In its first ever judgment, Britain’s new Supreme Court has said that legal aid must continue to be available in the dispute over entry to JFS.

Until now, the Legal Services Commission has funded the father of the boy whose rejection by the school two years ago prompted the legal action.

But the LSC did not want to be liable for paying the costs of JFS and its foundation body, the United Synagogue, in the event that the father lost when the case comes to the Supreme Court later this month.

In June, the Court of Appeal said it was unlawful for Jewish schools to award places on the basis of whether their parents were Jewish or not. The boy was turned down because his mother was a non-Orthodox convert and therefore not Jewish in the view of the Office of the Chief Rabbi.

JFS has now appealed against the Court of Appeal ruling to the new Supreme Court.

The United Synagogue has already spent £150,000 on the case and estimates further costs of up to £100,000.