Plaudits for Rosh Pinah
ROSH PINAH Primary School in Edgware has been rated good for Jewish studies by Pikuach, the Board of Deputies-run inspection service.
The modern Orthodox primary enabled most pupils to achieve their potential in Jewish education and standards had improved since the previous inspection five years ago.
The overall effectiveness of Jewish studies and the spiritual development of pupils was judged outstanding.
Teachers’ enthusiasm and passion rubbed off on children. “My son wants to make kiddush by himself on Friday night,” one parent reported.
But while Hebrew reading was generally good, some classes needed more reading lessons. Pupils had made less progress in the final year — which was “due to staff changes”.
Pikuach noted the positive impact of the Jewish Curriculum Partnership’s Chumash course and was impressed by the use of technology, highlighting one task where pupils had to use QR (digital) codes to answer questions on festivals.
Another class was praised for making links between Tu Bishvat, the environment and personal spirituality. “Just as a tree grows, so too a person should grow spiritually,” children learned.
CHILDREN AT Sacks Morasha Primary in North Finchley had just enough time before the national school shutdown on Friday to complete one of the highlights of the year, the Science Week challenge.
Set tasks on the theme of “Our Diverse Planet”, children were given a natural material to explore and produce something from it that would be useful in school.
Rivka Broza, the teacher who organised it, said, “The children put a lot of hard work and effort into their ideas and it was a fantastic way to distract everyone from the bigger problems.”
The winning team from years five and six, choosing wood, made a tzedakah box out of lolly sticks. Years one and two designed a lava lamp, and the year three or four winners made a pillow from cotton — which will be given as a reward for the star reader of the week to take home.
Meanwhile, reception got stuck into clay. “We learnt that clay comes from the ground and can be different colours,” said winner Shari (pictured above). “I made a ruler out of clay. I made it really straight and I put numbers on it.”