JCoSS – the UK’s first cross-community Jewish Secondary School, set to open in Barnet in September 2010 – launches a global search for a head teacher this week, with a view to making an appointment in Spring next year. The £50 million school – the most expensive state school ever build in the UK – is offering a salary of up to £93,819, which it says is negotiable for exceptional candidates.

Adverts are being placed in Jewish, local and specialist publications in the UK, North America, Australia, Israel and South Africa on 12th December, while information about the post has been sent to Jewish educational organisations throughout the English speaking world.

Professional search consultants are being briefed to identify possible candidates, while JCoSS has launched a new website (www.jcoss.org) to provide candidates – as well as prospective parents – with all the latest information.

As part of an innovative two-day interview process, Year 6 pupils (ten and eleven year olds) from Akiva – one of the three inclusive primary schools in the UK – will get to question candidates about their vision for the school. This is part of the school’s commitment to inclusivity and a strong student voice. The main interview panel will be headed by JCoSS’s Chair of Governors, Robert Shrager and will include the Head teacher of Clore Shalom primary school, Irene Kay, as well as a representative of JCoSS partner for the Special Resource Provision, Norwood, the UK’s largest charity supporting Jewish children, families and adults with disabilities.

Commenting on the process, Robert Shrager, says:

“It is more than possible that the successful candidate is currently working down the road from the JCoSS site, but we are determined to be able to appoint from a truly exceptional field and for this reason we have taken the decision to cast our net as widely as possible.”

Application forms are available from the JCoSS website at www.jcoss.org . The closing date for applications is Monday 19th January 2009, with interviews held on 1st-3rd February 2009.

ENDS

For further information and for artists’impressions, please call Ben Rich 07713 509134 or 020 8869 9539 (ben@benrich.co.uk)

About JCoSS and Jewish Education in the UK

There are currently 38 state-funded Jewish schools in the UK. JCoSS will, however, be unique amongst the secondary schools in being cross-communal, in common with the majority of Jewish schools elsewhere around the globe.

JCoSS aims to offer an excellent education at all levels. It will welcome, on an equal basis, Jews of all backgrounds, beliefs and abilities. The curriculum will be broad and outward looking and the Jewish studies programme will provide pupils with information about their religion and culture, without judging the way in which they or their parents chose to practice their beliefs. It will include within it a Special Resource Provision for fifty students with autistic spectrum disorders, a unique offering in a UK faith school.