The Moriah Jewish Day School

ADMISSIONS POLICY and PROCEDURES

Moriah Jewish Day School’s Foundation Body is the United Synagogue and its religious authority is the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.

Moriah Jewish Day School’s vision is to be an excellent Jewish school, loved by pupils and parents and admired by the wider community.

The School’s ethos1 demonstrates orthodox Jewish belief and practice, embodied in the principles of Torah and Halachah, in a modern setting. These include creating a sense of belonging, encouraging and preparing for lifelong Jewish learning, spiritual growth and practice, mutual responsibility within the Jewish community and the wider world, and the importance of Israel in Jewish life. Jewish belief and practice permeate every aspect of the School’s activities and are intrinsically linked to its secular curriculum. The School welcomes families from any synagogue denomination or none.

The School will give priority to applicants who meet a religious practice test based on guidelines from the Chief Rabbi. Those applicants wishing to be considered a priority for available places must complete a Certificate of Religious Practice (CRP2) based on criteria such as the family’s synagogue service attendance, commitment to Jewish education and voluntary work within the community. Four points are required in accordance with the Certificate of Religious Practice (CRP2).

The Nursery admits children aged three. There are 26 places and children will be admitted at any time, provided a place is available3.

The School will admit children at any time to all year groups, provided a place is available.

Parents are invited to visit the School prior to applying. Please contact the School for details.

All children whose Statement of Special Educational Need and Disability (SEND)4 or Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan that names the School (in compliance with the Children and Families Act 2014) will be admitted4.

OverSubscription

If the Nursery is oversubscribed, after the admission of SEND4 or EHC Plan children, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the criteria as set out in the order of 1 to 7 listed below.

•  Children who are looked after5 by a local authority, or a child who was previously looked after6, and who are entitled to be treated as priority applicants having obtained four points in accordance with the Certificate of Religious Practice (CRP2).
•  Siblings7 of pupils attending the school on the date of admission, and who are entitled to be treated as priority applicants having obtained four points in accordance with the Certificate of Religious Practice (CRP2).
• Siblings of former7 pupils of the School who are entitled to be treated as priority applicants having obtained four points in accordance with the Certificate of Religious Practice (CRP2).
• Other children who are entitled to be treated as priority applicants having obtained four points in accordance with the Certificate of Religious Practice (CRP).
• Other children who are looked after5 by a local authority, or other children who were previously looked after6 by a local authority.
• Children of staff where a) the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, and/or b) the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
• Any other children.

Tie-Breaker

In the event of there being more applicants than places available within each of the above criteria 1 to 7, priority will be given to children living nearest the school. Distance will be measured from the address point for the home address8 to the centre point of the School site using Harrow Council’s computerised mapping system. In cases where more than one applicant lives equidistant from the School, and places cannot be offered to all these children, the available place will be determined by random allocation supervised by a person independent of the School.

Application Procedures

When and How to Apply

• Children will be admitted to the Nursery (Foundation Stage I) in the September following their third birthday. Applications should be made by 15 January in the calendar year of entry directly to the School. Application is by completion of the School’s Application Form (SAF). In order to be eligible for a priority place, the School’s Certificate of Religious Practice (CRP2) must also be completed. Both forms are available from the School Office or website (www.moriahschool.co.uk).
• All applications received on time will be processed together. Priority will not be given to children based on the date their application is received or their name is added to the list.
• Application for a child whose Statement of Educational Need and Disability (SEND) or Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan which names the school is made by a separate process.

Offer Date

A letter to parents offering, or refusing, a place will be sent by the School in February on the Friday before half-term.

Response by Parents

Parents are requested to indicate, in writing, their intention, or otherwise, to take up a place by the date mentioned in the offer letter.

Waiting List

For those applicants who do not receive an offer of a place, parents must advise the School, in writing, if they wish the child’s name to be included on the waiting list. The School’s waiting lists for all years will be kept open indefinitely and the School may check with parents, from time to time, to establish whether they wish their child to remain on the waiting list. The child’s place on the waiting list will be determined at all times in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.

Following the application procedure for Nursery places, and once initial offers have been made, the waiting list will be adjusted to include late applications. A child’s position on the waiting list will not depend upon when the application was made, but will be determined by how the oversubscription criteria are met. This means that a child’s position on the list can go down as well as up, depending on the circumstances of all applicants. In the event of a vacancy occurring, the place will be offered to a child on the waiting list starting with the one at the top, at the time, and working downwards until the vacancy is filled.