Yavneh told to modify admissions policy
YAVNEH COLLEGE’S controversial decision to reject priority entry for children from local Jewish primary schools has been upheld by the government’s admissions regulator.
But the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) has ordered the oversubscribed academy to change its entry rules for September 2017 after complaints from 33 people.
Yavneh’s abolition of feeder status for Hertsmere Jewish Primary School and Clore Shalom angered many parents, who argued that the changes in admissions policy would benefit children living close to the school in Borehamwood and Elstree at the expense of those further afield in Hertfordshire.
According to the new policy, priority for entry would go to children in the WD and AL postcodes of Hertfordshire. If there were more applicants than places, those living closest to the school would be allocated them first.
But parents complained to the OSA that the loss of feeder status was particularly unfair to families who had chosen Clore Shalom and HJPS on the expectation that their children would enjoy priority for Yavneh.
In a lengthy report, Deborah Pritchard, OSA chief executive, explained that the school’s decision to make the change was within the law. “I do feel for the situation of the children concerned,” she said.
But the use of the AL and WD postcodes as a catchment area was found to be unfair because it gave Hertfordshire parents living further away from the school unrealistic expectations, when it was clear, she said, “that a Jewish child living much more than five kilometres from the school, even if in the catchment area, is unlikely to gain a place at the school”.
A Yavneh spokesman said the ruling vindicated its view that removing feeder status was “both reasonable and fair”.
But dropping the use of the AL and WD codes would now mean that a family living in Radlett or Bushey in Hertfordshire could lose out to one living closer to the school in Barnet, he said.
Howard Cohen and Adam Myeroff, two of the objectors, called for the new policy to be ditched altogether for next year. “Rather than come up with a lastminute and hastily prepared bodge, we urge the school to revert to the old criteria for entry in September 2017 and engage in a full consultation this coming autumn for entry in 2018.”