Wolfson Hillel in Southgate says its Ofsted report card is exceptional in two areas. Only nine primaries in England hold two such grades, and none in Enfield.
Wolfson Hillel Primary School in Southgate says its new Ofsted report card grades it exceptional in two of the areas inspectors now judge separately: leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing. The school announced the result this week through a statement issued on its behalf.
Exceptional is the top grade on Ofsted’s new five-point scale, and the inspectorate is blunt about how sparingly it is meant to be used. Ofsted’s own guide for parents says it awards the grade “only when we see practice that is among the very best nationally, which should be shared with other schools or providers to help them improve”.
How rare the grade is
The claim that this puts the school in a very small group stands up. We downloaded Ofsted’s own management information on school inspections and outcomes, the file that records every grade in every report card published under the new framework, and counted.
Of the 1,749 primary schools in England with a report card published by 31 July 2026, six were graded exceptional for leadership and governance and ten for personal development and wellbeing. Both figures match the school’s statement exactly.
One number differs. The statement says just eight primary schools nationally had been graded exceptional in two or more areas. Our count of the same file returns nine: Cleves Primary, Elmhurst Primary and Shaftesbury Primary in Newham, Goldsmith Primary Academy and Reedswood E-ACT Academy in Walsall, Lady Margaret Primary in Ealing, Barclay Primary in Waltham Forest, Leigh Academy Oaks in Kent and Ickford School in Buckinghamshire. Five of the nine are London primaries. Either way it is well under one per cent of those inspected, and Wolfson Hillel’s report card will join a list you can still read in one breath.
Ofsted has not published the report itself. Its page for the school still shows the June 2022 inspection as the most recent, and the school does not appear in the inspectorate’s data for report cards published up to 31 August 2026. Until the report card goes live, everything in it is the school’s account of it rather than a document anyone else can read.
No Enfield primary has one yet
Eleven state schools in the borough have been inspected under the new framework and had a report card published, and the Ofsted file shows what they were given. Most sit on strong standard or expected standard. Only one carries an exceptional grade of any kind: Orchardside School, the borough’s alternative provision school, which was graded exceptional for inclusion and for leadership and governance in a report card published on 17 June.
No Enfield primary has been graded exceptional in any area so far. The strongest so far are Tottenhall Infant School and Prince of Wales Primary School, both published in March with strong standard across most areas. At the other end, Kingsmead School was graded urgent improvement for leadership and governance in a report card published on 8 July.
The borough’s schools have had a busy inspection year in other respects too: Enfield’s local area SEND arrangements were given the top of the three inspection outcomes this month, while the council is separately consulting on closing three primary schools as pupil numbers fall.
What the school says
Alex Kingston and Laura Russell, co-headteachers of Wolfson Hillel, said in the statement: “We are absolutely thrilled and immensely proud of this exceptional Ofsted outcome. To have two areas recognised as exceptional is an extraordinary achievement and a testament to our wonderful pupils, dedicated staff and the whole Wolfson Hillel community.
“Most importantly, the report reflects what we see every day: children who love coming to school, achieve exceptionally well and show genuine kindness, respect and care for others. We are hugely grateful to our staff and parents for everything they do to make Wolfson Hillel such a special place.”
The school says inspectors also picked out its early years provision, the quality of teaching, the curriculum and the support given to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. It says the leadership grade reflects the school’s vision and the role of governors in both supporting and challenging the school, and that the personal development grade recognises a culture in which pupils show respect, kindness and care for others.
Adam Goldstein, chief executive of the Jewish Community Academy Trust, said: “Everyone in the JCAT family is immensely proud of this achievement by Wolfson Hillel, the first of our schools to be inspected under the new Ofsted framework. The inspection outcome is recognition for the exemplary vision and culture that Alex and Laura have built in school, the dedication of all staff and volunteers, and the quality of education pupils there receive.”
The school
Wolfson Hillel is an academy for three to eleven-year-olds at 154 Chase Road, Southgate, with a Jewish religious character. Ofsted records 452 pupils on roll against a capacity of 480. It is one of four schools in the Jewish Community Academy Trust, alongside Hertsmere Jewish Primary in Radlett, Rimon Jewish Primary in Golders Green and Sacks Morasha Jewish Primary in Barnet, and the trust is run from the Chase Road site.
It was judged outstanding in all areas at its last two inspections, in March 2017 and June 2022. Those grades cannot be compared with the new ones. Ofsted says so itself: the report card is “a different approach to inspection and a new way of reporting”, and the old single overall judgement no longer exists.
What it means for you
If you are choosing a school, the document to read is the report card, not the press notice, and it is not out yet. Ofsted publishes each one on the provider’s page on its reports site, so the school’s Ofsted page is where it will appear, with the 2017 and 2022 reports moving to the bottom of that page. You can set a free email alert on the same page to be told the day it lands.
When it does, read the grades area by area. Ofsted’s guide to the new report cards sets out the scale: exceptional, strong standard, expected standard, needs attention and urgent improvement, plus a separate safeguarding judgement of met or not met. Expected standard is not a warning sign. Ofsted describes it as the school “doing everything that it should be doing”.
The national picture will be updated in November, when Ofsted publishes inspection outcomes for the period to 31 August 2026. Admission arrangements for Wolfson Hillel are on the school’s own website; as a faith academy it sets its own oversubscription criteria rather than using the council’s.
Sources: Ofsted, state-funded school inspections and outcomes management information, all inspections published by 31 July and 31 August 2026; Ofsted, Wolfson Hillel Primary School provider page; Ofsted, understanding report cards and grades; Wolfson Hillel Primary School, Ofsted page and a statement issued on the school’s behalf on 23 September 2026.
Have your say