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Secondary school admissions process is "unacceptable", says Moriah head

November 17, 2015 12:56
Moriah headteacher Ruth Gafson says “We want it to be an even playing field”

By

Charlotte Oliver,

Charlotte Oliver

2 min read

The lack of coordination between Jewish primary and secondary schools in the admissions process – which this year left some pupils without places at Jewish schools - is “unacceptable”, according to the headteacher of Moriah Jewish Day School.

Ruth Gafson spoke in response to last week’s revelation that former Moriah pupil Dylan Joseph, 11, and his parents, Sara and Lloyd, had resorted to home-schooling , after failing to secure a single place at a Jewish secondary school.

She said that both she and Moriah’s chair of governors, Alan Capper, were working with other Jewish primary schools, the umbrella organisation PaJeS – the Partnership for Jewish Schools - and the United Synagogue to tackle the crisis.

“We’ve been supporting Dylan’s family as much as we can, but there isn’t much more that anyone can do,” Ms Gafson said. “There is a meeting with all schools and PaJeS in a few weeks to discuss the situation, because we all realise that it is a live issue, especially for schools that are not feeders.