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The first Hebrew-language charter school in New Jersey has secured a permanent site at the Campus for Jewish Life in East Brunswick, officials have confirmed.

The Hatikvah International Academy Charter School, whose charter was approved last fall, will build its facility on the CJL's 10-1/2 acre property.

The Campus for Jewish Life, formerly known as the YM-YWHA of Raritan Valley, is located on Dutch Road in East Brunswick and already includes basketball and tennis courts, baseball fields, and a playground.

"We just wanted to find a beautiful facility for our school," said Yair Nezaria, one of the school's founders, describing how the board reached its decision. "The location is really wonderful. People are very familiar with the Y campus so we wanted to use a piece of property that people are familiar with."

The plans were announced at the parents' open house on March 21.

"People started clapping their hands -- they were exuberant," Nezaria said of attendees' response after the announcement was made.

When the school opens this fall, it will be located temporarily at a school building behind the Trinity Presbyterian Church in East Brunswick until the new building is complete.

Nezaria said that the new school building is slated to open in September 2011, but an earlier move-in date is possible if construction proceeds ahead of schedule.

"We are not just renting them the land, but enabling them to have a campus," said Amanda Shechter, president of the CJL board of directors.

For Shechter, the arrangement is also a boon for the Campus for Jewish Life.

"It's really a special site with a lot of amenities, and it's great that there will be more people to take advantage of it," she said, adding that with more children coming to the location on a daily basis the CJL will be able to grow its year-round programming.

The school will include an International Baccalaureate-College Preparatory Curriculum as well as Hebrew language immersion.

Nezaria said that both the IB curriculum and the bilingual instruction will provide a high level of education for the students who attend.

"Personally, I believe it really will create kids who are more creative and innovative and risk-taking" he said.

The school plans to open with 108 students in three grades, kindergarten through 2nd, with the expectation that it will grow with each year until it reaches its full capacity. When the school reaches its full size, it will enroll approximately 370 students from kindergarten through 8th grade, according to Nezaria.

Charter schools in New Jersey receive 90 percent of the funding locally and through the state, though the exact amount depends on both the amount of students as well as needs of the students, with additional funding allocated for programs such as special education.

While Nezaria declined to say how much the land will cost the school, he said that the funds will come mostly from private donors.