Lubavitch Girls School in London Receives Coveted VAS Status

The Ruth Lunzer Lubavitch Girls Primary School in the London borough of Hackney, recently received the coveted status of a Voluntary Aided School.

The VAS means that the school will now be tuition free, with most expenses being met by the Department of Education and Skills UK

Chairman of the Governors of the School, Rabbi Faivish Vogel said that the school has been trying unsuccessfully for many years to get this funding.

“Paying school fees for the education of their children, represented a severe burden for most parents” he said “and we welcome this support.”

Rabbi Vogel added that this recognition is a ‘shot in the arm’ to the Lubavitch Foundation as a whole and a “well deserved tribute to its principles and efforts.”

The School, which was founded in 1959, has successfully provided full time education for girls between the ages of 4-11. Operating on the principle of equal allocation of time between secular and religious education, the School graduates have gone on to the Lubavitch Senior Girls School and from there into higher education.

Mrs Fradel Sudak, Vice Chairman of the Governors, who has been coordinating and spearheading the effort for VAS, noted that the Lubavitch school is the first all-girls primary school in Hackney which provides the complete national curriculum for secular subjects while providing the maximum time for religious studies. Mrs. Sudak feels that “this school could become a model for other Jewish schools in England.”