Plans for JFS to join the United Synagogue-founded Jewish Community Academy Trust, which were under discussion for more than a year, have been shelved.
The country’s largest Jewish school would have been the first secondary school to be run by JCAT, which is currently a consortium of four primary schools.
JCAT said this week both sides had agreed that, “JFS will not be joining the JCAT family at the present time”, owing to “the technicalities” of JFS’s PFI (private financial initiative) contract,
The move to become part of an academy was triggered two years ago when JFS was judged inadequate by Ofsted and placed into special measures.
However, when the school was removed from special measures and upgraded to a good school last year, it was no longer compelled to go ahead with academisation. The school, whose religious authority is the United Synagogue, falls under the umbrella of Brent Council.
A spokesman for JCAT said, “We are proud of the strong relationships established between the school and the Trust and merger is something that we can revisit after the PFI contract has ended in 2027. We are delighted by the improvements at JFS over the past twelve months and look forward to working closely with them in the future.”
JFS headteacher David Moody said, “Whilst we are unable to join JCAT at the present time, it has been a pleasure to get to know the trustees and leadership team throughout the last year. I am hopeful that we will be able to work together more closely in the future despite being unable to formalise that relationship through academisation.”
He added, “We will work tirelessly at JFS to build the very best school that we can for the community.”
The PFI arrangement was used to finance JFS’s relocation from Camden to its purpose-built premises in Kentonj 20 years ago. Under the contract, it has to repay £5 million a year, with the school having to find just over £2 million and the rest coming from Brent and the Department for Education.
Meanwhile, the latest published accounts for JCAT for 2022 show it to be £1.6 million in surplus, compared with a deficit of nearly £1.1 million the previous year - due to a significant decrease in pension liabilities.
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