This term is affectionately known in the IJE team as the term with the ‘Yoms’ and is the time in school when we mark, in quick succession Yom Ha Shoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) Yom Ha Zikaron (Israel’s Remembrance Day) and Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day). The whole school assembly for Yom HaShoah was led by a group of students who had recently returned from the school trip to Poland. It was thoughtful and moving and reflected the immensely powerful experience that the students had had on the programme. We were also privileged to have 2 more Shoah related projects running in school. Lenna Rosenberg worked with a group of Year 9 students to produce a play for younger students about the Shoah which was performed for Year 7 at JCoSS and Year 6 at Clore Shalom School. We also welcomed Anthony Lishak to school from the charity ‘Learning from the Righteous’, who brought a wonderful display about Irene Sendler to school.
A week later we were marking Yom HaZikaron, with a whole school assembly arranged by our Shinshinit Shira Begin. She is here for the year from Israel, and it was made even more poignant by the knowledge that she will be serving in the Israeli Air Force next year. We welcomed speakers from Bet HaLochem, the charity which rehabilitates and supports soldiers injured in combat and heard from 2 hugely inspiring individuals who brought the realities of the day to school.
Finally we spent Yom Ha’Atzmaut in the blazing sunshine, learning and discussing aspects of Israeli culture and politics in a truly JCoSS pluralist environment. The whole school took part in a learning programme throughout the morning and a lunchtime fair and celebration with our traditional Israeli DJ party, Israeli food experience and of course the traditional blue and white candy floss. Huge thanks to Jason and Susie form MINIMELTS for sponsoring the sweetest aspects of the day.
In other news, we were very excited to take Year 11 PSRP students to the Maccabi Challenge Orientation weekend. The students, accompanied by 2 JCoSS staff will be taking part in the Challenge Israel trip in October and we are very excited to be partnering with Maccabi on this fantastic trip. Further updates to follow!
