Wohl Ilford gets early years quality mark

V THE VIABILITY of Moriah Jewish Day School will be assessed next month after the school has a better idea of the likely number of applicants next year.

Kirsten Jowett, chief executive of the Jewish Community Academy Trust, which runs the Pinner-based primary, wrote to parents this week in response to concerns about its future.

In the “worst case scenario”, she said, Moriah could merge with another Jewish school or not open a reception class next autumn.

However, she stressed these were “possible a contingency plans” and the school still hoped for “positive news”.

Moriah, she explained, would “know more in mid-January when applications for school admissions in 2020 close. At that point we will be able to estimate the pupil numbers next year for the school and we will have a clearer idea on its future viability.”

Ms Jowett told the JC on Wednesday, ahead of a meeting the school was plannin to hold with parents that evening, “JCAT’s safety net will ensure that no child is left without a high quality Jewish education.”

The one-form entry school opened in 1999 and is one of JCAT’s five schools.

V WOHL ILFORD Primary has been recognised for its early years teaching with the award of the Quality Mark.

Headteacher Andrea Elliker said, “It shows we are going above and beyond what we need to do to give children the best start.”

The Quality Mark is administered by the independent Tribal Group and “is the schools’ equivalent of Investors in People accreditation in business,” she explained.

The school, which worked for six months to achieve the award, “came

V Jewish Child’s Day executive director Anthea Jackson tries out art techniques on a visit to Sinai Primary. The school recently received a £20,000 grant from the charity to buy special educational equipment out with strengths” in all ten areas covered by the scheme, she said.

These included setting high expectations for children, helping them initiate learning through play, assessing their progress and partnership with families.

V JFS HAS launched its commemorative programme for the 75th anniversary of VE Day next year with a trip to Ely, where 2,000 of its pupils were evacuated from London in the Second World War.

The evacuees to the Cambridgeshire city included Kindertransport refugees as well as the playwright Arnold Wesker.

Its current mayor Mike Rouse, whose family hosted a young girl called Pearl during the War, recalled his experiences at a workshop at Ely Museum, where JFS students were joined by children from the local Isleham Church of England Primary School.

Some of the kippah-wearing visitors were stopped in the street by residents who asked if they were from the same school that had come to the city during the War.

Mr Rouse, a local historian, tweeted: “A lovely occasion recalling this area’s role in taking evacuees from London’s East End eighty years ago.”

The JFS students met children from other families who took Eastenders into their homes.

Isleham will pay a return visit to JFS for a VE celebration in May.