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Click here for Nursery Admission Policy 2010

Click here for School Admission  Policy 2010

Admission Arrangements for September 2010

 

 

In view of the recent Court of Appeal ruling re JFS, Jewish Schools will no longer be able to give priority according to Jewish status.  Instead, the School will give priority to those who meet a religious practice test based on guidance from the Chief Rabbi. 

 

Those applicants wishing to be considered as priority applicants for available places will need to obtain a certificate establishing religious practice, based on the parent’s/child's synagogue attendance, Jewish education and practice, and/or family Jewish communal, charitable, or welfare activity. 

 

For admission for 2010, those applicants who achieve FOUR points from the available practice criteria will be considered priority applicants. No-one will be given higher priority if they have a score of more than four.

 

Moriah is a United Synagogue School which teaches Orthodox Jewish belief and practice, embodied in the principles of Torah and Halachah. They include the welcoming of every Jew, creating a sense of belonging, encouraging and preparing for lifelong learning, spiritual growth and practice, mutual responsibility within the community and the wider world, and the importance of Israel in Jewish life. Jewish belief and practice permeate every aspect of Moriah’s activity and we believe that it is essential that the Jewish character of the school’s education be fully supported by all the families in the school.

 

We ask all applicants for a place for their child/ren in Moriah to respect this ethos and its importance to the school community.

 

We have received advice that giving automatic priority to siblings, or children currently in our Nursery, risks a discrimination claim in the light of the Court of Appeal judgment and that, in view of this advice, siblings and children already in the Nursery are being required to meet the Religious Practice test in order to be given priority consideration.

 

We are issuing a revised Admissions Policy document as soon as possible, after guidance from the relevant authorities, but this Certificate is being published now so that parents can see what is needed to secure priority.  It will be seen that synagogue attendance as from ONLY 1st September 2009 will be relevant.  Applicants are strongly advised to contact a synagogue as soon as possible to establish what they need to do to be able to demonstrate attendance and get the certificate signed.

 

Moriah wishes to make it clear that it is making this change only because it is advised that legally it has no option in the light of the judgment of the Court of Appeal but to abandon the principle of giving priority to those children who are Jewish according to the religious principles stated by the Chief Rabbi.

 

Moriah very much hopes that the Supreme Court will allow the JFS appeal, so enabling Moriah to revert to the Admissions Policy which the School considers to be appropriate, proportionate and necessary for it as an Orthodox Jewish school: that is, to give priority to those children who are Jewish according to religious principles stated by the Chief Rabbi, irrespective of the extent to which the applicants and their families practise their Judaism.

 

It should be noted that the Certificate of Religious Practice does not confirm that the child is Jewish in accordance with Orthodox Jewish law.

 

September 2009/V3