A JEWISH charity will open a faith school on Canvey in a matter of months, it has been revealed.

The site of the former Castle View School, in Meppel Avenue, will be transformed by The Charedi community, a branch of the Jewish faith, currently based in Stamford Hill, London.

The community has already started using the building for prayer, and is currently putting together plans to be registered with the Department for Education as a faith school by October this year.

They initially plan to operate a school with 35 places providing education for both children and adults, as well as a minyan – an area designated for prayer.

Joel Friedman, 30, a policy director with a Jewish charity, who has moved onto the island, says the school will also be opened up to the island for after school activities and is optimistic the registration will be completed in time.

He said: “We’re working to try and get things moving and to be set up as a school by October.

“Things have gone very well since we moved to the island, and now we are looking to complete the registration for the school.

“We haven’t touched the outside of the site, and would need planning permission before anything like that can go ahead.

“We want to make it clear that we want the Canvey community to use some of the school’s facilities too.”

It is understood that a family of philanthropists paid £1.75million for the former school building, which closed five years ago, and its attached playing fields.

The Charedi population say that they can no longer live just in Stamford Hill, known for having the largest concentration of Jews in Europe.

The community looked at other areas, including Harlow and East Tilbury, but Canvey’s ‘community spirit’, the vacant school site, and its proximity to London, proved the clinching factors in setting up on the island.

Members of the Charedi faith have spoken of their concern at being “a vulnerable minority” on the island and say they are hoping for support from Canvey families.

Grace Watson, Canvey Independent councillor for North ward, says she is delighted the site is no longer empty and will be used by the community.

She said: “We’ve known about the plans for the site for a couple of months, and it’s great that things are moving quickly.

“The people of Canvey are very welcoming and there should not be any problems.

“If they can set up roots here with schools and businesses then I think it can only be a good thing for us.”