JCoSS and Yavneh College looking for permanent expansion - The Jewish Chronicle

Both JCoSS and Yavneh College are considering expansion to ensure there are sufficient Jewish secondary school places in London in future.

For the past two years, JCoSS has added a bulge class, raising its intake from 180 to 210 - although it has offered only 180 for September 2019 entry.

The cross-communal school in East Barnet said it was able to accommodate additional pupils in 2017 and 2018, but it would need to expand its premises in order to do so permanently.

Yavneh College, which opened a bulge class in 2016, is also thinking of expansion, which would enable it to increase from 150 to 180 pupils a year.

First offers for secondary school places this autumn were made on Friday but some children on waiting lists may have to wait until summer before they know if there is a vacancy for them.

Although JFS offers 350 places - 50 more than its official maximum - headteacher Rachel Fink explained the school did so because "we found that offering only 300 places at this time left too many parents and their children unnecessarily anxious at this stage of the process. The full 300 places are never accepted at this point".

But, she added, "it does not mean that we have 350 places to fill and we have not expanded".

Updated advice for parents whose children have not secured a place at a Jewish secondary school for this September was published on Monday by Partnerships for Jewish Schools, the education division of the Jewish Leadership Council.

The number of first-choice applications for state-aided Jewish secondary schools in London was expected to dip slightly from 1,193 last September to 1,183 for the coming academic year, according to projections by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

More than a third of children in London overall missed out on their first choice school this year.

But it is too early to determine how many Jewish children in London have been left without any place at a Jewish state school.

Rabbi David Meyer, Pajes executive director, said it was “ working very closely with all of the Jewish secondary schools and we endeavour to ensure a strategic approach that that will make the best use of resources and deliver the greatest choice to parents".

If Hasmonean High School in Barnet finally gains apprvoal for its planned redevelopment, it will be able to increase its intake from 150 pupils to 210 - although it has regularly taken 30 or more children than the 150 limit in past years.

The Department for Education will have to decide whether it would be better to allow the expansion of existing Jewish schools or approve a new one. The New Jewish High School project is awaiting the outcome of its application for a new secondary school in South Hertfordshire.