The Torah interrupts its discussion about shemitah and the related laws of resting the land in the seventh year to introduce the prohibition of ona’ah, wrongdoing. There are different types of ona’ah. One type is ona’as devarim – harming someone with words. Why does the Torah place the prohibition of ona’as devorim in the middle […]
The HIPE team and Mrs Paster got the tone just right on this difficult Lag B’Omer, following the tragedy in Meron. Staff including Rabbi Golker, Rabbi Birnbaum and Mrs Paster spoke to the girls in the morning, letting them know what had happened, helping them to understand the serious and sad sequence of events. She […]
Dear Parents, Our staff CPD on Tuesday was training on identifying and then overcoming unconscious bias. Research has shown that teachers instinctively think that boys are better at Maths than girls, although when tests were marked blind, the girls scored more highly. Quiet children are often considered less clever than their more vocal peers. Students […]
Dear Parents and Carers, We often test out our own thinking by asking other people what they think. They are the touchstones in our own thought processes. Hearing how strongly they hold their opinion allows us to locate where our own response is on the spectrum of public opinion. Over the weekend I asked a […]
Dear Parents, We were all deeply saddened this week to hear about the death of his Royal Highness Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh. The students have been writing condolence wishes to the Royal Family and have been learning more about Prince Philip’s extraordinary life. We also reminded them that, in 1993, Yad Vashem bestowed […]
Israel’s 73rd birthday was celebrated with a difference at Hasmonean. After a heartfelt Hallel, HIPE and the Sixth Form turned the Hall into our own Machane Yehuda. There were food stands reminding us of our Israeli favourites: ice coffee, choco and orange juice from Café Aroma; croissants and muffins from Café Ne’eman; Catzefet cereal and […]
HIPE ran this year’s Yom HaZikaron programme with a powerful film created by Mizrachi UK. The students found the presentation both moving and informative, as Batsheva A said: ‘It was really sad’ – but also inspiring as she has been nurturing an ambition to serve in the IDF.
Well done to all our students who participated in the British Biology Olympiad. Chayale R and Izzy A-P were awarded a gold and a highly commended respectively. The boys Nafatali U, Alon H, Yehoshua S and Noam E all did well with silver, highly commended and commended certificates. The Olympiad is a competition which challenges […]
Dear Parents, Making Our Days Count Chazal teach that the period of Sefiras Ha’Omer is meant to be one of introspection and growth. I once heard an insightful question regarding our counting of the Omer from Rabbi Zev Leff. Rabbi Leff noted that there seems to be a contradiction in the way we count. We […]
After school on Wednesday 17th March, Year 7 enjoyed a fabulous Bat Mitzva party. Nina LeBlanc spoke to them about Havdala, linking it to becoming Bat Mitzva. In keeping with the Havdala theme, they also made Havdala candles. The special activity was ‘jump shoes’, so the girls had a whale of a time leaping about […]