the school has recognised that one of the main things it needed to do better was “getting out the stories of what’s going so well at Immanuel to our community”.

His task is more about “bringing out the best” rather than conducting root-and-branch reform.

And as the first Jewish head of the college in eight years, he hopes his own understanding of and connections with the Jewish community will stand Immanuel in good stead.

Barmitzvah’d in Bournemouth, he then lived in Manchester, attending the Shrubberies Shul (Prestwich Hebrew Congregation) before moving to London in 2010. After some time in Borehamwood, four years ago he went to Woodside Park, where he is a fan of the local United Synagogue rabbi, Pinchas Hackenbroch.

Most of the refreshed senior management team are from the community as well, Steed observed. “We have got a great team in their 30s. They are very bright, with a lot of energy - they are great people to work with.”

Equally enthusiastic, Endlar said he has promoted a number of staff to senior positions who were “brilliant” but who had not been “tapped into” before.

“We are putting the right people in the right roles to take the school forward,” he said. “I know that doesn’t happen overnight. I am very fortunate that I have come into a great school that is in a good place to start with.”

He can take heart from an excellent set of exam results in the summer which “far surpassed expectations”, given what might have been predicted of pupils when they entered school.

“We are adding a grade more than your average independent school,” Steed said.

The 88 per cent A* to B rate at A-level was better than any other Jewish school, while the 34 per cent of GCSEs achieved at top grade 9 was “incomparable”, Endlar said, adding: “We have got good teachers and great results, but you can always do better in that respect.”

Immanuel College's 35-year celebrations (Photo: Immanuel College)[Missing Credit]

Beyond the academic record, there are other aspects of school life they trumpet. The revamped Jewish studies curriculum will give students more options “so they can choose things that interest them and play to their strengths,” Endlar said. “Immanuel has always been very good at this. It doesn’t matter whether you are non-observant or very Orthodox. We pick students up, we engage them and move them forward, whatever their starting position is.”

When the Year 9 tour to Israel was cancelled in the summer just ten days before, because of the war with Iran, staff sprung into action and arranged a 10-day trip to the USA instead. So successful it proved that the head said: “I was approached this week by a parent of a current Year 9 who tells me he doesn’t want his child to go to Israel, he wants his child to go to America.”

Its strength in the arts was recently demonstrated by performances at 35th anniversary celebrations by some alumni including Tel Aviv DJ Leah Zimmerman, Wicked star Emma Kingston and the singer-songwriter Bertie (Green). And pupils also showed what they could do with a short preview of their forthcoming production of Les Miserables, which bowled Steed over. “It is absolutely spectacular,” he said.

“In time,” he said, “as has happened for Immanuel before, people will realise there’s value in investing in a small school. People will pay for boutique. It’s about getting that boutique offering right. That’s the important part of what we are trying to do.”