Yavneh College is looking to raise £500,000 in order to take pupils from Immanuel College after the fee-paying school’s closure at the end of the summer term.
Over 150 families from Immanuel attended a special meeting on Monday evening at the state-aided school in Borehawood.
Yavneh, which is already taking a bulge class for year-7 in autumn, has not said how many Immanuel pupils it will be able to accommodate.
Around 300 pupils at Immanuel, which is based in Bushey, will have to find alternative schooling for the new academic year.
Yavneh executive headteacher Spencer Lewis said, “It is vital that all those Immanuel families who wish their children to continue in a Jewish school have the opportunity to do so.
“It is my intention to take as many new pupils as possible in various year groups, we are stepping up to answer an urgent need, but this is dependent on funding, which will be essential to enable the school to meet the cost of expansion.
“New classrooms and teaching staff clearly come at a cost. We were delighted to host so many families and hope to provide them with the lifeline they seek.”
He explained that there would be no state funding to create extra classroom space and any state funds for additional pupils would not arrive until a year later.
Mr Lewis said places were usually decided much earlier in the academic year but in the unusual circumstances Yavneh – the nearest Jewish school to Immanuel – was doing what it could to help.
One parent who attended the event said she felt more hopeful than last week when Immanuel’s governors announced the closure on the eve of the new term because of falling rolls
“I feel positive but we are left at the mercy for waiting for things to be done,” she said.
Immanuel has offered to continue running classes next year for those due to take GCSEs and A-levels provided that two-thirds of the relevant groups sign up.
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