Dear Hasmonean Community,

 

We did it! We have exceeded our £1.6m target!

 

On behalf of everyone at Hasmonean, thank you so much, so much.

 

The collective power of the Hasmonean community never ceases to amaze, a power that is in its achdut.  To witness the tremendous vision, skill and conviction within our Fundraising Committee, composed mainly of governors, trustees and parents, utterly focussed on safeguarding this amazing institution, is truly humbling. We are so grateful to all of the parents, staff, students, alumni, governors and trustees who played their part in this communal effort.

 

Our families, communities and alumni have risen to support us in our time of need. They have demonstrated the value that they put on a good education and the trust that they have in Hasmonean to deliver. We stand in awe of their kindness and support, give thanks that we can continue to provide for our children’s futures, and pray that we will now move from strength to strength, offering every child what they need to grow to become inspired and upstanding members of Am Yisrael.

 

Our sincere thanks to the matched funders, the pillars of the Hasmonean community:

Simon and Louise Abraham

Families Goldberg

Sharon and Daniel Green

Investream Charitable Trust

Shuli and Feigy Lerner

Family Noé

Katie and Ben Shooter

and those who wish to remain anonymous

 

Our deep thanks to the core Fundraising Committee who are governors/ Trustees or Members of the MAT: 

Mrs Jacqueline Benjamin – co-leader of last year’s campaign and lynchpin of this campaign

Mr Steven Blumgart – tireless supporter and preserver of all that is precious about Hasmonean

Mr Jonny Feinmesser – co-leader of last year’s campaign and lynchpin of this campaign

Mr Daniel Green – tireless supporter and preserver of all that is precious about Hasmonean

Mr Yossi Halberstadt – tireless campaigner for Hasmonean

Mr Maurice Klajman – tireless campaigner for Hasmonean

Mr Daniel Lyons – media strategist and tireless supporter of the schools

Mr Ben Shooter – Chair of The Fundraising Committee who has now raised an incredible £7.3m for Hasmonean

 

Our sincere thanks to parents, staff and alumni:

Mrs Jodi Benaim – Preserve What’s Precious Campaign Chairperson who has worked tirelessly on this campaign

Mrs Julie Goldberg  – new member of the committee who has who has given so much for this cause

Mrs Miriam Landau – new member of the committee who has who has given so much for this cause

Mr Joshua Lyons – media strategist

Mrs Dawn Murray – our tireless and wonderful co-ordinator upon whom we all depend

… and the whole team including Mr Yiannis Oskis and Mrs Harris Ellis who helped behind the scenes.

 

Our heartfelt thanks to all of the ambassadors, team leaders and donors. Without your energy, enthusiasm, commitment, none of this would have been possible.

 

Our genuine and long-lasting thanks to:

Our Elector Rabbonim Rabbi Greenberg and Rabbi Bixenspanner and to all the communal rabbonim who supported our campaign.

 

Special thanks to:

Rabbi Greenebrg, Rabbi Zobin and Mr and Mrs Kanzen who spoke at our launch event.

 

Together, we have preserved what is precious.

 

With sincere, deep and heartfelt thanks to all,

 

Gary Swabel – Chair, Hasmonean MA

Andrew McClusky – CEO, Hasmonean MAT

……………………………………………………………………..

Reminder

This is a reminder that next Thursday, 9^th July is a Fast Day and school will finish for all students at lunchtime.

Dear Parents,

 

The response from the community to Tuesday night’s message has been amazing, with more and more parents signing up every day to become our Team Leader for our Fundraising campaign.

 

For those who were not able to attend, we hope that you have now had an opportunity to view the Zoom recording and feel empowered to sign up as a team leader.  The link to do this is here.

 

With 10 days to go until the live campaign opens on the Charidy platform, there’s no time like the present to get calling, messaging and tweeting your friends, family, colleagues and associates.  Who will be on your list?  Can you ask 4 or 5 parents that you know to be team leaders?  We can ALL make a difference!

 

We really need every family to form a team, play their part and help the cause. Thank you so much to all those families that have already signed up. To those that have not yet signed up, we really need your support as well.

 

If you have any questions, please email 2020campaign@hasmonean.co.uk and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

 

Thank you in advance for your support!

 

Kind regards,

 

The 2020 Campaign Team

 

Dear Parents,

 

We hope that you had an enjoyable Shavuot and that you and your families are well.

 

Thank you so much to the very high number of parents who joined our Zoom meeting about online learning on Monday. It was very heart-warming to receive so many expressions of thanks for the effort our staff are putting into digital learning. While we know what we are doing is not perfect, we are certainly trying to offer the best education possible in the current circumstances and will continue to monitor and adjust our provision in the light of the feedback we receive.

 

On June 1st we re-opened both schools in response to the increased demand to educate vulnerable children and the children of key workers. We now have a small number of students in both schools who are being supported by our staff with their online learning timetables.

 

The government’s most recent advice in regard to the wider re-opening of secondary schools is as follows:

 

Face-to-face support [should] supplement the remote education of year 10 and year 12 pupils, which should remain the predominant mode of education during this term for pupils in these year groups. Our assessment, based on the latest scientific and medical advice, is that we need to continue to control the numbers attending school to reduce the risk of increasing transmission. Therefore, schools are able to have a quarter of the year 10 and year 12 cohort (for schools with sixth forms) in school at any one time.

 

Unlike many schools, and thanks to the generosity of our Trustees, Hasmonean is in the fortunate position of being able to ensure that all of our children have access to digital devices. The new online learning timetables also ensure that children in all year groups are benefitting from face-face teaching.

 

However, we are currently discussing amongst ourselves and with Headteachers from other schools how we can supplement our face-to-face provision for Year 10 and 12 in school. This is a far from straightforward process. Only one quarter of these year groups is allowed in school at any one time and class sizes will need to be very small to enable us to observe strict social distancing rules. We also need to ensure that we can sustain our online learning programme for students who continue to learn remotely so that they do not miss out. The government has also asked – for very understandable reasons – that a comprehensive risk assessment be undertaken before any wider re-opening is undertaken and for consultation to take place with the various unions, as well as with trustees and parents to ensure that children and staff are kept as safe as possible.

 

We will publish our plans so that you can see them in advance as soon as we are able to do so. However, in the meantime, please be assured that children will continue to follow the online timetables to ensure that they benefit from a high standard of education.

 

 

 

Wishing you a good Shabbos and a relaxing weekend,

 

 

Mr A McClusky – CEO, Hasmonean MAT

Mrs D Lebrett – Headteacher, Hasmonean Boys’ School

Mrs K Brice – Headteacher Hasmonean Girls’ School

Rabbi J Golker – Menahel, Hasmonean MAT

Dear Parents,

Government Guidance Regarding Schools Re-opening

If the Government’s five key tests are met, secondary schools will be able to facilitate face-to-face contact for Year 10 and Year 12 before the summer break.  We are very keen to have your children back in school. However, we also need to manage this in a way which keeps them and our staff as safe as possible. The local authority are working on information, guidance and risk assessments for Barnet schools and we will be in touch with you again about our plans in due course.

Online Learning Surveys

We are grateful to you, your children and our teachers for completing our survey about online learning. There were many positive comments which is encouraging. We will be taking onboard the many helpful suggestions from staff, parents and students about online learning and producing an action plan to further refine the way in which we teach online.

 

Whereas 70% of parents thought that the amount of Kodesh being offered by the Hasmonean Charitable Trust programme was ‘about right’, 69% of parents and around half of students desired an increased amount of secular lessons. We will now be working with staff to find the best way to manage this, balancing the need to provide the best possible education with the fact that staff are teaching online from home, having to juggle home and work commitments until schools and childcare facilities return to normal.

 

Key Workers and Parents of Vulnerable Children

With lockdown partially lifting, we are aware that an increased number of parents may now need us to supervise their children in school.  Please be aware that the provision in school will be the same as that provided to students studying at home.  If you are a parent who is a key worker or a parent of a vulnerable child who now wishes their child to attend school, please inform the relevant headteacher:

 

Mrs Brice (Girls’ School): k.brice@hasmonean.co.uk

Mrs Lebrett (Boys’ School): d.lebrett@hasmonean.co.uk

 

Wishing you a good Shabbos and a relaxing weekend,

 

Mr A McClusky – CEO, Hasmonean MAT

Mrs D Lebrett – Headteacher, Hasmonean Boys’ School

Mrs K Brice – Headteacher Hasmonean Girls’ School

Rabbi J Golker – Menahel, Hasmonean MAT

 

Dear Parents,

Chidon HaTanach – Success for Batsheva Schwab

Firstly, we would like to give Batsheva Schwab our warmest congratulations on making it to the final of the international Bible quiz which took place yesterday. We are very, very proud of her for representing the school so magnificently and incredibly grateful to Rabbi Silverman, Miss Simonsson and everyone in the Kodesh department who supported her to perform at this level. We are so, so delighted for her and her teachers. What a fabulous achievement!

Our New Digital World

We are approaching the end of a week in which the Multi-Academy Trust launched G Suite to run a new timetable of secular lessons and The Hasmonean High School Charitable Trust launched a new and exciting summer Kodesh programme.

We would like to thank all staff for leaping into our brave new digital world. We really are grateful to them for engaging with the training that has been offered and for being willing to ‘go live’ so soon afterwards. Their goodwill in these challenging times is never taken for granted.

We would like to remind you that they, like us, are familiarising themselves with G Suite’s functions. Consequently, the online delivery is not yet being delivered as smoothly as we hope it will be when we have all had more opportunity to use the platform.

We will soon be seeking feedback from staff, parents and students on how the digital launch is working for everyone. We would like as many of you as possible to send us feedback and will be sending out links to surveys next week. We will listen to all of the feedback from our surveys and refine our online timetable and teaching in the light of it. However, we will need to bear in mind that each family is in a very different position, as indeed are our teachers, and any refinements will need to take this into consideration.

In the meantime, if you wish to receive help or have any queries in regard to digital learning, please email: help@hasmonean.co.uk and we will be in touch to support you.

Finally, we would like to thank you once again for your patience and understanding during our launch.

With best wishes,

Mr A McClusky – CEO, Hasmonean MAT

Mrs D Lebrett – Headteacher, Hasmonean Boys’ School

Mrs K Brice – Headteacher Hasmonean Girls’ School

Rabbi J Golker – Menahel, Hasmonean MAT