Editorial 26/3/2020
Dear Parent,
It has been another tumultuous week and our thoughts and tefillos go to our staff, students and parents who are unwell or who are having to cope with bereavement at this terribly difficult time.
Please be reassured that we are available for the Hasmonean community should you need us. Our pastoral staff are in contact with the students regularly and we are working tirelessly in order to create a realistic and dynamic teaching and learning schedule which we will introduce immediately after Pesach.
More details will follow over the course of this week.
Sending you all best wishes and a good Shabbos.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs D Lebrett
Headteacher – Boys’ School
Dear Parents,
We are delighted to to inform you that the Kodesh department are now inviting their students to live Shiurum via a link to the Zoom platform on Show My Homework.
The Zoom platform will be used by the Kodesh department until Pesach, after which we will be switching to Google’s G Suite for all staff to facilitate interaction between staff and students in all subjects. This platform supports features such as video conferencing and messaging between teachers and classes, storage of classroom resources and applications to support online pedagogy in a safe and secure environment.
Update on plans to upgrade digital learning
We have been working hard behind the scenes to move towards a comprehensive, secure and agile digital environment to maximise students’ learning opportunities in the immediate future. We selected Google’s G Suite for education to become our single central platform to drive forward our ambitious digital learning plans for now and the foreseeable future as it provides the latest online tools.
We are now ready to roll this out. Our intention before the Pesach holiday is to ensure:
1. All staff and students have a Google school email account
2. All staff are trained in how to safely and effectively use G Suite to upload resources and facilitate live interaction with students
3. All staff practise using the platform so that they are able to use it smoothly straight after Pesach; depending on how quickly the above can be achieved, we may be in a position to facilitate tutorials with students before the Pesach break – if this is the case, the relevant staff will be in touch with their classes
4. All staff and students are issued with a post-Pesach timetable which will include:
• Regular Kodesh shiurum
• Tutorials with subject teachers for all year groups
• Pastoral/ wellbeing/ mental health check-ins with the pastoral team
• Differentiated timetables and extra support from the SEND team.
This means that what we can offer more effective digital learning and increased staff/ student interaction straight after Pesach. In the meantime, we will continue to use Moodle and Show My Homework to upload resources, set work, communicate with students and receive feedback and work from them.
Year 11 and Year 13 exam grades
We are still awaiting Ofqual’s advice regarding examination grades for Year 11 and Year 13. We would like Year 11 to begin preparing for A Level/ BTEC studies as soon as possible and would like to support Year 13 to transition to the next stages of their lives. However, it may be the case that some of these students will still need to continue to focus on their GCSEs and A levels, depending on Ofqual’s advice. As soon as we know more, we will let you know.
On-site learning
If you are a parent who is a key worker or a parent of a vulnerable child whose circumstances change such that you are no longer able to look after your child at home, please inform the relevant headteacher. If there are sufficient numbers of children, we will then either re-open the school(s) or, if there are very few students, work with the local authority to find a hub school for them to attend. As this process may take some time to organise, please try to give us as much advance notice as you are able to if this is the case (though we appreciate that this may not always be possible)
What if I or my child has a safeguarding concern when the school is closed?
In the event of school closure, we would advise any parent or child who has a concern about their own or others’ safety to contact the Barnet MASH Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on 020 8359 4066 or contact your local authority safeguarding hub if you live in a different local authority. If your concern is school-related you will be able to email the Safeguarding Designated Senior People: l.waugh@hasmonean.co.uk (girls) and r.benarroch@hasmonean.co.uk (boys)
With kind regards,
Mr A McClusky – CEO, Hasmonean MAT
Mrs D Lebrett – Headteacher Hasmonean Boys’ School
Mrs K Brice – Headteacher Hasmonean Girls’ School
Rabbi J Golker – Menahel