Hasmonean plans to house year-7 boys in Portakabins on girls' site

The Department for Education had confirmed that “we would be able to accommodate all students on our waiting list if we located all 150 year-7s in porta cabins at the Girls' School,” they said.

“We would intend to do this by locating them in a separate area to enable them to have educational space of their own.”

Governors and trustees would be liaising with the school’s rabbinic authorities “about the detail of our plans and will be seeking their approval. We would need to educate the whole year group off-site until they enter year 8, by which time they would be educated back at the main Boys' School.”

Hasmonean Boys

Hasmonean High School for Boys, Hendon (Photo: Handout)

School leaders told parents, “While we cannot yet guarantee that we will be able to take in all of the year-7s, we are very much hoping to do so.”

In parallel, a planning application is to be submitted to Barnet Council to redevelop the site of the neighbouring North Hendon Synagogue to create 13 additional classrooms beside a shul “which we hope to be ready by December 2025”.

A plan, approved by Barnet council a few years ago, to build a new school for the boys next to the girls' site was scuppered by the Mayor of London’s Office because of concerns about using green belt land.