For All Students Starting JCoSS in September 2026
Dear Prospective Year 7 Parents,
I am thrilled to be writing to inform you of a wonderful opportunity for your child.
The Jewish Education Faculty launched a Beit Midrash (House of Jewish learning) programme several years ago. The programme exists to ensure that students who are motivated and interested in a deep learning of Jewish texts have the opportunity to explore and encounter the full range of the Jewish tradition, in all its multiplicity and richness.
Students will spend time immersed in Jewish texts. They will look at key stories from the Torah from Adam and Eve to the 10 commandments. They will investigate the stories of the Jewish Commonwealth, the visions of the Prophets and the wisdom found in the books of Psalms and Proverbs. They will learn to put these books and stories in a Jewish context looking at traditional commentators and modern thinkers as well as developing their own opinions and ideas about how to understand these foundational Jewish stories.
While students will be encouraged to read and work with the Hebrew as much as they are able, there is no Hebrew knowledge requirement for the programme. The Beit Midrash curriculum operates for the entirety of Key Stage Three but the students develop the skills alongside the main curriculum to equip them with a readiness for the GCSE.
The Beit Midrash lessons take place during timetabled Jewish Education lessons. Below is an outline of what is covered in both curricula.
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Beit Midrash
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Year 7 Curriculum
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The year is spent navigating the book of Bereshit (Genesis) and the beginning of Shemot (Exodus). This includes the following:
UNIT 1: Reading the text. Peshuto Shel Mikra: From Adam and Eve to the Tower of Babel.
UNIT 2: Criticising the text. Drasha: Abraham and Jacob.
UNIT 3: Classic Commentators: Rashi on Joseph.
UNIT 4: Commentary: Moses and the Exodus.
UNIT 5: World faiths: Sikhism.
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UNIT 1: The year and festivals
UNIT 2: Home and family: Cain and Abel
UNIT 3: Synagogue
UNIT 4: World faiths: Sikhism
UNIT 5: Tikun Olam: Repairing the world
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If you would like to sign your child up to study in the Beit Midrash programme, please complete and submit the online form by Friday 24th April 2026. We need to have this information in advance so that we can plan the timetable accordingly.
If you have any questions, please email the school on admissions@jcoss.barnet.sch.uk for my attention.
Yours sincerely,
Miss Sasha Stock
Lead Practitioner of Teaching and Learning
Head of Faculty for Jewish Education/Religious Studies
