Admissions to Schools
Updated Tuesday
21st April 2010
Certificate of
Religious Practice
Following the
judgment in the Supreme Court Jewish schools have again been forced to
adopt a religious practice test for 2011 admissions.
We understand that
in some cases the schools will be asking you to complete a Certificate
of Religious Practice (CRP), which includes verification of synagogue
attendance.
We are therefore
asking that everyone, whether a member or not, who wishes to have their
attendance at synagogue verified for school admissions purposes complies
with a set procedure (see below), which includes:
1.Pre-registration
of attendance
2. Making oneself
known to an authorised official when attending. There will be a desk
either at the entrance to the shul or outside the classrooms which from
the 8th May 2010 will be open between 10:40am and 10.55 am on Shabbat
morning only. We ask, therefore, that you ensure that you arrive in
Synagogue no later than 10.55 if you would like us to record your
attendance. During the refurbishment, when the shul moves in the summer
to Immanuel College, the desk will be open at the same time outside the
classrooms where the children’s services will take place. You will be
handed a personalised card which you will need to keep until the end of
the service when you will be asked to return it to the leader taking the
children’s service who will then place it in a secure location
3. Receiving a
signed CRP only if attendance has been verified.
NOTE: Attendance
will only be recorded on those Shabbatot as detailed in the Schools'
Admissions procedures and will not include any festivals, including Yom
Kippur 2010, which is a Shabbat.
Please note, those
requiring us to record attendance will be required to stay until the end
of the service.
This is a task that
we would much rather we were not being asked to undertake. However, we
wish to provide assistance to our Jewish schools as they have been
placed in an incredibly difficult situation forced upon them, because,
and only because, of the Supreme Court's decision. It is important
therefore to point out that this process does not confirm Jewish status.
If you have any
questions about this process then please email them to
schooladmissions@busheycommnity.org
I look forward to
welcoming you to our synagogue and hope that by following this simple
procedure we can minimise the disruption and discomfort that this
process will create.
Yours
Howard Schaverien
Chair, Children &
Youth
CRP Procedure
Recording
Attendance at Synagogue for the purpose of completing a Certificate of
Religious Practice ("CRP")
1. Any person who
wishes to have their attendance recorded for the purposes of a CRP ("the
Attendee") must register
by completing and returning the
attached form
(click on link, print and complete form), as soon as possible but
not later than 10 am two days before the first Shabbat on which he/she
wishes his/her attendance to be recorded. Your registration will be
automatically acknowledged.
2. The Synagogue
administrator will create index cards to be used for each Shabbat
morning service.
3. On Shabbat the
parent or guardian and his/her child (for primary school entry the child
does not have to attend) must report in person to the RO or other
designated person on each occasion they attend synagogue, and may be
asked to confirm their address and child's date of birth. Recording will
be in the Synagogue foyer or just outside the classrooms and will be
open between 10:40 and 10.55 am commencing the 8th May 2010. During the
refurbishment, when the synagogue moves to Immanuel College, the desk
will be outside the classroom housing the children’s services
4. Those requiring
us to record attendance will be required to stay until the end of the
service and they will, therefore, be required to retain their cards for
returning at the end of the services to the person taking the children’s
services. Bushey Synagogue will accept no responsibility for cards which
are inadvertently taken off the premises and attendees should note that
under those circumstances there will not be a card the following week.
Attendance will only be recorded for those cards which are picked up at
the appropriate time and returned at the end of the service
5. All records will
be confidential, and will only be used to enable the authorised official
to sign the CRP, although Bushey Synagogue may contact you in connection
with the promotion of its events.
NOTE: A
copy of this Procedure will be displayed in the synagogue and on our
website, and is also available on request. It has been made public so
that visitors to the synagogue can be clear at an early stage about what
they will need to do in order to comply.
Issue of CRPs
You will be able to
request Letters of Attendance by email once you have attended on the
eight required dates. You will be able to pick up the letter at the
Synagogue Office. If you ask someone to collect the Letter on your
behalf please provide them with written authority.
If you have already
received your Letters please do not continue to register as this adds to
our administrative burden.
Please bear in mind
that it is your responsibility to request Letters of Attendance in good
time and we cannot accept any responsibility for a deadline which may be
missed.
We will be
providing Letters confirming dates of attendance at Synagogue in lieu of
interpreting and completing the Schools' CRP Forms. We will, therefore,
not need to see these forms and I can confirm that the schools are aware
of this procedure. |
