Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School

From Powerbase
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Independent Vizhnitz boys’ school in Stamford Hill; proprietor C.M.A. Community Nursery Ltd (charity 1083392); Ofsted Requires improvement (2024), independent school standards still unmet (2025)

Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School
Type Independent day school (boys)
Logo
Founded Established 1979; DfE open date 24 February 1989[1][2]
Founder(s)
Dissolved
Registration ID URN 100296; DfE 204/6377; UKPRN 10018486
Status Open; Ofsted overall effectiveness Requires improvement (July 2024); independent school standards not all met (July 2025)[3][4]
Headquarters 26 Lampard Grove, London N16 6XB
Location Stamford Hill, Hackney
Area served Stamford Hill Vizhnitz community
Services Orthodox Jewish boys’ primary / junior education
Registration England (independent school)
Key people Gittel Koppenheim (headteacher from April 2024); Ephraim Gottesfeld (chair of proprietor); proprietor C.M.A. Community Nursery Ltd
Website
Remarks Named for Chaim Meir Hager (Imrei Chaim). Jewish ethos; GIAS religious character “None”. Same site as CMA Nursery (EY314096). Annual fees £7,500.[3]


Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School is an independent Orthodox Jewish day school for boys at 26 Lampard Grove, Stamford Hill, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is a Vizhnitz (Wiznitz) cheder named for Chaim Meir Hager of Vizhnitz (Imrei Chaim). Ofsted has described it as an ultra-Orthodox / Orthodox Jewish boys’ school. The registered proprietor is the Chaim Meirim Association / C.M.A. Community Nursery Ltd (company 03942879, charity 1083392). The chair named in Ofsted school details is Ephraim Gottesfeld. The headteacher is Gittel Koppenheim (acting in 2022; permanent from April 2024), succeeding Rabbi Samuel Hoffman.[1][3]

Registration and roll

GIAS classifies the school as an “other independent school”, boys only, non-selective, no boarders, Jewish ethos, religious character “None”. Age-range fields vary: GIAS 5–13; recent Ofsted reports 5–11. Capacity is 400. Pupils on roll have been in the 220–260 range in recent inspections (226 in July 2024; 241 in July 2025).[1][3][4] The DfE open date is 24 February 1989; an Ofsted monitoring report states the school was established in 1979 and grew from six pupils.[2]

The school does not provide early years. A separately registered nursery, CMA Nursery (EY314096), run by the same company, operates at the same address.[5]

Ofsted

Standard inspections have repeatedly found the school Inadequate (including January 2018, November 2019 and June 2022). The 2–4 July 2024 standard inspection judged overall effectiveness Requires improvement (quality of education, personal development and leadership Requires improvement; behaviour and attitudes Good) and found that independent school standards were not met.[3] Progress monitoring inspections on 29 January 2025 and 10 July 2025 found that the school still did not meet all of the standards checked; the post-inspection action plan was evaluated as not acceptable in April 2025.[4]

Proprietor: C.M.A. Community Nursery Ltd

C.M.A. Community Nursery Ltd is a company limited by guarantee (03942879, incorporated 8 March 2000) and registered charity 1083392 (13 November 2000). Registered office: C/O 32 Castlewood Road, London N16 6DW; school and nursery operate from 26 Lampard Grove, N16 6XB. Objects include furthering the education of Jewish pre-school children by running a nursery in accordance with the tenets of the Orthodox Jewish faith. The Commission activity note states that the company, partly funded by the local authority, provides Orthodox Jewish education in purpose-built premises for children aged 3 and upwards.[6][7]

For the year ending 5 April 2025 the charity reported income of £2,604,441 and expenditure of £2,718,885, with 96 employees and three trustees.[6]

Gottesfeld ceased as a person with significant control on 28 September 2023; a PSC statement was filed on 19 October 2023.[8]

Charity Commission trustees (1083392)

Current trustees
Name Role Appointed Other trusteeships (Commission)
Ephraim Gottesfeld Trustee 13 November 2000 YHF Trust; Berest Charities; Friends of Wiznitz Limited; Parkwill Limited
Bella Ovitz Trustee 1 June 2018 None on record
Aaron Shimshon Zelig Deutsch Trustee 1 May 2025 None on record

Companies House directors (03942879)

Current and past officers
Name Role Appointed Resigned DoB (register) Nationality Residence Correspondence address
Ephraim Gottesfeld Director (active) 1 September 2000 — July 1958 British England 8 Jessam Avenue, London E5 9DU
Bella Ovitz Director (active) 24 December 2019 — May 1993 British England C/O 32 Castlewood Road, London N16 6DW
Aaron Shimshon Zelig Deutsch Director (active) 1 May 2025 — November 1977 British England C/O 32 Castlewood Road, London N16 6DW
Isaac Feldman Director 1 September 2000 1 May 2025 December 1956 Canadian England 21 St Andrews Grove, London N16 5NF
Yisroel Vogel Director 6 April 2015 24 December 2019 May 1990 United Kingdom England C/O 32 Castlewood Road, London N16 6DW
Gershon Berger Director 1 March 2006 1 September 2015 February 1983 British England 10 Cazenove Mansions, Cazenove Road, London N16 6AR
Michael Schloss Director 1 August 2007 1 September 2015 March 1955 British England 32 St Andrews Grove, London N16 5NE
Abraham Rosenberg Director and secretary 6 April 2000 18 August 2013 January 1977 British England 5c Northfield Road, London N16 5RL
Itzik Kraus Director 6 April 2000 1 March 2006 August 1972 British — 11 Holmwood Court, Stamford Hill, London N16 5RY
FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD Nominee director 8 March 2000 9 March 2000 — — — 39a Leicester Road, Salford M7 4AS
FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD Nominee secretary 8 March 2000 9 March 2000 — — — 39a Leicester Road, Salford M7 4AS

Companies House lists 12 officers / 9 resignations.[9]

CMA Nursery

CMA Nursery (EY314096), registered person C.M.A. Community Nursery Ltd, is at the same Lampard Grove address. Ofsted judged it Good on 24 March 2022 (also Good in November 2016). It is boys-oriented Orthodox provision with Yiddish as the first language of staff and children in earlier reports; it receives funding for free early education for three- and four-year-olds.[10]

Court and related charities

The school is a Stamford Hill Vizhnitz institution, distinct from Wiznitz Cheder School (126b Stamford Hill) and from Bnos Margulis Viznitz Girls' School in Salford.

Ephraim Gottesfeld is also a trustee of Friends of Wiznitz Limited (charity 255685), the large London Vizhnitz grant-maker whose Commission operating areas include Israel and the United States.[6] Kollel Imrei Chaim Wiznitz Trust (1122005) shares the Imrei Chaim name and is a separate adult-study / grant charity (trustees include Leibish Hager and Shaina Rochel Hager); it is not the school proprietor.

Vizhnitz in Israel sits in Agudat Yisrael / United Torah Judaism. UK “Israel” grant vehicles for the court are documented on Friends of Wiznitz and related trusts, not as a line item in the CMA school accounts published here.

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Get Information about Schools, Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School, URN 100296.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ofsted, Independent school progress monitoring inspection report, Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School, 9 January 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Ofsted, Inspection of Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School, 2–4 July 2024.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Ofsted, School progress monitoring inspection report, Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School, 10 July 2025.
  5. ↑ Ofsted, Inspection of Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School, 28–30 June 2022.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Charity Commission, C.M.A. Community Nursery Ltd, 1083392.
  7. ↑ Companies House, C.M.A. COMMUNITY NURSERY LTD, company 03942879.
  8. ↑ Companies House, C.M.A. COMMUNITY NURSERY LTD filing history.
  9. ↑ Companies House, C.M.A. COMMUNITY NURSERY LTD people.
  10. ↑ Ofsted, Inspection of CMA Nursery, 24 March 2022.
Retrieved from "https://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Talmud_Torah_Chaim_Meirim_Wiznitz_School&oldid=273682"