JCoSS offers extra places

JCOSS HAS confirmed it will open a bulge class for new entrants next September for a second year running, raising its intake to 210 from 180 in 2016.

Patrick Moriarty, head of the cross-communal secondary in East Barnet, said the decision had been taken in the wake of “another record number of applications this year and, in particular, a very high number of first-choice applications in proportion to the number of places we had to offer”.

He hoped the 30 additional places would “go some way to help anxious families feel a little less concerned”.

JCoSS is also proposing to abolish priority for children from feeder schools for entry in September 2019.

Originally, it guaranteed at least 15 places apiece to children of pluralist or Progressive schools Akiva, Clore Tikva and Clore Shalom. But this dropped to 10 and then five per school.

In the meantime, two cross-communal primary schools have opened in north-west London — Eden and Alma.

In a letter to launch a consultation with parents on the proposals, Mr Moriarty wrote that “to deny Eden and Alma feeder status in the long term would be unfair on their children. But to add further feeder places would disadvantage children from other schools”. The percentage of sibling applications to JCoSS had increased in recent years, reducing “the number of places available to other applicants”, he explained. The proposed new policy will reserve 18 places for Jewish children living closest to the school.

JCoSS was this week ranked as outstanding for Jewish studies by the Jewish inspection service, Pikuach.