Dear Parents,

I am delighted to announce that, after a long wait, our Chromebooks have started to arrive. A global shortage of these devices meant that we had to source new suppliers for many of the devices. Had we not done so, we would have had to wait until February for most of them to arrive from our original supplier. The additional costs incurred for the same devices with the same specification have been covered by the schools. Heartfelt thanks to those parents who paid for some of the children whose families could not afford to buy Chromebooks to receive them. If other families would like to sponsor further Chromebooks, please do contact the Headteachers to let us know.

We should have all of the Chromebooks that have been ordered in school by the end of this week and we will be spending next week registering them to their new owners and uploading software onto them. We hope to be able to hand them over to students very soon.

Once students have their devices, teachers will then be able to start using them in lessons to experiment with new pedagogical approaches and to introduce a variety of different apps to enhance students’ learning and augment more traditional approaches to classroom learning. It will also mean that students are well-equipped to access learning from home both outside of school time and during school time should they need to self-isolate.

We are also now about to advertise roles to take charge of and implement our digital learning strategy. The aim is to:

1. Harness the very best practice from other schools in this country and abroad
2. Cascade blended leaning through our learning areas
3. Curate a bank of digital resources within each learning area
4. Support all staff members with training and development

This will, with further staff training and development, enable us to build on our learning during lockdown and, over time, achieve our ambition of transforming our provision.

On a separate note, I would like to apologise for the frustration that some parents had at the online Year 12 and 13 Boys’ parents evening. The provider of the platform to enable parents and teachers to meet experienced a technical glitch which regrettably prevented some teachers from joining meetings for part of the evening. Alternative meetings are being arranged to ensure that those parents can be updated about their children’s progress. We are also reviewing the meetings to ensure parents and teachers have a sufficient time for discussion.

With kind regards,

Andrew McClusky
CEO, Hasmonean MAT

Dear Parents,

This week has been an extremely sad one for the entire Jewish community. The news about the passing of both Rav Dovid Feinstein o’’h and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks o’’h culminated in a collective outpouring of grief from the Jewish world. People have felt individually and profoundly affected: these were two shining examples of personalities having a huge impact, far beyond their own countries. In fact, far beyond their own religious sphere.

It has been profound and humbling to read the moving statements which have been released from so, so many members of British society following this week’s news about the passing of Rabbi Lord Sacks. The Hasmonean community are planning our own programme of reflection which will take place at the end of the sheloshim period. More details to follow.

It is very pertinent that this week’s parsha starts with discussing the life of Sarah; it is clear that she had a powerful impact over her family during her life and over our entire nation to this day. She raised Yitzchak during his formative years, nurturing him to become a future Jewish leader. Interestingly, the parsha begins with the death of Sarah but it is her legacy which she left behind which dominates the narrative. In the words of Rabbi Lord Sacks, in his own commentary of the parsha: ‘It is future-orientation that defines Judaism as a faith…First build the future. Only then can you mourn the past.’

Yours sincerely,

Mrs D Lebrett
Headteacher
Hasmonean High School for Boys

Dear Parents,

When is the first time the word אהבה (love) appears in the Torah?

The answer is this week’s parsha: קַח נָא אֶת בִּנְךָ אֶת יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר אָהַבְתָּ אֶת יִצְחָק. Hashem instructs Avraham to take his son Yitzchak, “whom you love” and offer him up as a sacrifice.

The second time the word אהבה is used in the Torah is in next week’s parsha: וַיִּקַּח אֶת רִבְקָה וַתְּהִי לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה וַיֶּאֱהָבֶהָ. Yitzchak marries Rivka and “loves her”.

The third time the word אהבה is used in the Torah is in the parsha after that in describing the love of Yitzchak and Rivka for their children:וַיֶּאֱהַב יִצְחָק אֶת עֵשָׂו … וְרִבְקָה אֹהֶבֶת אֶת יַעֲקֹב.

My brother-in-law Rabbi Jeremy Finn has recently published another wonderful sefer on the Parsha. He cites Rabbi YY Jacobson who makes an insightful and powerful observation.

As Yitzchak had been the recipient of love, he knew how to love others. Since Avraham had shown love to Yitzchak, Yitzchak was able to show love to Rivka and because she received her husband’s love, she, in turn, was able to love her son Yaakov.

The Torah is teaching us that if we want our children to grow up as loving, productive and well-balanced members of society, we need to show them love. Our children will not know how to love unless they have experienced being loved.

This needs effort and needs us to be proactive in our relationships. Showing our children that we love them will not only build them, but will help them in their relationships too.

Wishing you all a wonderful Shabbos.

Rabbi J Golker
Menahel

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Dear Parents,

As you are aware, we have a number of students who are having to self-isolate at the two schools.

We have been trialling hardware such as graphic tablets, headsets and webcams to help teachers deliver lessons to students isolating at home. Our order of these items has now arrived and we would like to train all teachers in how to use it so that more of them have the facility to livestream their lessons to those who are isolating.

To this end, we would like to close the schools to students at 2.45 pm on Tuesday next week so that staff can be trained period 7/8 before the Year 11 boys’ parents’ evening. It will mean that most students miss one lesson as there are very few period 8 lessons on that day.

We are confident that the net impact on education will be positive as the training will enable more teachers to be ready and able to livestream lessons.

We are expecting the Chromebooks which parents have ordered to arrive in November. We make regular enquiries about a delivery date but have not yet received one. When we have, we will update you accordingly.

With sincere thanks in anticipation of your understanding in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Mr A McClusky
CEO, Hasmonean MAT