Reaching out, learning and supporting ea
THIS SUMMER has provided many of us with the opportunity to take a breath and review the events and emotions of the past 18 months. At Sacks Morasha primary school, in Finchley, everyone has appreciated this opportunity immensely. “We are delighted for the children entrusted to us that we have not let the Covid pandemic get in the way of providing them with a fun-packed and inspiring year,” says the school. “Every member of staff, led by our senior leadership team, managed to navigate the challenges presented by the pandemic and enabled pupils to achieve high academic success and personal growth and development.”
The school calendar was packed with nearly all the regular activities, with tweaks made where required, including chaggigot to celebrate years one and two receiving their siddurim and chumashim respectively; Lag B’Omer trips to Go Ape, Chessington, London Zoo and Legoland (with a lively visit from Ark Farm for the reception class); the year six residential trip; a fantastic achievement of fourth place for year five at the Etgar Challenge; a virtual visit from the Chief Rabbi; celebrations for the chagim, aided by parent volunteers and activities for PSHE and British Values Week, Children’s Mental Health Week and Morasha Cares Week, in which the entire student body had the opportunity to learn about various charities while raising awareness and money and giving back to the wider community. Their activities included car washing, song writing and a bake sale, to raise money for charities including Camp Simcha, Great Ormond Street Hospital, The British Heart Foundation, The Yoni Jesner Foundation, Rays of Sunshine, Young Minds and Warming the Streets.
The academic year ended with an inspiring production of The X Factory performed by year six. They rehearsed and were filmed behind closed doors, in the absence of a live audience, before releasing the film on Première Day at the end of the school year.
Leavers went on to secondary schools including Hasmonean, JFS, City of London Boys, Haberdashers’ Aske’s Girls, South Hampstead and Immanuel College. Whatever they do and wherever they go, they take with them the school’s ‘Smart’ values of Simcha,
Middot, Achdut, Ruach and Torah. The school’s excellent academic results continued, with a high percentage of pupils working at greater depth in all areas and results that continue to be well above the national average.
The PTA is a valued part of school life, raising funds and joyful community spirit through its creativity, producing ‘Chanukah Wonderland in a Box’, ‘Mad Science’-themed mishloach manot, a recipe book and the popular calendar.
This school year sees the introduction of new smartboards in many classrooms and additional iPads for students and more pupils will benefit from digital learning on an even more regular basis, something the children respond to very well. Above all, Sacks Morasha is looking forward to joining together to celebrate chagim, tefillah, Kabbalat Shabbat assemblies and meals — all times the children reminisce about, as highlights of their time at the school. “The year has definitely presented difficulties and hurdles...” says Sacks Morasha, “but we are proud of the school and every member of staff who has worked tirelessly to provide the children with stability and consistency.”
We have not let Covid get in the way of a fun-packed inspiring year’
RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
At Nancy Reuben Primary School, in Hendon, head teacher Anthony Wolf
son says: “There is usually a sense of achievement reaching the end of a school year but this year was really different... We worked tirelessly to look after our staff; protect our pupils; to keep parents informed, manage bubble closures and re-openings, remote learning and manage contact tracing... I look back over this entire period with immense pride as to what we achieved as a school.”
Despite these challenges, NRPS ended the school year on a high. “Navigating the school successfully through this was itself a significant achievement,” says Wolfson but then, following a successful fundraising campaign in May, the school went on to win the national year five Etgar Challenge for the second year running and a new primary inter-school debating competition in July. Year six staged an outdoor production for parents, followed two weeks later by an outdoor graduation and meal in the playground.
The pupil roll is up for the current academic year and interest in the school remains high. “We have recently had an increased number of prospective parents visiting. They are considering applications for January, April and September 2022 when their children can enter our very popular playgroup and pre nursery classes,” says Wolfson.
This term also sees the re-launch of a broad range of extra-curricular activities including coding, art, sports, chess, Lego, drama, cookery and public speaking. Take-up for this ‘beyond the classroom’ programme is high and Wolfson says it “opens children’s minds to new interests.” Recognising parents’ changing needs, the school is also launching wrap-around care, from 7.30am until 6pm.
As well as all these exciting developments, Wolfson says the school hopes to improve its curriculum further in the coming year, taking advantage of the freedoms offered by being an independent school. “Our ultimate aim is to stand out with a unique, bespoke and more advanced curriculum that complements our special warm and nurturing child-centred ethos.”
EMPOWERING
South Hampstead High School GDST has “continued to focus on opening doors, hearts and minds”, despite the pandemic. It hosted socially-distanced and live-streamed events in its magnificent Waterlow Hall, with guests including David Baddiel, speaking about his powerful new book, Jews Don’t Count. Proceeds from all future rentals of the school’s performance space will go towards South Hampstead’s campaign to double its bursary provision by its 150th anniversary in 2026.
The school’s ‘Speak up, Speak out’ programme, awarded the ESU Oracy Culture Prize 2020, encourages girls to reason with confidence, whether launching a lockdown radio show or lobbying for environmental change, while its debate hub, in partnership with local schools, encourages young women to find their voice.
A feminist ethos is pervasive at SHHS: four A-level scientists were the first all-girls team to win a national safe-cracking contest; a group of year eights qualified for the National Cyber
Security Centre CyberFirst Challenge; a budding engineer was awarded a prestigious Arkwright Scholarship; a mathematician achieved a nearperfect score to qualify for the British Mathematical Olympiad and director of Stem, Emma Russo, won the 2020 Daphne Jackson Medal for her work in empowering girls in physics. Also recognised for its outstanding pastoral provision, South Hampstead was shortlisted for the Independent School of Year Student Wellbeing Award 2021.
A FLOURISHING FAMILY
Over the past year, life at St Margaret’s School in Bushey “has been all about community, compassion and enrichment,” says its head, Lara Péchard. “We are immensely proud of the exceptional progress and the positive spirit our students have shown during a challenging year. We are very much a family school and seeing individual children flourish is what drives us. Over the last year, our focus has been around making life as easy as possible for our families; we listen really hard to what they need and want. This way, our school can operate in a way that is supportive and understanding, while delivering an exceptional education in the process.”
In January 2020, the school went co-educational. St Margaret’s was originally established as co-educational, in 1749, celebrating the education of boys and girls together as equals before it evolved into single-sex education in 1812. “Drawing upon its varied history, this vision remains ever more relevant today as the school continues to prepare children to confidently take on the challenges of life together as young men and women in the modern world,” says Péchard.
Alongside the modernisation of the curriculum, the school continues to invest heavily in its academic, co-curricular and boarding facilities, and in a rich programme of extra-curricular activities. Significant investments have already included a new £1 million music department and new indoor and outdoor pre-reception facilities.
In line with its family focus, it recently opened The Nursery, in response to parental demand, taking pupils from age two. This has been so successful, it is looking at expanding. The emphasis is on play, outdoor learning, creativity and music. Children particularly enjoy the school’s outdoor play facilities, resident hens and ‘home’ area.
“Our philosophy is always to work on building a culture that encourages every child to feel safe and celebrated,” adds Péchard. Last summer, some pupils launched a student diversity group to open up conversations about discrimination and to celebrate difference — this has since greatly widened its membership and activities.
“This has been particularly helpful for individuals encountering difficulties with their identity and for those who have strayed into unhelpful behaviour or language around differences. We are very optimistic that this will continue to evolve in the future too.”
St Margaret’s is also looking forward to embedding its new enrichment and sport programme without Covid restrictions, as well as opening its new music building. It has further enhanced its programme for year 11 and 13 post-exams, which the students have helped develop. It includes speakers from universities and alumni talking about their career paths. The year 12 enrichment programme is equally impressive, with lots of help for Ucas and all aspects of university life.
“Our careers programme along with our co-curricular programme this year has worked even harder to encourage, stretch and excite about the prospects on the horizon for our students,” says Péchard. “It is important that they can start to get excited about their futures and see beyond the immediate challenges of the pandemic.”
ACHIEVERS IN ALL AREAS
North London Collegiate School, in Edgware, successfully managed the transition to online lessons in the pandemic and then hybrid teaching, social distancing and class bubbles. The school was determined to continue providing the same quality of education to students, with its distinctive focus on scholarship and academic stretch and challenge beyond the restrictions of examination specifications. Alongside this, it ensured that pastoral care, mental health and wellbeing support has been paramount.
Among pastoral issues, the launch of the Everyone’s Invited website and the discussions that emerged as a result have given the school the chance to reflect on how to address these difficult conversations. Parents and students have been presented with talks and workshops from experts in child psychology and mental health, and numerous form-time sessions, PSHE lessons and assemblies have looked at ways students can be confident to deal with difficult situations if they arise. At the end of the academic year, NLCS ran activities as part of Feel Good Week, as always focusing on the fact that happy students are successful students.
Despite the challenges of the year, the class of 2021 received an exceptional set of International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma results, the strongest since NLCS started offering the IB
Diploma in 2004 and maintaining its position as the top-performing IB school in the UK. Thirty-one per cent of its IB Diploma graduates achieved the maximum 45 points — a feat typically achieved by less than one per cent of students worldwide, with the average score being just over 43. “These results are a testament to the talent, hard work and commitment of our students and teachers, and we congratulate them on such a remarkable achievement,” says NLCS.
Students and staff have continued to be ambitious in all areas of academic and extra-curricular life. The NLCS Team IQ represented the UK at the F1 in Schools world finals. Competing against 43 teams, the team finished in fifth overall, with the third fastest car. The chess team won the inaugural She Plays To Win secondary girls’ online chess league, competing against 37 teams and three NLCS students were selected from over 70,000 applicants to take part in the Government-led Cyber Security Challenge summer school, after winning at national finals.
A SHARED VISION
At Haberdashers’ Aske’s, in Elstree. Rose Hardy, headmistress at Habs Girls and Gus Lock, headmaster at Habs Boys, say “the resilience and positivity [pupils] have shown has been incredible”. Habs has launched a ten-year ‘single campus’ master plan, centred on “providing single-sex education, in a unique co-educational environment”.
It has also appointed a joint director of partnerships to widen shared academic and co-curricular opportunities.
The school has invested heavily in facilities, including Habs Girls’ multimillion-pound Stem building housing 15 new labs, and a multi-purpose centre for lectures and demonstrations, boosting its outstanding IT and science provision. Habs Boys is developing a £20 million academic hub, set for completion by summer 2022. The boys’ school has opened four-plus reception classes, bringing it in line with the girls’ school and will start to admit pupils from September 2022 at its St Albans pre-prep campus, as part of the strategy to ensure a seamless start to life at Habs.
RESILIENCE AND OPTIMISM
“Challenging, demanding, unprecedented, tiring and stressful. These are the words that come to mind when looking back over the past 12 months of leading a school through the pandemic,” says Gary Griffin, head master of Immanuel College in Bushey. “I am sure they are equally applicable to teachers, parents and pupils.”
In lockdown, Immanuel provided remote teaching using Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom, ensuring all lessons were covered and pastoral care continued over the internet and phone. Assemblies, co-curricular activities, Jewish life and learning and meetings all transferred to electronic communication. “It wasn’t easy but, having learnt the ropes at the previous lockdown, we were in a much better position to switch from reality to virtual,” says Griffin. “This also included examinations, interviews, parents’
evenings and music and drama. I have no doubt that ‘home schooling’ was a steep learning curve for parents. Some children took to it well; others struggled. On return in March 2021, we became used to bubbles, one-way systems, staggered lunches and ends of days, mask wearing and endless hand washing. Lateral flow testing became part of the weekly routine... Our regular trips and visits programme (at home and overseas) was drastically reduced and competitions with other schools curtailed. And don’t mention teacher-assessed grades! However, we have survived – albeit at some cost... we are far from out of the woods, but we are optimistic that the new term will be approaching normality.
“We are delighted with this year’s outstanding A-level and GCSE results – testament to the hard work, perseverance and resilience of our students and dedication, commitment and excellence of our staff, and we are proud of all that has been achieved by the pupils and staff at Immanuel College.
Going forward we will learn from the challenges and changes of the last 16 months, and use what we have learnt to build upon. Here’s to 2021/22!”
FOR EVERY STUDENT
Brampton College has had another year of outstanding A-level and GCSE results, with 76 per cent A*/A and 93 per cent A*-B at A-level. Its students have once again been successful with university entrance: 72 per cent achieved a place at their first-choice university, and over 80 per cent were placed at Russell Group universities.
Throughout the Covid crisis, Brampton successfully provided full, remote provision and support for all its students. Enrolment is still open for the current academic year. Brampton offers “full, comprehensive provision to help bring students up to speed; small classes and individual support from teachers; complete flexibility to respond to individual students’ needs and a full count of highly experienced teachers, ready and raring to go!”
Testament to the hard work and perseverence of students’