Mrs Naylor ran the Year 7 Bat Mitzva programme throughout the year and created a beautiful culmination of the students learning during the year. The hall was beautifully decorated, the girls made lovely ‘Sweet Trees’ and the keynote speaker was a convert to Judaism who spoke movingly about the new obligation which the girls have to keep Mitzvot. It was a really lovely evening, enjoyed by students., proud mothers and staff alike.
As a reward for consistently high attendance at Kodesh Extra, students from Years 7 to 9 enjoyed a day at Thorpe Park. Kodesh Extra runs during lunch breaks and the girls can choose from range of classes taught by Ms Gelley, Rabbi Schochet or Rabbi Hartman. Thank you to Miss Simonsson and Miss Rabson for organising Kodesh Extra, and to all the staff who accompanied the girls. It was a fabulous day out in the beautiful sunshine!!
It’s a funny time of year. On one hand there is the excitement and anticipation of a long awaited and much needed summer holiday and yet we have just begun the three-week period of national mourning, reminding ourselves of the Churban and that we are still deep in golus (exile).
Can we reconcile these seemingly contradictory emotions?
The Nesivos Sholom notes that the ultimate purpose of a Jew in this world is to achieve dveikus to Hashem, to create a real relationship with HKBH and live with a reality of His existence. This was really the function of the Beis Hamikdash, it created a home for the resting of Hashem’s Presence and a means to find that closeness with Hashem.
The destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, and golus generally, causes a darkness which means creating that spiritual reality is much harder.
But whilst it may not be easy, living with Kiddush Hashem is not just a means of fulfilling the function of the Beis Hamikdash, it is living life as it should be lived.
The Chafetz Chaim would explain Hashem’s words to Moshe: “Ki hamokom asher atah omed olov, admas kodesh hu” “The place on which you stand is holy ground” . Whichever place or whatever situation you find yourself in is holy. Right here and now, this is the time and place where you are able to grow and create holiness.
The holiday season that is almost upon us is also an opportunity to create that Kiddush Hashem. I once heard a beautiful allusion to this in the Shmonei Esrei of Shabbos Mincha .
People need a rest and go on holiday for different reasons and we refer to them in this Shmonei Esrei. One is “menuchas ahavah u’nedovah” – time to spend quality time with family and loved ones. “menuchas emes v’emunah” – time to recharge spiritual batteries, to think, dream and contemplate more, to daven more slowly and spend more time learning. “menuchas sholom, v’shalva, v’hashket u’vetach” – time to recharge physical batteries and relax in quiet tranquillity.
All of these types of rests are fine, so long as “al menuchosom yakdishu es Shemecha”, that they create a Kiddush Hashem.
May we all merit to recharge our spiritual and physical batteries over the summer and live lives of Kiddush Hashem. This is the antidote to the Chillul Hashem created by the Churban.
May I add, that aside from remaining vigilant about spiritual pitfalls over the summer and the importance of tefilla and adherence to halacha generally, please do remind your children about the importance of staying safe. Cycling with a helmet, swimming safely and staying hydrated in the hot weather. We care about our students and look forward to seeing them all back safe and sound in September.
Wishing you all a refreshing summer,
Rabbi J Golker
Menahel
1 Bamidbar, Bein Hametzarim, page 200
2 Shemos 3:5
3 I would be most grateful if any reader would let me know where I may have seen or heard this idea.
Over 100 girls in Years 7 to 10 are had an awesome time at “Jump In” as a reward for having 90% attendance at optional Kodesh EXTRA classes during lunch break this year! It is truly wonderful that so much extra Torah has been learned. Well done to our girls for their commitment.
Thank you to our dedicated Kodesh EXTRA teachers, and to Ms Rabson for her constant work on the logistics for the programme and the reward trips.
Thank you Ms Brandon, Ms Rabson, Miss Giannopoulou and Ms Naylor for accompanying the trip.
Dear Parents,
There have been some worrying incidents which have taken place in the local vicinity over the past week or so and, unfortunately, some of our students have been involved. We have offered support to the students involved and CST have been into school to explain to the boys how to keep themselves safe. The safety and wellbeing of our students is our top priority and we appreciate your assistance in ensuring that your children stay safe as the summer holidays start. Please reiterate to your children about looking after their valuables, not holding their phones in public view and making safe choices about where and when they travel.
If you or your children have any safeguarding concerns over the summer, our Child Protection Team will be on-call for you.
The details are attached.
Our emails are as follows should you need to contact us directly:
d.lebrett@hasmonean.co.uk
k.brice@hasmonean.co.uk
l.waugh@hasmonean.co.uk
a.kalley@hasmonean.co.uk
m.langdon@hasmonean.co.uk
r.benarroch@hasmonean.co.uk
Wishing you all a happy, healthy and relaxing summer and a very good shabbos.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs D Lebrett
Headteacher
On Monday evening the ORT JUMP graduation ceremony took place in JW3. ORT UK works with a variety of industries to help Year 12 Students JUMP-start their careers through a mentoring programme. Hasmonean students have been fortunate enough to have been involved in JUMP since it began in 2009. This year a staggering 280 mentor and student partnerships across 11 London schools took part in the project.
Students and mentors meet up in a public place five times over the Year 12 academic year and discuss CV writing, how to ‘sell’ themselves and what to expect from the workplace. They are even given the opportunity to have a workplace tour and attend a real meeting. Each student is also required to submit two assignments about their experience and how it has benefitted them.
It was therefore a great honour when Dov Solomon was awarded one of the special Outstanding Achievement Awards. Dov has been mentored by Mark Ross whose firm, PA Consulting is one of the oldest management consultancy firms in the world, established in the UK in 1943 and advised various industries on how they could become more productive in support of the war effort.
Dov explained that Mark helped him create a visual plan for his future career path; something he found extremely helpful. Working closely with his mentor, an expert in his field, enabled him to clearly visualise the steps needs to take in order to progress successfully.
At the ceremony, Mark spoke to the audience as to why Dov deserved the award. He talked about Dov’s honest and clear approach, together with his ability to clearly express opinion, ask informative and intelligent questions and his response to tasks was mature, nuanced and of a high calibre.
On Monday the boys experienced the sites of Cambridge. We visited the Cambridge University Library to meet the researchers of the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection. During this talk we heard about and viewed some of the artefacts and documents found in the genizah, bringing the Jewish medieval world of the Mediterranean area to life. We also had a wander around the quaint market place, which gave us a flavour of Cambridge, not just being a university town. The day would have not been complete without a lovely punting trip in the sun down the river Cam, where the students got to hear about and see the different colleges that make up Cambridge.
After a roll call at the boys’ school, we divided up into 4 groups and set off in our convoy of minibuses at 9.45 am. Two groups set off for the golf and two to the trampoline park and then we would swop over after lunch.
My group was headed for the mini golf, only a quick jaunt up the A41. We arrived there in glorious sunshine only to be told that there was no booking. Once that initial hiccup was overcome, we read the boys the “course rules”, or the “riot act”, including things they needed to know such as “do not follow the balls into the water traps to retrieve them!” and “do not swing the clubs around your head”, we then divided the boys into groups and set off around the “Congo” course. With the sun beating down it really was like being in the “Congo”!
The staff also joined in with their rounds of golf and proceeded around the quieter “Amazon” course, Mrs Barak did extremely well scoring an exceptionally high round, whoops! I thought the idea was to get an extremely low score, perhaps there is not much mini-golf in Israel!
All of the staff assisting the group, Mrs Barak, Mrs Hamilton, Miss Le Brech and Mrs Chaudhary, with Rabbi Amar’s impeccable direction, were in complete agreement about the exemplary way all of the boys behaved in the minibuses, and whilst out and about at the venues, every one of them was a great credit to themselves, their families, the school and K’Lal Isroel. They were a pleasure to be with throughout the day.
Our thanks also to the overall MC Mr Tutty for the organisation of events that the boys thoroughly enjoyed.
Mr J Cohen
On Monday evening the ORT JUMP graduation ceremony took place in JW3. ORT UK works with a variety of industries to help Year 12 Students JUMP-start their careers through a mentoring programme. Hasmonean students have been fortunate enough to have been involved in JUMP since it began in 2009. This year a staggering 280 mentor and student partnerships across 11 London schools took part in the project.
Students and mentors meet up in a public place five times over the Year 12 academic year and discuss CV writing, how to ‘sell’ themselves and what to expect from the workplace. They are even given the opportunity to have a workplace tour and attend a real meeting. Each student is also required to submit two assignments about their experience and how it has benefitted them.
It was therefore a great honour when Dov Solomon was awarded one of the special Outstanding Achievement Awards. Dov has been mentored by Mark Ross whose firm, PA Consulting is one of the oldest management consultancy firms in the world, established in the UK in 1943 and advised various industries on how they could become more productive in support of the war effort.
Dov explained that Mark helped him create a visual plan for his future career path; something he found extremely helpful. Working closely with his mentor, an expert in his field, enabled him to clearly visualise the steps needs to take in order to progress successfully.
At the ceremony, Mark spoke to the audience as to why Dov deserved the award. He talked about Dov’s honest and clear approach, together with his ability to clearly express opinion, ask informative and intelligent questions and his response to tasks was mature, nuanced and of a high calibre.
Dear Parents,
In November 2018 school leaders across Barnet raised their concerns about the level of school funding, and the threat this poses to us in securing the high quality provision our students deserve.
Since then I, along with other school leaders and governors from many Barnet schools, have written letters to, and met with, local and national politicians to make the case for increased funding.
Unfortunately, the situation has not improved and I am now asking parents to join me in taking action to press for change.
Whilst we hear claims about budgets being protected, in reality, we are all facing cuts. Research from the social mobility charity The Sutton Trust shows that schools have lost out on funding of £5.4 billion since 2015 and that 91% of schools have had their funding cut.
Additionally, independent research shows that secondary schools should be receiving £6,200 per student in order to provide a good education, (not even a strong or great education). Barnet secondary schools receive an average of £4,800 per student. Furthermore, 70 school sixth forms have shut across the country since 2015 as a result of funding pressures; it is a decline that is set to increase.
To balance Hasmonean Multi-Academy Trust’s budget in future years, we have implemented a number of cost-saving measures.
A government Spending Review is due to take place soon. Although there is uncertainty around this due to the Conservative Party leadership elections and Brexit matters, now is the time to ensure our local MPs put education at the top of their agendas.
It is for this reason that Barnet headteachers are now collectively turning to our parent bodies to ask for help.
We would like as many of you as possible to write to local MPs Mike Freer and Dr Matthew Offord to express your concerns surrounding school funding, and to ask them to press for school budgets to be increased.
Their contact details are:
Mike Freer, MP. House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
mike.freer.mp@parliament.uk
Dr Matthew Offord, MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
matthew.offord.mp@parliament.uk.
I thank you in advance for your support.
With kind regards,
Mr A McClusky
CEO Hasmonean MAT