Difference BJ and JD

amother

OP ↓

Tue, Jul 30 2024, 4:17 am

So we are a frum family and want to move back to Manchester where my husband came from we have very young children who are not yet school aged (2,5 and 1).
My husband grew up here until he was 12, he was in BJ for that time and he wants to enroll our oldest there in 1,5 years. Now I’ve heard from my cousin that BJ is dropping kodesh classes and is becoming less frum but I also don’t think we are right for JD since they require no lace tops and demands hat and jacket for davening. Is this all true?

amother

Raspberry

Tue, Jul 30 2024, 4:50 am

I send my kids to jd and the majority of the mothers wear lace wigs so that part isn’t true. They do require a hat and jacket for davening.
Over the last 2 years there has been an influx of bj families moving their kids over to jd as the overall standards there have dropped drastically. Bj is not going through it’s best academic phase and a lot parents are unhappy with how the hashkafic standards have dropped ( families with 2 mummies at home for example ) .
Good luck with your desicion and just a disclaimer jd is not an easy school to get accepted to especially coming from out of town so be prepared to push for a place if that’s what you decide.

amother

Winterberry ↓

Tue, Jul 30 2024, 4:57 am

amother Raspberry wrote:

Yes all this. I send to Jewish day as well, it's an amazing school but hard to get into.
Broughton Jewish might be right for you, it's hard to tell. Some of the mothers don't cover their hair for example.
I don't think those 2 women mentioned above are together anymore. But that was a whole story, and some families moved over to Jewish day. I don't think Broughton Jewish had a choice when that happened but to keep the kids in the school. They'd get sued if they hadn't! Sad.

But there are also very frum people who send there. It's a whole mix.

amother

Sunflower ↓

Tue, Jul 30 2024, 5:49 am

It depends what your hashkafa is. JD is a yeshivish school. If you live in Manchester most of the community is yeshivish to be honest. I'm from London and it's very different.

I send to BJ and it's a nice school. It's religious but it has a range of levels. You need to keep shabbat and kosher to send there and I think the majority do. Most women cover their hair. It's just more modern, e.g. kids may have a tv and the classes are mixed.

I don't know how the schools compare academically.

They don't do sunday cheder anymore until year 5 and 6. Maybe that's what you heard about dropping kodesh? Otherwise it's just normal kodesh. The kodesh classes are separate boys and girls from year 3.

I think you need to come and look round the schools to get a better idea of where you'd fit.

Last edited by amother on Tue, Jul 30 2024, 5:35 pm; edited 2 times in total

amother

↑ Winterberry

Tue, Jul 30 2024, 7:31 am

yudiyu wrote:

It depends what your hashkafa is. JD is a chareidi school. If you live in Manchester most of the community is chareidi to be honest. I'm from London and it's very different.

I send to BJ and it's a nice school. It's religious but it has a range of levels. You need to keep shabbat and kosher to send there and I think the majority do. Most women cover their hair. It's just more modern, e.g. kids may have a tv and the classes are mixed.

I don't know how the schools compare academically.

They don't do sunday cheder anymore until year 5 and 6. Maybe that's what you heard about dropping kodesh? Otherwise it's just normal kodesh. The kodesh classes are separate boys and girls from year 3.

I think you need to come and look round the schools to get a better idea of where you'd fit.

Yes I agree with you that op needs to have a look round both schools to get an idea.

amother

↑ OP

Tue, Jul 30 2024, 8:17 am

Ofc I will look I think we fit in both a bit or we are just too frum a bit for BJ but a bit to frei for JD. For example we don’t have a tv cable but we do have a screen with a big child lock. It’s strictly monitored by us and we watch mostly clean stuff. I won’t watch anything like Disney but lots of nature documentaries.

amother

Leaf

Tue, Jul 30 2024, 8:26 am

I know many people who send to JD and sound just like OP. It's a huge mix from proper yeshivish and regular frum people and some more modern.

It seems like BJ has moved more left wing in the last few years, a few of the more 'frum' families have left. Although I wouldn't take the one example people gave earlier as an reflection of the rest of the school, it can happen that parents change once the kids are in the school, the school can't just expell the kids like that.

Since it's hard to get into you're probably best off applying to JD and BJ as back up.

amother

↑ Sunflower

Tue, Jul 30 2024, 9:26 am

You might also like to think about high schools if you've got girls. Jewish High accepts very few BJ girls. The other options are very small schools (Yavneh and Meor). Meor is modern Beis Yaakov but private and Yavneh is modern orthodox. Jewish High doesn't do A levels, most girls go to sem after GCSEs.

amother

↑ IndianRed

Tue, Jul 30 2024, 9:31 am

amother Sunflower wrote:

Hearing where these kids end up in high school and afterwards is going to be more important then what exactly they learn in elementary school

Again, I don't live in England . But if I'm looking at an elementary school and most of the graduates end up in Israel, that means something for me and I'm not saying good or bad. Chinuch is a long-term thing