Headteacher Blog Archive Spring 1 2025

14 February 2025

This week, we marked Safer Internet Day with a range of activities to help our students learn how to stay safe online. We began with a special assembly led by Mrs Cohen and some of her team of Computing Ambassadors, highlighting the importance of responsible internet use. Students also took part in interactive workshops run by Streetwise, where they explored real-life online safety scenarios. In class, teachers delivered lessons focused on digital responsibility, ensuring that every child understands how to navigate the online world safely. Staying safe online is an essential value, and we are committed to equipping our children with the knowledge and skills they need to make smart, responsible choices.

On Thursday, we celebrated Tu BiShvat, the Jewish New Year for Trees, with special fruit sederim across the school. Thank you to those of you that sent in items for these. Rabbi Rose joined Key Stage 2 for their seder, guiding the children through the significance of the day. Throughout the week, students took part in activities focused on the environment, trees, and fruit, deepening their understanding of nature and sustainability. To mark the occasion, the whole school participated in a planting session with one of our parents, Mr Orman, sowing parsley seeds—which we hope will be ready to use for Pesach. It was a meaningful and hands-on way to connect with nature and our Jewish traditions.

Congratulations to the following children for showing Academic Excellence this week and for joining me at my tea party:

Cici M, Zach Z, Mia C, Sylvie B, Joely T, Freddie J and Jonah G.

As we reach the end of a busy and enriching half term, we want to wish our entire school community a safe and restful break. The past weeks have been filled with learning, celebrations, and special activities, and our students have worked incredibly hard. We hope everyone takes this time to relax, recharge, and enjoy time with family and friends. We look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready for an exciting new half term ahead!

Shabbat shalom,

Mrs Martin

7 February 2025

We have had a busy week this week with a lot of special events taking place across the school.

We were delighted to launch our February Kindness Checklist at the start of the week! The aim is to encourage children to complete one act of kindness each day throughout the month. We look forward to hearing who rises to the challenge and achieves it by the end of the month!

As part of Children's Mental Health Week, we have participated in a variety of activities across the school. On Tuesday morning, each class attended an assembly focusing on this year’s theme, "Know Yourself, Grow Yourself." During the assembly, we explored the idea that when we take notice of ourselves and how we feel, we can make better choices and build stronger connections with our feelings and behaviours. Recognizing these aspects of ourselves also helps us understand when we might need support. The week has been a valuable opportunity for reflection and growth, and we’re proud of the thoughtful discussions and activities taking place throughout the school.

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the entire school had the wonderful opportunity to enjoy one of the fantastic plays from The Festival of Spoken Ivrit. Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 were treated to The Lion and the Mouse. Year 3 and Year 4 watched Peter Pan and Tom's Superhero. Year 5 and Year 6 experienced Champion of Israel. The three plays captivated the children, bringing joy and excitement while demonstrating that Ivrit is truly a living language. It was a memorable experience for everyone!

On Thursday afternoon, we had the privilege of being visited by Electric Umbrella for a wonderful sing-a-long workshop and performance for the whole school. Electric Umbrella is a charity that empowers learning-disabled and neurodivergent individuals of all abilities to sing, dance, perform, and educate others. Their key message, "There is no such thing as normal," resonated deeply with us all. During the performance, they also sang about how everyone is a superhero with their own unique superpower—the power of a smile. It was an uplifting and inspiring experience for everyone involved!

Congratulations to the following children for showing Educational Excellence in class this week and for joining me at my tea party:

Jack L, Kiki B, Lyla V, Levi W, Harry F, Louie N and Joseph R.

Shabbat shalom,

Mrs Martin

31 January 2025

I cannot quite believe how time is flying by and we are already at the end of January. This week the school has, as always, been a hive of activity. Reception have been focussing on the story of The Three Little Pigs this week. They have all huffed and puffed and pretended to blow houses down! Year 1 went on a local area walk this week to look some of the landmarks near our school. They particularly liked ending their walk at the playground in the park. Year 2 have been focussing on beginning to write with joined up, cursive handwriting. They have spent a lot of time thinking about the joins and how to carefully connect one letter to another.

Year 3 learnt about different hills and mountains in the United Kingdom. The linked previous learning on earthquakes to help them understand how mountains are formed. They then used atlases to locate different mountain ranges across the UK. Year 4 created some fantastic masterpieces using erasers. They sketched pencil lines across the page in different shades and then used erasers to rub out the pencil lines in order to create a portrait of one of their classmates. Year 5 have spent the week looking at fractions. They have managed to calculate fractions of amounts and quantities and use their fraction knowledge to find the whole number. Year 6 have been continuing their learning on World War Two by learning about The Holocaust this week. They had a special session with Mrs Cohen and Year 5 on Monday for Holocaust Memorial Day and have also had lessons covering topics including Kristallnacht and the Kindertransport.

On Wednesday we took another two teams to the Maccabi Year 5 and 6 Boys Football Tournament. The Green team played extremely well together and were able to win 3 out of their 5 matches. The blue team also played extremely well and improved their performance from the last tournament loosing to the eventual overall winners in the semi final. Congratulations to all the boys for their strong playing and for representing our school so well.

Congratulations to the following children for showing Educational Excellence in class this week and for joining me at my tea party:

Naomi W, Indi C, Alfie R, Walter B, Noa S, Louis B and Ruby L.

Shabbat shalom,

Mrs Martin

24/01/25

We announced our new library monitors during Tuesday morning’s assembly. It was wonderful to hear from the teachers how many children put themselves forward for election this term. I also noticed the many thoughtful posters in each class about what makes a good library monitor. It must have been a very difficult choice for the children and teachers when deciding who to vote for!

On Wednesday a group of Year 5 and 6 girls represented Etz Chaim at the Maccabi Football Tournament. The girls performed brilliant on the day and managed to win 2 matches, draw 1 and loose 1. They scored 6 tremendous goals during the matched and only didn't qualify for the quarter finals due to goal difference. Congratulations to the following girls for competing so well Katie A, Tali B, Shulamit B, Ava G, Sophia G, Sylvie K, Ruby L and Madeline W. As always, a huge thank you to Mr King for training the girls each week and for managing them on the day.

The PaJeS website has a Parents section which include recordings of all of their talks and webinars. They are a great resource for parents on different topics including Smartphones, ADHD, Food and Understanding Girls-managing anxiety, friendships and striving for perfection. All sessions can be found here:

https://pajes.org.uk/wellbeing/for-parents/parent-resources/.

The most recent PaJeS Wellbeing webinar for parents focused on EBSA (Emotionally Based School Avoidance). They had over 200 parent register and know many have watched the recording since. Parents felt it was very reassuring and informative and said “I felt less alone, that my child was not the only one struggling and that there is help and support out there.” And “I learnt a huge amount - really found it exceptionally useful.”

Barnet are offering free Dr Bike sessions to all. The Dr Bike sessions are run by qualified bicycle mechanics and are there for members of the public to take along their bicycles to have a free, full safety check, which includes the condition of tyres, rims, gears, brake function and tyre pressure, any necessary adjustments can be made if required. the whole process is free and available for both adult and child bicycles to have the free safety check and adjustments.

Location Name	Location Description	Date	Time
Middlesex University	Pavement on The Burroughs, outside Middlesex University adjacent to Hendon Fire Station, 91 The Burroughs, NW4 4BL	12/02/25	4pm to 7pm
High Barnet, Stapylton Rd car park	Area immediately to the right of carpark entrance (EN5 4LR)	19/2/25	4pm to 7pm
Finchley, Lodge Lane car park	Yellow chevrons immediately to the right of the entrance to the Car Park (opposite NL Auction Rooms N12 8JH)	12/03/25	4pm to 7pm
Temple Fortune	By Bike racks outside entrance to M&S Food Hall at 820 Finchley Road, NW11 6XL	19/3/25	4pm to 7pm

Congratulation to Ayla I, Mola S, Brooke R, Lulu B, Emily W, Izac A and Samson L who came to my tea party this week for showing Academic Excellence in class. I thoroughly enjoyed discussing all the off line games they like to play at home, Uno was the clear winner!

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs Martin

17 January 2025

It has seemed like a very short week for me this week as I spent Monday and Tuesday at the PaJeS Headteacher conference with around 35 primary, secondary and special school Heads from all around the country. The conference was an enlightening and inspiring experience, with some fantastic and thought provoking speakers. It also providing me with valuable time to talk with other Headteachers as well as time to reflect on the many wonderful things we do in our school and the incredible community we have here. It reminded me just how fortunate we are to have such a dedicated and passionate team of staff and, of course, the amazing children who make our school such a special place.

On Monday we were delighted to welcome David Pinto-Duschinsky the MP for Hendon who spoke to all of the children about his role in Parliament and the local issues that matter to the children. The children spoke to him about their concerns about potholes, littering and the environment.

On Tuesday evening our virtual PTA AGM was held. During the meeting, the current PTA team officially stepped down from their posts, and three new parents were voted in as Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. Mrs Vittori will become the new Chair of the PTA, Mr Mamka the new Secretary and Mrs Kaiser the Treasurer. They will officially begin these roles after February half term to allow time for a formal handover. I want to thank them in advance for their commitment and dedication to supporting our school community.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the outgoing PTA team. Thank you to Mrs Alexander, Mr Miller, Mrs Bladon and Mrs Jacobson. The time, effort, and passion they have all poured into the PTA have greatly enriched our school community, and we are truly grateful.

On Wednesday two teams of Year 3 and 4 footballers took part in the Maccabi Football Tournament. Both teams played extremely well and worked exceptionally hard as a team. Our green team, Asher C, Itay D, Joseph G, Jordan H, Oliver K, Jonah M, Sam S and Hannah Z, played some fantastic matches against some strong teams and held there own in the tournament. I am delighted to announce that our blue team also played some fantastic football, resulting in them winning the whole competition - a huge congratulations to our champion footballers - Sylvie B, Rocco B, Dylan C, Harry F, Dylan M, Robi N and Jax R.

Congratulations to the following children for working hard this week in class and demonstrating educational excellence:

Ariel S, Blake K, Eliana B, Immy F, Raffie G, Gracie C and Sylvie K.

Towards the end of this morning Years 1 to 6 took part in one of their regular Circle Meetings. The focus of todays session was to think about playground games and learn to play some games which they would enjoy taking part in during morning and lunch breaks. We hope that the children will then enjoy playing them together during their free time.

Shabbat shalom,

Mrs Martin

10 January 2025

Happy New Year! I hope this message finds you well and that you had a restful and enjoyable holiday and Chanukah. As we begin this new school term, we are excited to welcome your children back to school and look forward to a term full of learning, growth and success.

This week our new lass Ambassadors were announced in assembly. Each Class from Reception to Year 6 has a Class Ambassador. The role of the Class Ambassador is a very important one. They represent children’s views across the school and provide valuable and insightful feedback to the Senior Leadership Team. I would like to thank our Class Ambassadors from 2024 for their fantastic job over the year, I really enjoyed our meetings. Congratulations to our new Class Ambassadors for 2025. I am really looking forward to to our first meeting and to welcoming them on board.

The Guardian has published a news story on the introduction of new measures on Roblox aiming to improve protection for children on the online gaming platform. Updates include greater parental controls allowing parents to monitor their children’s activity on the platform; adjustments to built-in limits around how children under 13-years-old can communicate with others; and changes to content warning labels. Please read this article for further information: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2024/nov/18/what-is-roblox-everything-you-need-to-know-about-online-game-platform

On Wednesday we were delighted to receive delivery of a new Buddy Bench for our playground which we won in a competition run by M&S and YoungMinds as part of World Mental Health Day back in October. We were lucky enough to receive one of only one hundred benches which were up for grabs. The bench provides children with a place to rest during break times as well as an easy way to signal to others that they would like someone to play with or they would like to play with someone different.

Daily reading at home is vital for a child’s development. It strengthens their literacy skills, expands their vocabulary, and fosters a lifelong love of learning. Regular reading helps improve comprehension, critical thinking, and focus, while also providing a wonderful opportunity for parents and children to bond over stories and ideas. Just 10-15 minutes a day can make a significant difference to a child’s academic success and confidence.

This week it has been lovely to see all the children engaging across the school with the Hebrew reading activities in JS and Ivrit lessons. Seeing them earn JALEPH! points for excellent reading has been a joy.

Congratulations to the following children for impressing their teachers and showing educational excellence in class this week:

Ezra R, Abe R, Annie B, Ariella B-P, Oliver K, Lola M and Mason M.

Shabbat shalom and stay warm,

Mrs Martin