1 min read
We have devoted a fair amount of space this week to the announcement of plans for a new state-aided Orthodox Jewish secondary school in Barnet.
The Kedem High School proposal seems to fit perfectly with the government’s free school scheme.
Free schools have enabled groups of parents, for example, to bypass local council bureaucracy and set up a school from scratch with state backing.
But the Jewish educational powers-that-be have not given three cheers to the project. In fact, they have not managed two cheers so far.
Is this simply pique at not being involved in an independent initiative?
Or is there a case to say that a new school should not even be discussed without more detailed evidence of demand or consideration of the potential knock-on effect on other Jewish schools?
In one way, the argument hinges on a question of religious outlook. Do you want all-Jewish schools or are you happy with the idea of multi-faith Jewish schools?
As a free school, Kedem would not have the same control over entry as the older Jewish state-aided schools. It may aspire to attract only Jewish pupils in the first instance but it may have to accept a significant intake of pupils from other faiths under the free school rules.
And if it draws Jewish children from other Jewish schools, some of those schools may have to fill their vacancies with non-Jewish pupils.
If you have no problem with mixed Jewish schools, then your view about Kedem may be different from someone anxious to preserve an all-Jewish educational environment.
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