Jewish schools offer safe, caring and warm environments where children flourish personally and academically. Your child will learn about Jewish practices and values and enjoy the chance of celebrating the Jewish calendar. Many of us look back at primary school as a time of enjoyment, creativity and excitement in learning about the world. Jewish schools offer all this, plus the chance for you and your child to become part of a warm caring community.

Primary Schools: Jewish primary schools are generally high performing. They regularly appear at the top of the UK league tables. They are ambitious for their pupils but they understand children learn best when they're in a warm and caring environment.

Secondary Schools: Jewish secondary schools are all very high performing. They regularly appear in the top of the UK league tables. This is one of the reasons they are so popular with parents. They offer the highest academic standards, combined with an enriched Jewish education and social life, and are very ambitious for their students.

Primary Schools: You will need to contact the individual schools for their admission procedures. For voluntary-aided schools, application for reception is made through your home local authority as well as the school itself. If the school has a nursery which you are applying for, you need to contact the school about their admission procedures.
You should also be aware of the school's geographical location on our map, as the school nearest to your house may be in a different borough, although you would still need to apply through your home local authority, not the one in which the school is located.

CRP is shorthand for a Certificate of Religious Practice.  For most Jewish schools, when applying for a place at either a primary or secondary school, you will need to have completed one.

 

A copy must be sent direct to the school together with relevant supporting documents and the school’s Supplementary Information Form (SIF), which you should be able to download from its website. You should keep a copy of the CRP and its relevant supporting documents for future use. Not all schools have adopted identical CRP forms and some have varied their CRP requirements and chosen different criteria.  Individual websites should be consulted to see what the differences are and how evidence is to be gathered.

A CRP may have sections such as:  Synagogue Shabbat service attendance; Jewish educational activities; voluntary Jewish communal, charitable or welfare activities.  Points will be awarded for the level and quantity of activity in each area. You can aggregate the points from a range of activities.

If you wish to gain CRP points by Shabbat morning service attendance, you must first register at the synagogue you will be attending. Check with the synagogue for registration details.

The main difference is that at secondary level, only the participation of the child is to be recorded, whereas at primary, it is the child and/or its parent/guardian.

NB: Private schools can select pupils on other criteria and we recommend that you contact them individually. They may include parent or child interviews, which VA schools and ‘free schools’ are precluded from administering by law.