In its small-scale way, Watford Synagogue is bucking the trend of falling numbers at shul chederim.

Cheder leader and community rebbetzin Rochel Levine says the nine pupils will be joined by four new recruits in September.

"But this is just the beginning. Considering that when my husband [Rabbi Ephraim Levine] and I arrived here four years ago there was no cheder at all, we are obviously going in the right direction.

"We are here to provide a Jewish education for those children whose parents had wanted to send them to a Jewish primary school but who couldn't get in because of the shortage of places in Hertfordshire."

Mrs Levine attributes the cheder's growth to a relaxed atmosphere, varied programme and the one-to-one reading tuition with her and Israeli-born teacher Shlomit Williams.