Alma Primary

Welcome to Alma Primary, a learning community that equips children to become creative, caring and committed learners in a changing world. We welcome families from across the Jewish community and beyond to be part of our school, where exploration of Jewish tradition is at the heart of everything we do. Through deep engagement with the rich and varied heritage that Judaism offers us, blended with the very best of twenty first century understanding, we enable our children to find creative solutions to the challenges that tomorrow will bring. Whether we are using our skills to solve problems, or to tell stories, we are constantly striving to deepen our understanding of who we are and what we can do to make our world a better place.

Our shared goal at Alma Primary is to help each person become the best they can. As a small school with big goals, we also aim to make our school, our community, our society and our world a better place for all. Our curriculum will support the development of essential skills in science, language and literacy, humanities, maths, technology, sport and across the arts, which enable children to become successful learners, as well as an asset to the local community.

Alma Primary was founded by a group of parents and educators in Barnet. The group initially met in November 2011 and submitted an application to the DFE the following spring. They were given permission to proceed and project start-up money in July 2012. They formed a project team that appointed a head teacher in October 2012, who took up post in April 2013. During the 2013 spring term the team and the head teacher recruited the school's first cohort of pupils and began to appoint staff.

Alma Primary School is a free primary school of a Jewish religious character.The school currently occupies a temporary site in West Finchley. In September 2015, the school intends to relocate to another temporary site within the premises of an existing secondary school in East Finchley while work on the proposed permanent site is completed. The proportion of disabled pupils or those who have special educational needs is well below average.The school currently does not include any pupils who may be assessed against the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

Alma Primary school approach to learning develops creativity by stimulating children’s knowledge, imagination, enthusiasm and skills, offering inspiring and exciting opportunities to broaden children’s learning. Featuring the highest quality Jewish education, combined with a thematic approach to general subjects, our curriculum will stretch every child. Barnet is one of the best performing boroughs for educational achievement, and as a school we will be amongst the highest performing primary schools in the borough.

Alma Primary school welcome families from across the Jewish community, as well as families who are of other faiths and none. There are many different ways of being Jewish and we ensure that the learning opportunities reflect the mix of children in the school. We value the contribution that all our families make to our school community, enabling children to learn both from each other and about the beliefs and practices of others.

The school creates a caring, inter-generational community of children, parents and teachers. Through positive and inspiring Jewish experiences including daily prayer, we facilitate moral and spiritual development. Our children are imbued with the ethical and moral values of Jewish tradition, including good citizenship, volunteerism, mutual responsibility, care for the natural world and positive relationships with other faiths and the wider community.School foster a love of Judaism, pride in Jewish identity and a commitment to the Jewish people and Israel.

As a close-knit community school ensure that each child gets both the challenge and the support that they need in order to make the most of their learning opportunities. From the start, teachers work with all school staff to ensure learning is targeted so that all children are stretched appropriately to achieve their potential. By using small size to our advantage,school work with parents to address concerns, whether emotional or academic, before they become problems, working together to find solutions.