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A top Jewish state school was cleared today of racially discriminating against an 11-year-old boy by refusing him a place, in a High Court ruling that has implications for the whole faith school system.

The Jewish Free School, known as JFS, refused the child’s application because his mother is a Jewish convert.

But the father of the child, who was named in court only as “M”, argued that the school’s admissions code breaches race equality laws, because it favours children with Jewish-born mothers.

Mr Justice Mumby ruled today that the admissions policy does not discriminate on grounds of race, saying that determining Jewish status was a matter for Jewish law and could not be determined by secular courts.

Under government policy, state-aided religious schools are allowed to use “faith-based” criteria to decide which children to take. But the boy's lawyer had claimed the school used ethnic rather than religious reasons for denying him a place.

The judge said, however, that membership of a religion did not have to include practising the faith, and Jewish law was based on the matrilineal line or conversion.

The judge found that the school was "meeting a real need" with its "entirely legitimate aim" of educating students it considers to be Jews.

Rejecting the legal challenge, the judge said that, if M’s father had succeeded in today’s application for judicial review, it would probably have rendered unlawful “the admission arrangements in a very large number of faith schools of many different faiths and denominations”.

Dinah Rose QC, representing M, said, during the hearing, that M was a practising Jew but, because his mother was a convert to Judaism, the school would not admit him.

She said that the school would accept a child of Jewish-born “committed atheists” but exclude others who are “Jewish by belief and practice” because of their mother’s descent, thus discriminating against them.

The judge said that the school had the right to give preference for those from a certain religion, even if they have fallen away from that faith. Most Orthodox Jewish schools use similar admissions criteria.

The judge also ruled that the establishment of Jewish status is a matter of religious law and not to be determined by secular courts. “This ruling is not only welcomed by JFS but will be welcomed by many in the wider Jewish community,” Mr Kett added.

Simon Hochhauser, president of the United Synagogue said: “We welcome the Court’s ruling, and are of course pleased that JFS’s admissions’ procedures and policies have been so fully endorsed. We acknowledge the Judge’s ruling that Jewish status can only be defined by Jewish law, and welcome the Judge’s recognition of the fairness of the procedures and actions of the London Beth Din."

JFS is one of Britain’s oldest Jewish schools and is the largest Orthodox Jewish school in Europe, with 2,000 pupils. Ofsted describe the school as outstanding, and it is oversubscribed every academic year.

Philip Hunter, the Chief Schools Adjudicator, last year ordered JFS to scrap its admissions criteria - giving priority to children with a Jewish father or grandparent over those with no Jewish roots - if it was undersubscribed. The school can keep the criteria if it is oversubscribed, meaning that it can still favour Jews by birth over converts.

Mr Hunter ruled that the school was not breaking race relation laws by favouring children born to Jewish mothers, saying this was Jewish law and was therefore a religious issue.

Russell Kett, JFS chairman of governors, said, “The school abhors all forms of discrimination and welcomes the judge’s express finding that JFS does not racially discriminate.”

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