The governing body of King Solomon High School, the only Jewish secondary school in Essex, is holding a consultation about shutting down for good.
If the decision is reached to close the school, the academic year which has just started (2026/27) will be the last, allowing current Year 11 students to take their GCSEs at the school. The potential closure date has been set for August 31, 2027.
The consultation has been called amid a marked decline in cohort sizes and exam results. Proceedings will be open to the public – staff, parents, students, and locals alike will be able to attend and voice their views.
It will consider other options, which include maintaining the school at a smaller size, sharing facilities with another school, or joining an academy trust or other education provider.
David Collins, the school’s chair of governors, said: “This is a difficult and significant proposal for King Solomon High School and its community. Governors have a responsibility to consider the school’s long-term educational and financial sustainability, but no final decision has been made.”
He emphasised that “this is a genuine consultation”, adding: “We want to hear from pupils, parents, staff, alumni, community organisations, and everyone with an interest in the school.”
“We will consider all responses carefully, including suggestions for viable alternatives, before determining whether the proposal should proceed to the next stage.”
“Throughout the consultation, our immediate priority remains the education, safeguarding and wellbeing of our pupils, and supporting our dedicated staff.”
The whole consultation process is likely to take a number of months. The first stage, the pre-statutory consultation, will take place starting today (September 22), when the pre-statutory consultation document – which can be found on the school’s website – was released. It will last until November 3.
Stakeholders can find the online questionnaire at the end of the pre-statutory consultation document and email their responses to communityconsultation@kshsonline.uk.
Then, if the governing body takes the decision to proceed with its plans, it will publish a formal proposal to close the school. In the four weeks following this date, all stakeholders are invited to submit comments or objections to the proposal.
At that stage, Redbridge Council will consider the proposal along with its comments or objections before deciding whether to reject it, approve it, approve it with modifications, or approve it subject to conditions.
A spokesperson for Redbridge Council, which oversees the school, said that “at this stage, no decision has been made, and King Solomon High School remains open and operating as normal”.
They continued: “We recognise that this proposal will be concerning for pupils, parents, carers, staff, and the wider community, and we encourage anyone with an interest in the proposal to engage with the consultation process and have their views heard.”
“The council has a statutory responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient school places available for pupils across the borough to provide pupils with the opportunity of appropriate education.”
“Should the proposal ultimately be approved following the completion of the statutory process, the council would work with families, the school and education partners to support pupils in securing appropriate alternative school places and to minimise disruption to their education.”
Arrangements for students in Year 10 and those younger would be developed with Redbridge Council, families, and receiving schools, with particular attention on certain pupils, including those with special educational needs, who are vulnerable, and for whom the school’s Jewish ethos is particularly important.
The school is currently open to students between Year 7 and Year 11. It operates under the umbrella of the United Synagogue with an Orthodox Jewish ethos.
It admits both Jewish and non-Jewish children; across all year groups, just 20 per cent of students are Jewish.
Despite having 180 places on offer for Year 7 students each year, the latest intake totalled a mere 55 students – just six of them Jewish.
The 125 unfilled places in Year 7 are among 385 spare spots in the whole secondary school, out of 900 places in total, 180 for each of the five year groups.
The greatest number of students in any one year group is 129 in Year 9 – still a significant number below maximum capacity.
(credit: King Solomon High School)[Missing Credit]
Additionally, during the 2025/26 academic year, 71 students transferred from King Solomon to other schools in the borough, perhaps reflecting parental decisions to seek alternative provision.
The school has received two consecutive “requires improvement” ratings from Ofsted.
Declining enrolment has affected the financial viability of keeping the school open, another major factor in its closure.
According to statistics in the pre-statutory consultation document, the school’s deficit for the financial year April 2026 to March 2027 is projected to be more than £800,000. Were it to stay open a further year, that deficit is projected to increase by an additional £1.4 million.
It closed the sixth form to new students in 2024 amid “a steady drop in sixth form numbers in the last few years”, according to then-headteacher Michele Phillips, who departed the school in May, and was promptly replaced by interim headteacher Jonathan Harris.
Phillips added that a lack of subject-specialist teachers “in the midst of a national staffing crisis” contributed to the decision.
King Solomon High School opened in 1993. It has always been state-funded, non-selective, and mixed-gender.
It was founded to serve the needs of a large Jewish contingent in the area; back in the 1970s, Redbridge boasted the largest Jewish population in Europe, numbering an estimated 30,000.
Since then, however, much of its Jewish community has moved eastwards to areas such as Chigwell, Golders Green, and Stamford Hill.
When the first UK census to record religion was taken, in 2001, there were around 14,000 Jews in the borough, a number which has declined to just over 6,000 by the latest census in 2021 – a way off the heights reached by the community half a century prior.
In addition, several other Jewish secondary schools have opened in north London since King Solomon was opened, including JCoSS and Yavneh College. JCoSS in particular traditionally takes a substantial contingent of Essex-based students each year.
The school has also seen falling exam results in recent years. For instance, 56.1 per cent of students achieved grade 5 or above at GCSE level in both English and maths in 2023. That number fell to 50.3 per cent in 2024, then just 42.3 per cent in 2025.
And it unceremoniously made national news in 2014 when then-headteacher Jo Shuter was banned from teaching for life for charging a previous school for personal expenses, including more than £6,000 for her birthday party.
Notable alumni of the school include its namesake Stacey Solomon, who turned her X Factor appearance into a career as a popular television presenter, and footballer Jack Payne, who has enjoyed a respectable career in the Football League.
This is not the first saga to beset Jewish secondary schools in the UK this year; it took an extraordinary rescue plan worth nearly £13 million to save Immanuel College from closure back in April.
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