ByJonathan Kalmus, Jonathan Kalmus
Plans for the first Jewish secondary school in Leeds are to be submitted to the Department for Education within weeks after sufficient demand was established at two parent meetings.
Planners hope to take advantage of the government's free schools initiative, allowing for state-funded schools to be set up in response to parental demand. The intention is to open in 2012 on the existing Brodetsky Jewish Primary site in Alwoodley.
The building would require modifications such as installing science laboratories and updating classrooms to a national curriculum standard for secondary education. Brodetsky head Jeremy Dunford would front both schools.
A prime mover is Dan Cohen, director of Brodetsky Schools Ltd, which runs logistics and Jewish education at the primary. He said a meeting of parents last Thursday, the second in as many weeks, had brought commitments for 24 school places, exceeding the initial target of 15.
"We've essentially completed the proposal form, which will be submitted before the festive shutdown.
"Leeds is the third largest Jewish community in the UK. As a community of this size, we have a responsibility to try to make local high school provisions if parents genuinely have the demand."
The proposal form submission is the second part of a four-stage process. If the DfE gives the go-ahead, a detailed business plan must then be submitted. Mr Cohen said two free school projects from the Jewish community were having their detailed plans considered, one in Mill Hill which he believed would cost £5 million. The Leeds school would probably not exceed "20 per cent of that.
"Everything I do is looking at funding this cost effectively, not to be frugal, but practical enough to realise that we should never give people a reason to say no."