THE Board of Deputies of British Jews is advertising to appoint a Muslim adviser for a new education scheme linking Jewish schools with those sponsored by other minority faiths.

The Muslim appointee will play a key part in developing programmes for Jewish and Muslim schools taking part in the Board of Deputies’ Shared Futures project in pursuit of community cohesion. Since the academic year began, all schools have had a statutory duty to promote community cohesion. OFSTED will inspect them on this from next September.

Under the new scheme, the first of its kind to be established by a faith organisation, 40 state-funded Jewish schools will be encouraged to develop links with voluntary Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh schools, which could include joint work on business ethics and environmental issues, as well as culture and sport.

Alex Goldberg, director of community issues at the Board, said: “We’re not interested in one-off football matches, but in sustained activities. We aim to match schools geographically, and hope these projects will help neighbourhoods do what the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, has said is so important, ‘build a home together’.”

Independent Jewish schools will also be encouraged to join in.