Dear Parents,

It is great to have all of the children back in school and as we approach Pesach, I’d like to give you a quick update.

As you would expect, the lockdown affected different families in different ways. Educationally we hit the ground running at the beginning of January and all in all the digital support that our schools provided worked really well; compared to many other schools/children we are in a really good place. Thank you to parents for your really positive feedback and support.

I mentioned back in January some of the investments that we have been making and during lockdown these really began to pay dividends:

 

• Building Jewish Identity: The efforts of the HIPE informal ed team have been awesome. They proved a social and emotional lifeline for our children, and this will be even better now that we are back.
• 21^stCentury Teaching and Learning: The Chromebook roll-out, Google class and breakout rooms, and the training that we gave staff fundamentally changed the way students learned and kept the wheels on the bus. We have now appointed a number of Digital Learning Leads in different faculties, two Digital Co-ordinators to oversee them and a Senior Digital Lead to transform things further by pioneering the best teaching techniques and digital learning resources. This will consolidate our position as one of the leaders in the UK in harnessing ed tech for the good of our students.
• Personal Spiritual Growth: We have appointed Rabbi Dov Birnbaum from SEED to make the Girls’ Midrasha a world leader in Jewish young women’s education. Additionally, we have appointed our very own and much-loved R Yehudah Hager to develop and lead a personal spiritual mentoring programme at the Boys’ school. It is so important that we are building individual one-to-one relationships, providing students with a listening ear and individual care and attention focussed on where they are at, supporting them as they grow and develop into young adults.

We can only do this if you continue to invest in our school. As of the end of February Chiyuv Chinuch contributions were £251k below where they need to be.

If you work with us, we can make Hasmonean an awesome place to learn and a nurturing environment that will build the foundation of our community. If you can pay your CCs in full and have yet to do so, please do so now. If you can’t pay in full, please pay what you can and prioritise the investment in your children’s education.

Finally, whilst we may be behind where we need to be we must still recognise the contribution of all those who give what they can. To this end the Hasmonean Charitable Trust are planning the launch of a great initiative to celebrate the success provided by your Chiyuv Chinuch support. Watch this space…..

Wishing you a chag kasher v’sameach,

Gary Swabel

Chair of Hasmonean Multi-Academy Trust Board

 

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

EDITORIAL 18/3/2021

 

Dear Parents,

 

As we come to the end of another extraordinary term – who would have thought that schools would have become testing centres?

 

I was thinking about what there is left to say about our situation. Then I went to the latest Bat Mitzvah celebration in school and heard the lovely song which the girls have written for their teachers. It says it all:

 

Lockdown is different

Distances between

School closed is not as simple as it seems

Hasmo’s always here

In me they believe

Together as a family, even virtually

Teachers help me to be brave, staff that makes me fight each wave

I don’t have to be afraid; they help me believe

 

Hasmo is my home

And wherever we’re from

We unite under the same sun

It is where we belong

School helps us be strong

As we face the unknown

 

You can call it Hasmo

They help when in need

And where should I be without your care for me

When drowning in an ocean, deeper than the sea

Our teachers make possible impossibility

 

Never was there a school

That the staff don’t back down

Hasmo’s pride is with me and I hope it always will

It’s Page Street our place

Just imagine a space

Where hate has been erased

It’s not hard if you try

 

Wishing you all a chag Pesach samech.

Best wishes,

 

Mrs K Brice

Headteacher – Girls’ School

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

The return to school from March 8th for all students

We look forward to welcoming your children back to school!

We are aware that students will need to time to adjust to begin back in school and we will be arranging a series of pastoral and wellbeing session to support them to reintegrate. Training has also been given by Noa Girls on the language staff should use to support children during this process.

All students (who have consented/ whose parents have consented to be tested) should have received their first lateral flow test by the end of this week and will receive their next two lateral flow tests over the next two weeks once they return to school. After that, they will be given tests from us to test themselves at home. Any student who has a positive test result will need to report this to both us and NHS Track and Trace.

Please be aware that students – unless they are exempted for medical reasons – are required to wear face masks in lessons as well as in communal areas on their return to protect themselves, their families as well as staff and their families. We would very much appreciate it if you could ensure that your children come to school with a range of spare masks.

Both schools will have been deep-cleaned by the time your children arrive in school. The same social distancing measures and one way systems that were in place in September will remain in place and our risk assessments have been updated on the schools’ websites.

Please also see the letter from Mrs Lebrett and Mrs Brice with more detailed guidance regarding March 8th opening in the letters section for each school.

Families currently residing abroad

As mentioned last week, families who are currently residing abroad need to make arrangements for their children to return to school for when we re-open on March 8th. We have been advised by Barnet Local Authority that students need to return within a half term period for their children to remain on roll unless there are exceptional reasons that prevent them from doing so. Please could parents who are currently residing abroad let the relevant headteacher know their expected return date so that we can welcome their children back to school and ensure they remain on roll.

Alternative arrangements to examinations

As you are aware, Ofqual have announced the alternative arrangements for GCSE, BTEC and A level examinations following the public consultation.

We are still waiting to hear the details about the new arrangements from the examination boards and therefore cannot yet confirm the precise arrangements for students. However, subject to the exam boards’ guidance, our provisional plans are as follows:

• Short assessments held after the Pesach break will form part of the overall evidence base that determines a student’s centre moderated grades alongside a selection of other assessments completed in class throughout the course
• This will give students the best opportunity to demonstrate their skills and understanding of a representative sample of the material they have covered and enable their teachers to provide sufficient evidence to the examination boards of the grades that they we will submit for them
• After the Pesach break, Year 11 and Year 13 students will be given a range of short assessments (except for textiles/ art and BTECs) in each of their subjects.
• Teachers will not teach any new content to students from Monday March 15th at the latest until the 17th May while revision/ assessments take place
• Students will be given the topics of each assessment in advance and time to prepare for those assessments
• Wherever possible, students will be given a range of questions within each topic to choose from
• Teachers will use lessons prior to the assessments as revision sessions
• Each subject area will choose which assessments will best demonstrate students’ ability and count towards a student’s grade and which topics will be used for the short assessments
• Y11 and Y13 will be given study leave (though Beis and the Midrasha will still run), with secular teachers available to support students who wish to see them either via G Suite or in person (dates to be confirmed)
• Any access arrangements that would normally be given to students taking exams will be retrospectively taken into account when determining the mark of assessments taken in class throughout the course where this was not given at the time of the assessment
• Special consideration will be given to students who require it according to the normal JCQ guidelines
• Year 10s who are sitting GCSEs in RS and BH early will also be part of this process (and given some study leave)

We are sure that you will have many questions about this important topic when the guidance from the examination boards is published. Once we have received this guidance we will inform you and your children about our plans and take you through how we intend to implement it in more detail. However, we thought it best to share with you what our initial plans are based on Ofqual’s guidance.

Please be reassured that we will support students through each step of this process.

With kind regards,

Andrew McClusky – CEO – Hasmonean MAT

Debbie Lebrett – Headteacher – Boys’ School

Katherine Brice – Headteacher – Girls’ School

Dear Parents,

It has been a tough few weeks for everyone and I hope that you will all get the chance to decompress and get away from screens during half term. It can be easy to get depressed at the news of virulent mutations and the ever-receding possibility of taking a foreign holiday. However, I have been taking solace from the signs that spring is nearly here, despite the current arctic weather. Daffodils are pushing up through the grass in the parks and camellias are already in bloom. They are a reminder that all things, even the darkest days, pass in the end.

The other thing, which gives me hope, is the resilience of our young people. No one would have chosen the events of the past year and we would all wish it had been different. However, to see the creativity that has emerged which the HIPE teams demonstrate so magnificently has been heartening and even inspiring. From challah and pizza bakes to the project of some older girls to translate the Yiddish memoirs of Parysow, our students are showing how they can adapt and make the best of a strange situation. The learning which is going on is not always of the conventional kind, but we are all developing more skills in the digital world and these will be long term benefits which will help us as we return to a more familiar model of teaching- hopefully not too far in the future.

Wishing you a good Shabbos and a restful half term.

Mrs K Brice

Headteacher

Hasmonean High School for Girls

Dear Parents,

The most moving photograph I saw this week showed a Holocaust survivor, with a tattoo etched on his arm, being vaccinated in that same arm at a London clinic.  The juxtaposition of those two sides of humanity – hatred and hope – is a moving reminder of what we are capable of.  It is fitting, therefore, that we showed two videos this week to the boys: one commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day and one showcasing the amazing commitment shown by NHS workers during the pandemic.

The Parsha this week, Beshalach, is replete with ideas about hope and courage in the face of despair.  The Jewish people are being chased by Pharaoh and his army following their exodus from Egypt; they are hungry and need the miracles of Mon and clean water to survive; they are attacked by Amalek…the list goes on.  The overriding tone from the Parsha, though, is one of hope and salvation.  The idea is reinforced that we will overcome and will be stronger as a result of our trials.

In the week when we, as the British nation, have tragically recorded over 100,000 deaths due to Covid, it is important to think about every single life which has been lost and to also look to a brighter future PG.

Wishing you all a wonderful Shabbos,

 

Mrs D Lebrett

Headteacher

Hasmonean High School for Boys

Dear Parents and Carers,

I wonder if, like me, when it was announced last week that schools would be closed until at least half term, you had a sense of ‘here we go again’ and the feeling of weary inevitability of life repeating itself which the film ‘Groundhog Day’ captured so beautifully. However, we are in a very different place from last year. Thanks to the investment in chrome books and all the training which has gone on since March, we could immediately transition to online learning, offering a full timetable. The teachers are to be congratulated on rising again to the challenge of remote classes, especially when some of them have to cope with family commitments.  The change in this respect from last year could hardly be greater.

What we have had to relearn, is that being online all day is physically and mentally exhausting and we therefore need to alter our provision a little. Thank you to those who filled out the survey about how things are going. As a result of the feedback we have received from parents, students and teachers, we are introducing the following changes with effect from Monday 18^th:

• Lessons will be shortened by 10 minutes to allow for a proper break
• Y7 and Y8 will now have their break at 11.15 am so that P3 is no longer a split lesson
• We will no longer have a daily form time to give longer for lunch
• P7 will finish at 3.20 pm for everyone
• Lessons on Fridays will now revert to the usual long Friday timings, with lessons ending after period 5a
• The PE department will be providing suggestions on ways to increase physical activity in the extension classroom
• The Assistant Heads for Pastoral Support will be setting out plans to improve pastoral, counselling and well-being support for students who require it. The plans will be communicated to you in due course
• We will be issuing further training and guidance to teachers on the best kind of pedagogy and the setting and marking of homework to ensure students are well-provided for and not overwhelmed. We have just bought into a G Suite upgrade which means that teachers will soon be able to create breakout rooms to facilitate independent, paired and group learning online. More details about this will be provided in due course. Please note that there will be no live lessons period 7 this coming Monday (2.45 pm) to enable teachers to attend training on these areas. Work for students will be uploaded to Google Classroom instead. We are confident that the benefit of this staff training on your children’s education will be very worthwhile.

We await the outcome of the consultation on the proposals about the alternatives to examinations. Once we know what the plans are, we will of course communicate them to you.

The key principles set out by Ofqual are as follows:

What evidence will be used?

• Awarding of grades will be based on teacher assessment
• A breadth of evidence should inform teachers’ judgements
• Assessment will be based on what students have learnt, not necessarily the full course – but there will need to be good enough coverage of the curriculum
• Externally set tasks or short papers (seen by Ofqual to be fairer and more consistent) may be provided, in order that teachers can draw on this resource to support their assessments of students (note not externally marked)
• Ofqual will consult on whether to ‘require or recommend’ the use of the externally set tasks or papers
• Students should continue with any non-exam assessment where possible

Timelines:

• Students should be taught for as long as possible (so they have every opportunity to catch up.)
• A teacher’s final judgement on a student’s grade ought to be as late as possible in the academic year (to maximise remaining teaching time and ensure students are motivated and engaged)

Support, training and Quality Assurance

• Training and guidance will support teachers to reach their assessment of a student’s deserved grade
• Schools and colleges should undertake quality assurance of their teachers’ assessments
• External checks / Exam boards quality assurance processes in place to support fairness and consistency
• This quality assurance will be sampling only
• Changes to grades as a result of the external quality assurance process should be the exception (as per review of marking)

Appeals:

• There will be provision for students to request a review and appeal their grade

Private candidates:

• There should be a clear and accessible route for private candidates to be assessed and receive a grade

Vocational qualifications

• Apart from a few exceptions, all with written exams scheduled in February and March (including BTECs) will not go ahead
• Similar principles to GCSE and A level in terms of assessment

Wishing you all a very good Shabbos.

 

Kind regards,

Mrs K Brice

Headteacher – Girls