Volunteering Opportunity: Minibus Driver

17th March 2023Website Admin

We looking for dedicated and experienced minibus drivers to transport our students to weekly swim sessions and ad-hoc outings. As a driver, you will play a vital role in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our students, while also providing a friendly and comfortable transportation experience.

By volunteering, you will be providing our students with a unique opportunity to attend invaluable swimming sessions that will contribute significantly to their development. Our curriculum includes a variety of trips throughout the year, and we rely on volunteers to help us transport students to venues that are not easily accessible by public transport.

Driving our minibus will be a rewarding experience that enables you to make a meaningful impact on our students’ education and personal growth.

What are we looking for?

  • You will need to have the D1 entitlement on your driving licence and be over the age of 21.
  • Previous experience driving a minibus is advantageous.
  • A desire to work with neurodivergent young people

What training will I get?

You will receive a full induction on the vehicle you will be driving.

The school team will provide you with an understanding of the strengths and needs of our students.

What should I do if I’m interested? 

If you are interested in volunteering for this role or would like some more information, please email [email protected]

The art of resilience

17th March 2023Website Admin

Resilience

/rɪˈzɪlɪəns/

noun

1. the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
the remarkable resilience of so many institutions

2. the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity.
nylon is excellent in wearability and resilience

Resilience is a process of moving through difficult or traumatic experiences and adapting and growing. Resilience can be cultivated in individuals and strengthened. For some people it can be challenging to identify positive aspects of themselves, and as such, the metaphor of resilience in nature could be a useful emotional bridge helping ourselves realise the ways in which we are already resilient. 

The Art Process: Absorbing Strength & Finding Meaning

Look at some of these images below for a minute or two and ask yourself: 

  • What do these images have in common?
  • Do they remind you of anything?
  • Have you ever seen nature like this yourself?
  • Is there one image that you find yourself particularly drawn to and why?
  • How did these (flowers, trees, rocks) have to adapt in order to survive?

After thinking about these questions, you may want to think about the ways in which you are resilient yourself. 

I invite you to draw or come up with an image from nature that represents your personal resilience, which is a symbolic self-portrait, using nature for inspiration. 

Using nature as a metaphor may help to create deep personal meaning, to feel acknowledged for our struggles as well as our inner strength.

Reference:

Hiring: Primary SEN Classroom Teaching Assistant

16th March 2023Website Admin

Required for: September (possibility for start in July) 

Hours and Pay: Monday-Friday,  8am-4pm , competitive salary 

Gesher School is a unique all-through school providing a specialist, meaningful and functional learning environment for young people with special educational needs. This includes language, communication and social pragmatic difficulties. We have a specialism in autism spectrum challenges (ASC).

Young people are at the heart of Gesher School, where we foster a sense of belonging and community.  Our school offers a happy, safe, friendly, and stimulating environment in which young people are supported to learn, interact and have fun.  We believe that all young people have the potential to achieve, but that every child is individual and requires a tailored, young person-centred approach to learning.

The Gesher approach is warm, friendly and nurturing. Emotional health and resilience, developing young people’s independence and learning, is at the core of our vision.

At Gesher we provide:

  • opportunities that enable young people to thrive as we want our children to be ambitious about achieving their full potential
  • a collaborative learning team around every young person to support each young person’s learning needs and maximise meaningful learning opportunities
  • a therapeutic team that works together with families to nurture and support young people’s emotional, social, and academic development
  • a partnership with families to improve the lives and life chances of young people with SEND by ensuring that they are healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, and experience the wider community

Being part of our learning community, you will be able to use your creativity and shape the way our school provides excellent learning opportunities for our young people.

As a member of our team, you will:

  • Join an innovative learning community with ambitious practices. Not only do we want to have an impact on the young people in our school, we also want to help shape the future of special education nationally and internationally. 
  • Join a committed community of staff and parents and wider supporters.
  • Be supported to become the best you can be. We believe in valuing all our staff and therefore take professional development very seriously. In return for their high level of commitment to enabling our young people to reach the best outcomes, we will provide our staff with excellent opportunities for growth and development.
  • Always be supported in terms of your leadership and you will be able to take on responsibilities in various areas of school life.
  • Have access to a network of forward-thinking practitioners (Big Education, Rethinking Assessment, XP, etc.) via other members of our team. 

For further information, please visit www.gesherschool.com. 

To apply, please complete an application which can be found here. 

Please, complete and return your application by May 16th to [email protected]. CVs will not be accepted. 

Interviews will be organised on a rolling basis. This ad may be withdrawn as a suitable candidate is identified. 

Diversity is a core value of Gesher School.  We believe the power of diversity enriches all of us by exposing us to a range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions. As such, we actively encourage people from a variety of backgrounds to apply for roles at our school. 

Gesher School is committed to safeguarding young people and staff. Successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.

Hiring: Secondary SEN Classroom Teaching Assistant

16th March 2023Website Admin

Required for: September (possibility for start in July) 

Hours and Pay: Monday-Friday,  8am-4pm , competitive salary 

Gesher School is a unique all-through school providing a specialist, meaningful and functional learning environment for young people with special educational needs. This includes language, communication and social pragmatic difficulties. We have a specialism in autism spectrum challenges (ASC).

Young people are at the heart of Gesher School, where we foster a sense of belonging and community.  Our school offers a happy, safe, friendly, and stimulating environment in which young people are supported to learn, interact and have fun.  We believe that all young people have the potential to achieve, but that every child is individual and requires a tailored, young person-centred approach to learning.

The Gesher approach is warm, friendly and nurturing. Emotional health and resilience, developing young people’s independence and learning, is at the core of our vision.

At Gesher we provide:

  • opportunities that enable young people to thrive as we want our children to be ambitious about achieving their full potential
  • a collaborative learning team around every young person to support each young person’s learning needs and maximise meaningful learning opportunities
  • a therapeutic team that works together with families to nurture and support young people’s emotional, social, and academic development
  • a partnership with families to improve the lives and life chances of young people with SEND by ensuring that they are healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, and experience the wider community

Being part of our learning community, you will be able to use your creativity and shape the way our school provides excellent learning opportunities for our young people.

As a member of our team, you will:

  • Join an innovative learning community with ambitious practices. Not only do we want to have an impact on the young people in our school, we also want to help shape the future of special education nationally and internationally. 
  • Join a committed community of staff and parents and wider supporters.
  • Be supported to become the best you can be. We believe in valuing all our staff and therefore take professional development very seriously. In return for their high level of commitment to enabling our young people to reach the best outcomes, we will provide our staff with excellent opportunities for growth and development.
  • Always be supported in terms of your leadership and you will be able to take on responsibilities in various areas of school life.
  • Have access to a network of forward-thinking practitioners (Big Education, Rethinking Assessment, XP, etc.) via other members of our team. 

For further information, please visit www.gesherschool.com. 

To apply, please complete an application which can be found here. 

Please, complete and return your application by May 16th to [email protected]. CVs will not be accepted. 

Interviews will be organised on a rolling basis. This ad may be withdrawn as a suitable candidate is identified. 

Diversity is a core value of Gesher School.  We believe the power of diversity enriches all of us by exposing us to a range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions. As such, we actively encourage people from a variety of backgrounds to apply for roles at our school. 

Gesher School is committed to safeguarding young people and staff. Successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.

Hiring:  KS3 Business & ICT SEN Teacher

8th March 2023Website Admin

KS3 Business & ICT SEN Teacher

Full Time or Part Time 

Required for: September 2023 (opportunity for transition days will be arranged).

Working Days: Monday-Friday, availability for part time role

Pay: MPS or UPS based on experience (opportunities for TLR with additional responsibilities)

Do you want to work in a school with like minded, fun and creative individuals? Do you want to wake up excited to go to work everyday? 

Gesher School is a unique all-through school providing a specialist, meaningful and functional learning environment for young people with mild to moderate special educational needs. This includes ASC, ADHD, Down Syndrome and MLD. 

We are looking for a confident, enthusiastic and highly motivated KS3 Science or Maths Teacher to join our team at Gesher school. This post would suit a passionate, dynamic and adaptable individual who ideally has experience teaching Maths or/and Science within a SEND environment. 

This position offers fantastic opportunities to develop your skills as a practitioner within an innovative, supportive and collaborative team environment. 

We can offer you: 

  • Paid half day Friday closure in the winter months
  • 12 weeks paid holidays plus paid extra Jewish holidays throughout the year
  • Ring fenced half day PPA from home, if desired 
  • Monthly well-being events and inset days 
  • Regular social opportunities
  •  A Competitive salary 

The role features relevant training, support and supervision alongside paid school holidays, dedicated administrative time and enhanced CPD opportunities. You will be a fully integrated and integral member of the whole school team. See us in action here: https://vimeo.com/407682934/a9a6af1bc8 and http://gesherschool.com 

Gesher School is a unique all-through school providing a specialist, meaningful and functional learning environment for young people with special educational needs. This includes language, communication and social pragmatic difficulties. We have a specialism in autism spectrum challenges (ASC).

Young people are at the heart of Gesher School, where we foster a sense of belonging and community.  Our school offers a happy, safe, friendly, and stimulating environment in which young people are supported to learn, interact and have fun.  We believe that all young people have the potential to achieve, but that every child is individual and requires a tailored, young person-centred approach to learning.

The Gesher approach is warm, friendly and nurturing. Emotional health and resilience, developing young people’s independence and learning, is at the core of our vision.

At Gesher we provide:

  • opportunities that enable young people to thrive as we want our children to be ambitious about achieving their full potential
  • a collaborative learning team around every young person to support each young person’s learning needs and maximise meaningful learning opportunities
  • a therapeutic team that works together with families to nurture and support young people’s emotional, social, and academic development
  • a partnership with families to improve the lives and life chances of young people with SEND by ensuring that they are healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, and experience the wider community

Being part of our learning community, you will be able to use your creativity and shape the way our school provides excellent learning opportunities for our young people.

As a member of our team, you will:

  • Join an innovative learning community with ambitious practices. Not only do we want to have an impact on the young people in our school, we also want to help shape the future of special education nationally and internationally. 
  • Join a committed community of staff and parents and wider supporters.
  • Be supported to become the best you can be. We believe in valuing all our staff and therefore take professional development very seriously. In return for their high level of commitment to enabling our young people to reach the best outcomes, we will provide our staff with excellent opportunities for growth and development.
  • Always be supported in terms of your leadership and you will be able to take on responsibilities in various areas of school life.
  • Have access to a network of forward-thinking practitioners (Big Education, Rethinking Assessment, XP, etc.) via other members of our team. 

For further information, please visit www.gesherschool.com. 

To apply, please complete an application form that can be found here.

Please, complete and return your application by May 16th to [email protected]. CVs will not be accepted. 

Interviews will be organised on a rolling basis. This ad may be withdrawn as a suitable candidate is identified. 

Diversity is a core value of Gesher School.  We believe the power of diversity enriches all of us by exposing us to a range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions. As such, we actively encourage people from a variety of backgrounds to apply for roles at our school. 

Gesher School is committed to safeguarding young people and staff. Successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.

 

Celebrating World Book Day

6th March 2023Website Admin

Gesher’s World Book Day celebration was a resounding success, with a host of educational activities aimed at fostering a love of reading among students. The day’s highlight was ‘The Big Write,’ a collaborative story-writing exercise where each class contributed a part to create a whole-school story. The students’ enthusiasm and creativity shone through as they worked together to weave a compelling tale.

 In the afternoon, the classrooms were transformed into magical worlds inspired by some of the best books, allowing students to immerse themselves in their favourite literary worlds while learning at the same time. This thematic approach to learning provided an engaging and exciting experience for the students, who left the day feeling motivated and inspired to continue reading and learning.

Rimon class celebrated by exploring the theme of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! They even made a video tasting different kinds of chocolate to see which ones were their favourites. It was a sweet way to honour the importance of reading and the joy of books.

The celebration of World Book Day highlighted the transformative power of books in transporting us to new worlds, sparking our imaginations, and broadening our perspectives. From classic literature to modern-day bestsellers, books have the ability to inspire, entertain, and educate us. By reminding students of the magic of storytelling, we were able to emphasise the incredible impact that books can have on our lives.

Overall, World Book Day was a great success, fostering a love of reading and inspiring students to continue exploring the wonders of literature.

The Big Write – by Gesher School

Once upon a time, in a land far far away a superhero went swimming in a pool. Then she flew back home to eat an apple. After, she went to the beach to go swimming. She was feeling happy. Later, she went to the jungle and met a bear. She took carrots and ice cream to the jungle and ate them there. Later the superhero went to Westminster Abbey by the Jubilee Line. She sat on a chair with lights all around her and met King Charles.  

She took the train to see her daddy, who lives in the scary jungle. On her way, she saw a fox. He was busy eating a burger. He was soft and he was as wide as a train! He was as long as a snake. She was visiting her daddy because she hadn’t seen him in a long time… and she had something important to tell him… 

Jonny the Rabbit, the SUPERVILLAN was coming to steal his bedroom and EAT HIM! This made her feel sad. But she had to save her daddy.

She needed help, so she called her friend Jack who was another superhero. He had lots of powers, including speed, fireballs, lighting, super strength, and ice blast! 

He teleported onto the train – BANG! She was shocked, but she said “I am so happy you are here. Now help me!” “I can help you but we have to be quick because I don’t have much time. I am a very busy person and I have to go to Dominos for pizza later!” The superhero girl, who was called Anna, said “But I really need help or my dad will be eaten by a supervillain rabbit! Do you really choose pizza over my dad?”

Anna and Jack realised they needed a plan to help Anna’s dad. They needed rope, carrots, and a giant trap. Jack compromised and said he could help if they got Dominos delivered so he could eat pizza while he helped. Anna agreed and they super-blasted to her dad’s house. When they got there, her dad was shouting for help. Anna and Jack told him they were there to help. They were both nervous but Jack was too busy being hungry and thinking about his pizza.

Anna turned to Jack and said, “order the pizza, I’ll start the fight then set up the trap. I’ll have a pizza with olives and…” “Sure, but please hurry, I’m hungry”, said Jack. “I’ll have extra cheese,” Anna exclaimed as she ran towards the house. She heard her dad screaming inside for help. “Ahhh, help the bunny is attacking me with a carrot sword. He’s about to hit my head!” screamed Anna’s dad. Anna slowly entered the house and started creeping up the stairs to her father’s master bedroom. She opened the double doors gently and saw the seemingly cute, adorable bunny trying to kill her father. Anna instantly felt anxious, worried and filled with fear. She started thinking: I’ve got to save my dad, or else… I need to get that bunny outside into Jack’s trap. Maybe with lots of carrots. But how?

Anna came up with a plan whilst eating her scrumptious Dominos. She dug a hole so deep and gigantic that the rabbit would never be able to escape. She took the carrots and placed them on the floor and started to walk over to get the job done. Anna decided she was going to karate-kick the bunny in the face. She kicked as high as the sky and the rabbit went flying. After this, Anna began to impersonate the rabbit by hopping quickly. The bunny soon noticed the long trail of neon orange carrots and frantically hopped over. The rabbit couldn’t stop in time and fell into the hole – SPLAT! 

The rabbit fell hard onto the brown mud and soil. He was slightly wounded and he hurt his leg. He wanted to trick Anna and her dad, James, so that he could carry out the mission and kill him. He decided to fake his own death. He screamed as loud as a fart for 30 seconds to deceive the superheroes. After a short while, the screams stopped and the rabbit was not moving. Anna and her dad sighed in relief and jumped for joy as they thought the evil rabbit was dead. They skipped away merrily. 

Everyone went to the kitchen and they met two new superheroes. One was a superhero who wore blue and red and the other one was a superhero who wore yellow. The blue and red superhero was feeling sick and the yellow superhero was feeling sick too. They had to go to the doctor which was in Waterloo. The doctor used temperatures and a thermometer to make them better. When they were feeling better the superheroes went climbing. Then they felt happy. 

GESHER OPEN DAY UPDATE

2nd March 2023Website Admin

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to give you all a quick update about the Gesher School Open Day that was supposed to be happening in March. Unfortunately, we’ve had to postpone it until October for some unforeseen reasons. We know some of you were looking forward to it, but we hope you can bear with us on this one.

The good news is that we’re still going to have an amazing Open Day in October and we’re going to make sure it’s even better than we originally planned. We’re excited to show you what Gesher School has to offer and we hope to see you all there!

Thanks for your understanding and we’ll keep you posted on the details for the October event.

Cheers,

The Gesher School Team

Reflections on Limmud Conference

20th February 2023Ali Durban

Sarah Sultman, Gesher Co-Founder

Over the past decade, we’ve been on a journey to launch Gesher, with seven years as a flourishing school following three years of deep research and engagement with the sector to anchor our plans.

Myself and my co-founder, Ali Durban, have learned many valuable lessons about what it takes to set up an organisation from scratch – and yet how far we still have to go to inspire the wider education sector about what needs to change to achieve equity for children with SEN and those who learn differently.

We’ve been building relationships with people to share our learning. We are particularly keen to share how we designed and built our school – creating a blueprint around a vision, purpose and design principles that we carry into everything we do.

Although Gesher is a special school, the idea of using a blueprint to define your work is not limited to the creation of a school. Our approach provides plenty of ideas for youth movements, communities and other education organisations.

In pursuit of our aims to reach a wider audience, at the end of last year, Ali and I were delighted to be invited to speak at Limmud Conference at the NEC in Birmingham to people of all ages and interests from across the Jewish community.

Limmud Conference is an annual five-day learning experience that brings together thousands of people to celebrate Jewish culture through arts, dance, song, book reviews and talks. Here we delivered two sessions: one on the ‘Gesher Blueprint – from start-up to Outstanding’ and the other on ‘SEN and the system’.

We were pleased to welcome educators, parents and adults with SEN to our first session to hear about our journey to build Gesher. As one attendee, Tal Bassali from Zehud Jewish Online School said:

“I was fascinated that someone had re-invented, redesigned something in education – the idea that anything was broadly by design was exciting to me. Most solutions need to be reverse-engineered.”

Our second session on ‘SEN and the system’ again drew an audience of parents of children who learn differently, educators and local authority employees with a SEND interest who asked us questions about our personal experiences and sought advice and support on how to navigate the complexities of the system.

While both sessions offered us a brilliant chance to share ideas, listen and contribute to other people’s work and lives, we were aware that we rarely reach beyond a SEND audience when we talk to people.

Our aim of broadening our reach means we want to engage the wider world of education to help achieve greater understanding and inclusivity for children who learn differently, but also because we believe that we can learn from each other.

 

 

Hiring: Clinical Specialist (SLT / Psychologist / Psychiatrist) trained in ADOS and ADI Assessments 

31st January 2023Website Admin

Clinical Specialist (SLT / Psychologist / Psychiatrist) trained in ADOS and ADI Assessments 

Gesher Assessment Centre, Pinner

Full time post: Monday to Friday 9 – 5pm

Salary: Dependent on experience (band 6/7)

We are seeking a specialist with at least two years experience of conducting ADOS and ADI-R assessments to work in our new Assessment Centre.  The Assessment Centre is currently based in Pinner, North London. You will join the Clinical Lead to provide assessments and offer post-diagnostic support to help children, young people, and their families understand their diagnosis. As this is a new provision, you will have the opportunity to help shape and grow the Assessment Centre. 

Job Summary: 

To work within the Gesher Assessment Centre to provide an assessment and diagnostic service and to develop, implement and evaluate specialist advice, support, and training to meet the needs of children and young people. 

To work within a multidisciplinary team for assessment and diagnosis of Autism and related disorders and deliver parent workshops to support understanding post-diagnosis. 

Key Relationships:

  • Children, young people & parents/carers 
  • Clinical Lead / Assessment Centre

Key Skills

Minimum 2 years ADOS-2 and ADI-R training

Duties and Responsibilities:

  1. To support the Clinical Lead in the development of the Centre.
  2. To provide specialist, autonomous clinical case management highly, including specialist assessments.
  3. To develop information and resources for clients, families, and relevant others about social, speech, language and communication needs.
  4. To write comprehensive reports to be shared with families and a range of professionals, reflecting specialist knowledge.
  5. To keep up to date with new techniques and developments for promoting and maintaining good practice. 
  6. To raise awareness of the Assessment Centre.
  7. To work with the Clinical Lead to identify training needs and to develop, provide and evaluate appropriate specialist training for parents and carers.
  8. To participate in projects, activities and events, including attendance at team meetings. 
  9. To establish appropriate partnerships with agencies and disciplines seeking to promote social and educational inclusion for children with social communication needs. 
  10. To receive and communicate complex, sensitive, or contentious information to clients, carers, families and other professionals. This may include those who are under stress and/or have challenging communication difficulties.  

      Management and Leadership 

  1. To support the development of the Assessment Centre and clinical input including attending working groups, policy development, specific projects, and events. 
  2. To use highly specialist knowledge to support the Clinical Lead on issues of service delivery/ policy development, including access and equity shortfalls and service pressures. 
  3. To contribute to interagency/multi-disciplinary working and team building. 
  4. To use highly specialist knowledge to inform service/policy developments. 
  5. To propose ideas for improving services to highly specialist areas/whole service and to contribute to service development.
  6. To raise the profile of the centre through appropriate social media channels
  7. To work with the Clinical Lead to grow the centre’s profile to key stakeholders.

Financial and Physical Resources Responsibilities 

  1. To work with the Clinical Lead to monitor stock levels, purchasing new equipment as appropriate and effective oversight of all expenditure. 
  2. To follow procedures for ensuring the security, care, and maintenance of equipment, taking responsibility for maintaining standards of infection control and safety– 

Education & Professional Development

  1. To engage in reflective practice with peers through participation in peer review, peer mentoring and supervision as appropriate.
  2. To facilitate the development of others’ problem solving/negotiation skills within peer review/support. 
  3. To plan, monitor and support the work of administrative support. 
  4. To work with the Clinical Lead to generate appropriate strategies for management of own workload.
  5. To take on organisational responsibilities within, and contribute to, team meetings.
  6. To develop and provide regular specialist training on a range of topics. 
  7. To provide second opinions linked to clinical specialism. 
  8. To contribute to identifying and meeting training needs within the team. 

Information Management 

  1. To maintain up to date and accurate case notes in line with HCPC/RCSLT professional standards.
  2. To share information with carers, school staff and other professionals, observing data protection guidelines and client confidentiality. 

To gather and update activity data accurately and regularly, ensuring the provision of such information promptly within Trust guidelines.

  1. To participate in areas of risk management, quality standards and clinical effectiveness. 
  2. To support team-wide initiatives to seek the views of children, parents and partner organisations on the quality and effectiveness of service provided. 
  3. To participate in departmental research, Clinical Governance/Audit projects, including collection and provision of research data as required. 

Freedom to Act 

  1. To support leadership within a specialist area and team. 
  2. To manage a complex caseload independently. 
  3. To be accountable for own professional action and recognise own professional boundaries, seeking advice as appropriate 
  4. To work within defined departmental and national protocols/policies and professional code of conduct and the Trust’s value-based behaviours. 
  5. To work independently accessing line management, supervision, and performance development reviews (appraisal) at predetermined intervals. 

 

Recruitment Application Form