Yavneh College has announced it will offer an additional 30 places to prospective students by creating a one-off bulge year this September.

The Borehamwood school revealed that its governors had decided to create the additional spaces following a meeting on Tuesday night.

The decision follows another year of the school being heavily oversubscribed in applications. This year, 541 applications were received for 150 places.

Chair of governors Sue Nyman said: “The demand for places across the Jewish community has become so urgent that we felt we had to find a way to accommodate a bulge year group with 30 additional places for year seven for 2016/2017 only.

“While Pajes and others are exploring what the long-term solution to the shortage of Jewish secondary school places should be, we hope that the additional provision at Yavneh College for this year will bring some comfort to the many families facing uncertainty over the education of their children.”

In an email sent to current parents at the school, Ms Nyman - together with headteacher Spencer Lewis - added: "As you would expect, we have taken a great deal of care to ensure that this relatively small increase in the number of pupils is both carefully planned and managed to ensure that the highest standards of education, appropriate group sizes and creative, useful enrichment opportunities continue to be provided to all pupils of the school."

The new places will be offered this week to prospective families who are next in line on the waiting list, adhering to the school’s current admissions criteria before changes come into effect next year.

Rabbi David Meyer, chief executive of Pajes, celebrated the development.

“Yavneh's decision to offer a bulge class for this September's admissions is warmly welcomed,” Rabbi Meyer said. “It will help take pressure off the schools and ensure a greater opportunity for parents awaiting places for their children.

“This is an important example of how our schools can work together to meet the needs of our community and Yavneh should be commended for this initiative.”

Gilead Limor, who last year founded an online support network for parents whose children did not have a place, said it was "a very good first step".

"This will ease some pressure on school places. A solution is required this year - hopefully the other schools will follow suit and offer bulge places too, in addition to Immanuel College's increase of places this year.

"I am very pleased that common sense has prevailed."