Headteacher Blog Archive Summer 1 2023
25 May 2023
I would like to begin by wishing Edward, Jake, Noah and Rafi in Year 6 a huge congratulations at finishing in 5th place in the National Quiz Club Maths Championship. Over 100 schools took part in the heat and to finish the quiz 5th overall is an amazing achievement. I am looking forward to being with you again for the semi finals and hope that we have as much fun then as we did on Tuesday.
On Monday Year 4 went to Broadfields School for the Barnet music festival cluster rehearsal. They practised the songs they have been learning together with other schools and are really looking forward to the festival in a few weeks time where they will be performing along side many other Barnet schools at the Arts Depot.
It was wonderful to see so many children coming in to school on Tuesday with perfectly styled hair ready for their class, sibling and individual photos. The number of children who showed me their photo smile was lovely to see and I was happy to see how smart everyone looked in their photos. Please remember to follow instructions from the School Office around ordering your photo.
On Wednesday Mrs Gishen and I spent the morning with Mrs Perez, our school improvement partner, looking at Science across the school. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting lessons and talking to the children about the exciting Science learning taking place in school.
Across the week cheesecake has been in evidence in all the classroom. The smell of cheese, sugar and cream has been a delight but has also made many of us rather hungry!
Wishing you all a good Yom Tov and a restful half term. See you all back at school on Monday 5th June.
Mrs Martin
19 May 2023
I would like to start this week by congratulating Miss Zairi who has been selected as Teacher of the Week by The Jewish Weekly. Like all our wonderful staff at Etz Chaim, Miss Zairi is a hard working and enthusiastic teacher who spends her time coming up with wonderful and interactive lessons for the children to enjoy and learn from. Her passion for teaching is evident when you see her in the classroom and the love of learning she instils in the children is a pleasure to be part of.
As always a lot has taken place in school this week. The classrooms have been full of busy children working hard on developing themselves even further. It was a pleasure to see the sun come out yesterday during our PE lessons.
As with every week, I visited classes throughout the week and it was great to see focused and purposeful learning taking place. I watched a Year 6 Ivrit lesson, a Year 3 maths lesson, I saw PE in Year 5, joined a maths lesson in Year 2, enjoyed hearing about planets and addition in Reception, watched Computing in Year 1 and spent time in Year 4 when they were learning how to read maps and use compass directions to find treasure. The common factor in all of these lessons was focused and engaged children who were being challenged to push themselves further with their thinking.
CST are offering free self-defence classes for women aged 14+ in June. The course is free of charge with an aim to help women be more aware and ready, should they be targeted by anyone with criminal intent. The topics covered during the course will range from: learning how to defend yourself on the ground to how to defend yourself while you are with your children and much more. The course will be taught be a female instructor. There are two options of course dates which you are able to choose from, both Courses will run parallel with the same content.
- Course 1: Tuesdays 6pm, 6th - 27th June
- Course 2: Wednesdays 8.40pm, 7th - 29th June (please note last session will be on Thursday)
These sessions can be booked by sending an email to training@cst.org.uk or by going to https://customervoice.microsoft.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=9TN-0lkhN0S-CGYivH6MCW5roiCHO0NGvyGLgIlJLHBUQ09GWUI4RzQ3VENMMzJDOTJMQ0lXUDZBUS4u
Wishing you all a restful weekend, Shabbat Sahlom,
Mrs Martin
12 May 2023
The stars of the week this week have been all of our Year 6 children. They have all taken their SATs test with a fantastic attitude and have shown to us how determined they are to demonstrate their skills in maths and English. The resilience and strength they have shown this week has been wonderful to see and will definitely stand them in good stead for the future.
The children have enjoyed having school and home packed lunches this week. The children eating the school sandwiches have been pleasantly surprised at how nice they have been and have enjoyed the generous fillings each day. Please can I remind you if you are sending in a lunch from home that it must be kosher and cannot contain any nuts or sesame due to allergies.
Library monitors were announced in classes this week, well done to everyone that became new monitors. Reading is something precious that we hope to encourage all our children to enjoy and we hope that these monitors will work with us to promote this too.
The school was more quiet than normal on Thursday as Year 1 and Year 2 went on a school trip to the Welsh Harp. They had a fantastic time riding on the bus to get there and when they arrived they spent the day looking at nature and the environment.
Asher loved seeing the bees, bee hive and bee keeper and was excited to tell me about the honey the bee keeper had collected.
Year 2 were very excited to see bat and woodpecker holes in a tree that was over 100 years old.
Shabbat shalom,
Mrs Martin
5 May 2023
Despite it being a shorter week than normal due to the bank holiday, this week in school has been as busy as ever.
Mental Health Awareness Week is taking place from 15th-21st May, 2023. This year’s theme is ‘Anxiety,’ to help increase awareness and understanding of anxiety and think about things we can do to help us feel calmer and happier. Having some anxiety – or worries – is totally normal. But sometimes our thoughts can get carried away and our worries get on top of us. It happens to lots of people and is one of the most common mental health problems we can face. On Wednesday in the lead up to Mental Health Awareness Week we had Adam from Streetwise come in and deliver sessions to each class focusing on body image and self-esteem. He spoke to the children about how these issues can lead to increased anxiety and acknowledged that anxiety is a normal emotion in us all. Please use the link below to gain further support and guidance on what you can do to try and cope with feelings of anxiety.
It was wonderful to see so many families supporting the school on Wednesday evening at our Fundraising Dinner. Thank you so much to the Fundraising Committee for putting on such a fantastic event that not only brought our community together but helped to raise vital funds for our school. We were fortunate enough to have Judge Rob Rinder MBE and Lord Levy attend the dinner and inspire us with their words.
On Thursday the whole school spent the day learning about and getting excited for the Kings Coronation. The children spent the day learning about the King, learning about the Royal Family and turning themselves into royalty!
We made cupcakes and decorated them for a cupcake party - Myla, Reception
Coronation day was fun, I liked making crowns - Asher, Year 1
We made the King's face out of tissue paper and wrote a letter to the King - Noa, Year 2
We liked writing an acrostic poem about King Charles - Izac and Tamar, Year 3
I enjoyed making my own castle on Purple Mash - Oli, Year 4
We looked at our family tree and the Royal Family tree - Noga, Year 5
I enjoyed making posters about the Coronation - Jaxson, Year 6
Hope you all enjoy another long weekend, Shabbat Shalom.
Mrs Martin
28 April 2023
As usual it has been a jam packed week at Etz Chaim full of learning, laughter and memorable experiences.
On Wednesday we had the most wonderful day 'travelling' to Israel and celebrating her 75th birthday. We began the day with a whole school assembly during which Miss Zairi and Ms Pieters reminded us of some of the fantastic achievements and inventions that have come out of Israel. We sang the Hatikva together and then the children split up into groups and spent the day together training as soldiers in the IDF, dancing to traditional music, learning about special Israeli people as well as many other things. It was lovely to see the children working in mixed age groups and seeing how the older children supported the younger children, and vice versa on some occasions!
Year 3 had a thoroughly enjoyable trip to the British Museum yesterday. They took part in an interactive workshop learning about Ancient Egypt and were amazed at the fact that the artefacts on display in the museum actually came from Ancient Egyptian times. We are so fortunate to have things like this on our doorstep and love taking our children to places in order to help their learning come even more alive.
Today the Year 1 children went to Mill Hill park to continue their work on litter and plants. They have been reading a book in their English lessons called The Secret Sky Garden about a little girl who turns a litter filled car park rooftop into a beautiful garden. After reading the book the class spent time discussing the impact of litter on the environment and wanted to do something positive to help our local area. The cheer when the children were told what they were going to be doing in the park echoed down the corridor, I have never heard a group of children so excited about going to pick up litter!
We are all really looking forward to the fundraising dinner taking place on Wednesday night, thank you in advance to the dinner committee who have been working so hard to organise what sounds like a fantastic evening. We look forward to seeing many of you there and to hearing the stories Rob Rinder has to share with us.
I hope you all have a restful Shabbat and enjoy the first of our long weekends,
Mrs Martin
21 April
Welcome back to the summer term. Although it may not be bright sunshine today the term has started with a bang and it has be wonderful to have everyone back in school again. On Monday all the staff spent the day in school without the children looking at and discussing ways we can make our fantastic school even better. We also welcomed Mrs Emanuel and Mrs Steel to the team. I shared with all staff our five Etz Powers and we spent time carefully considering the opportunities we already afford our children to develop these powers and considered what else could be done in the future to enhance them. In assembly on Wednesday I also introduced our Etz Powers to all the children, I wonder how many of them your children can remember!
On Tuesday Year 6 were fortunate to have a visit from Mr Bibring who came in to talk to the class about his fathers journey on the Kindertransport. He talked to them about his early life and his journey into Paddington Station. The children listened brilliantly and really took on board the lessons Mr Bibring was explaining to them about tolerance and mutual understanding. In the afternoon Year 5 and Year 6 took part in a ceremony for Yom HaShoah where we all lit yellow candles in memory of someone who perished in the Holocaust.
On Wednesday Mrs Rubin spent the morning in school filming the children and staff as we went about our normal school day. She joined us for assembly and went round to the classroom to document the children working extremely hard and playing happily in the playground. We look forward to seeing the final film at our fundraising dinner on the 3rd May.
Today Years 3 to 6 took part in an early Yom HaZikaron ceremony lead by Ms Pieters, Miss Zairi as well as Yuval our shinshinit and some of her friends. During the ceremony the children were all given names of individuals who sadly lost their lives in the Israeli army or due to a terrorist attack. We then took these names as well as Israeli flags and walked around the park in their memory.
