Move to Moriah will enable Gesher to grow
GESHER, THE school for Jewish children with mild to moderate special educational needs, is to move to the site of Moriah Jewish Day School in Pinner next year, enabling it to increase primary places and start secondary provision.
The school, which specialises in autism and is ranked outstanding by Ofsted, will relocate from the Willesden site that has served as its home since its launch in 2017.
The move will enable it to allocate 16 additional primary places, taking its roll to 56, and to expand into secondary education up to the age of 16.
Also planned is a new diagnostic and assessment unit and research centre working with Professor Simon Baron Cohen and the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge.
Gesher’s founders Sarah Sultman and Ali Durban said: “This is the fulfilment of an ambitious dream, one which we have worked at tirelessly; to enable our community’s SEN children to have access to an education that meets their needs, allowing them to develop, flourish and reach their potential.”
Gesher was “truly grateful” to the Harrow Jewish Day School Trust, which founded Moriah, for “affording us this tremendous opportunity”.
Howard Zetter, Gesher’s chairman, hailed “a hugely exciting expansion project that will enable Gesher children and families to have a clear educational pathway”.
Brian Leaver, chairman of the trust, said, “We are pleased to be able to welcome Gesher to our beautiful threeacre-site in Pinner and look forward to nurturing Gesher’s future growth.”
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, a patron of Gesher, said: “The joy of a Jewish education should be as accessible to children with special educational needs as it is to any other Jewish child.
“This broadening of Gesher School’s provision, facilitated now by the move to permanent premises, is a very significant addition to the landscape of Jewish education in this country.”
Moriah Primary, which is run by the Jewish Community Academy Trust, is due to close next year owing to falling numbers.
Kirsten Jowett, who is chief executive of JCAT and also a governor of Gesher, said, “We are very excited that Jewish education can continue for children across the community on this site.”