Brighton & Hove Jewish School

Two years ago, a new school, Mosaic Jewish Primary School opened in Roehampton to serve Jewish communities across South London. This was the first new Jewish school in South London in 70 years. The success of this school is that it is truly cross-communal, bringing together all denominations from Chabad to Liberal, with a shared vision. Crucially they engaged with the non-Jewish population since 75% of school pupils are non-Jewish. Look through the pages of their website (www.mjps.org.uk) and imagine a school in Brighton & Hove based on the same lines. Similar-sized communities in Birmingham, Glasgow and Liverpool all have one, so why not us? We propose a new primary school for Brighton & Hove since nothing more than a school says that a community is looking to its future. The current government’s free school programme is willing to fund new schools, so now is the time. This could be a new positive chapter in the history of the community, building confidence in being Jewish in Brighton & Hove and enhancing greater understanding, tolerance and Shalom.

The local authority and Department for Education will not consider an application without proof of realistic demand. However, Brighton & Hove has some of the most sought-after postcodes in the UK for young urbanites aged 25-44 to live: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39623686. Nearly all Jews are urbanites. In the next few years, Hove will need extra school places.

In order to facilitate an open discussion and to decide whether or not to proceed with what will prove to be a time consuming, complex but ultimately rewarding and beneficial development, an open meeting has been arranged  to which everyone will be welcome. The main speaker will be Shirley Lee who played a major role in establishing the Mosaic Jewish Primary School in Roehampton and who will be able to explain the process of accessing government funding and establishing a Jewish school. She will also answer any questions we have about the process and challenges of establishing such a project in Brighton & Hove.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 8.15pm on Tuesday 13^th November and the venue will be confirmed by email when you register your intention to attend by sending an email with the names and telephone numbers of those wishing to attend to info@bhjewishschool.org.

We do feel that there is a role for all the Jewish Communities in Brighton & Hove in deciding the viability of having a Jewish school here and we would very much welcome your involvement in reaching a collaborative decision.

If you need any further information or would like to discuss any aspects of this survey, please email us with your views or questions at: info@bhjewishschool.org.

We look forward to hearing from you.

David S, Paul M, Gordon K