Knowing each child in the ‘Sinai family’
Good morning Sammy. Good morning Ava. How are you today, Levi?” This is how headteacher, Juliette Lipshaw, welcomes the children in the morning as they come through the blue gates of Sinai Jewish Primary School. She is clearly adept at the name game as she greets each child individually. This is no easy feat. Sinai is the biggest Jewish primary school in Europe, with just under 640 pupils. Asked how she knows each child by name, she quips: “It’s my job.”
Lipshaw is a highly regarded and experienced educator with 24 years in education under her belt. The school’s motto is ‘big school, big heart, big opportunities” and it is clear that, despite the school’s size, the nurturing and child-focused approach starts at the school gates.
Lipshaw has been at the helm of Sinai for four years and has worked hard to instil a community feel there. The parents now proudly refer to themselves as part of the “Sinai family.”
“In order for this to happen we have to know each and every child,” she explains. “Happy children learn well and our whole curriculum is designed around opportunities for the Sinai child.”
This starts with the smallest members of the Sinai family, the nursery and reception children. In their own early years block, all children have a baseline assessment as they enter the school, as part of the ‘getting to know you’ process.
This allows for a tailored approach, so staff understand their starting points, from the very beginning of the pupils’ learning journey.
Nikki Tapper is the nursery manager. She is full of smiles and clearly loves her job and all of the children in the nursery. She proudly tells me that each child has a 1:1 learning intervention with their key worker twice a week, to assess maths, literacy and communication. This is balanced with lots of mixed ability group activities. “Of course learning here is done through play,” she adds. “The children do not know they are being assessed, just that they are having fun, but this approach allows us to work with each child’s individual needs, whether that be building confidence, perfecting a pencil grip or putting on their coat independently.”
Learning is more structured in reception but the same principles apply. The school adapts teaching styles to meet the children’s learning style. This is done through playing and exploring, active learning and creating and thinking critically with a focus on how the child learns as well as what they learn.
Higher up the school, assessments are carried out before and during lessons, not in hindsight. This allows the teacher to pre-teach and provide support where necessary or provide opportunities for extension for higher achievers.
This striving for excellence has seen Sinai invited back for the third year running to the Mayor of London’s Schools for Success programme. Sinai has been honoured for its commitment to reducing educational inequality and attaining exceptional results for children previously struggling academically.
Deputy head, Claire Gough, says: “We invite rich question-and-answer sessions during lessons as this is a great way to evaluate pupil understanding and deepen the children’s learning. We offer verbal and written feedback and we encourage the children to selfassess against the steps for success we set. This is all done alongside ongoing observations to really ensure we have a deep understanding of each child. We can unpick misconceptions and we can check learning within, as well as at the end of, lessons. This approach means we can provide effective feedback to keep learning moving forward.”
The interventions extend beyond the classroom. There is a regular cookery club for children who may need help with social interactions, a lunchtime boxing club for high-energy children who need to burn off steam and focus better in the afternoon and an early morning Lego club for those who benefit from a softer start to the school day… to name but a few.
At the end of a busy school day, I ask one parent about Sinai and she enthuses: “Sinai is amazing because you feel part of a lovely community, and although it is a big school, it feels like a small, personalised and loving environment for my children.”
It is clear that the time and care invested in getting to know the children pays dividends — and makes for happy children and happy parents.