’Trek for Gesher’ in Jan 2023 For those of you who know me, you will know that I am a keen and avid trekker. It ticks all of my boxes of adventure, camaraderie, head space and physical activity.
Back in October 2018 (pre Covid!), 20 marvellous women trekked with me to Matchu Pitchu via a High Andes Pass to raise over £70,000 for Gesher.
The Next ‘Trek for Gesher’ will take place JANUARY 2023 (19th-29th). We will be trekking in Colombia following the trail to Thet Lost City and having a shabbat experience in Bogata.
Bookings are open and anyone over the age of 18 is invited to join. All the details including costs/itinerary can be found on the link below.
https://www.ultimatechallenges.co.uk/challenges/south-america/gesher-colombia-trek/
If you have any questions please do get in touch.
Hope you will consider joining us!
Best, Sarah
Gesher moved to its new home in Pinner in September 2021. Since then we have been very fortunate to welcome The Chief Rabbi to the school on three occasions.
The first was to put our mezzuzahs up in our original building! The second was to record the Shabbat UK 2022 song with the students and the third was in April when the school transformed itself into a sensory immersive Pesach experience replete with animal sounds, live locusts and plenty of frogs. Three of our students hosted The Chief Rabbi and other guests along the ten plagues learning walk culminating in a freedom party in the school hall.
It was a really special afternoon and we are truly grateful for the time, support and interest The Chief Rabbi has shown to Gesher. We very much look forward to his next visit next term.
Over the last year, Gesher has been lucky enough to have received regular visits from a young man called Leo. He has been fundraising prior to his Bar Mitzvah so as to able to support Gesher pupils in accessing music through drumming and percussion, something which is a huge passion of Leo’s. Subsequently, he raised over £700 and has kindly used this to purchase a number of instruments which Leo has donated
to Gesher. Alongside this, Leo has also been investing his time in coming to demonstrate how to use the drums and provide introductory lessons for our pupils. We cannot understate how incredibly grateful we are to Leo for the kindness and generosity he has displayed, and it is a testament to what an outstanding citizen he is within the community. Thank you, Leo – our pupils cannot wait to get their hands on our new drum kits!
The physical design of classrooms in the UK typically focuses on how teaching will be delivered, rather than the learning needs of students. As part of Gesher’s relocation and expansion into an all-through special school we have been working with the team at Planning Learning Spaces to design inspiring and purposeful learning spaces that inspire and empower our students and facilitates their outputs and outcomes.
One of these spaces is our exciting new Makerspace which will come to life this summer and was made possible thanks to the generosity of The Wolfson Family Charitable Trust – you can find out more about the space and the process here.
Supporting Children to manage anxiety over war, conflict and crises
It feels like a very dark time in our world right now, and I am sure that as I do, you will be reaching out as much as you can in an evolving mixture of despair, empathy and hope for the plight of the Ukrainian population. I am also aware, as I write, that many of our Gesher families and staff will have close links with their own familial histories in Eastern Europe.
So how should we as parents and teachers talk to children about the conflict should the discussion arise?
Give children the basics and don’t avoid the conversation
The information that happens around children is as important as what is said to them; many are likely to pick up on snippets of news from the TV, social media, or discussions around them. As adults we can provide a supportive framework to discuss the conflict with sensitively worded honesty and clarity.
It is important that we do not assume we know what the children want to know. We need to provide a platform where children feel they can ask the questions they want to know. It is OK to say that we don’t have the answers right now, too. It is important to use child friendly language and imagery that is not overly graphic, prejudiced, or disturbing, and sometimes just writing a brief script with ideas on a discussion beforehand can be both supportive and calming.
If your child feels anxious, it is important that you work to keep calm, try to ensure your tone is quiet and measured and if it feels too much for you, take a break.
Sometimes writing or drawing can be helpful for wellbeing, to keep a written or audio record of worries, it is something you as a parent or child can refer back to.
Try to manage your own feelings
It is important to recognise where you are emotionally when discussing the war. It is ok to be reflective with your child but if you feel that you are too upset, try to find time to regulate yourselves too. This is crucial since your child will also begin to absorb the sense of fear and be sensitive to your reactions.
If you notice that it is emotionally triggering for you or detrimental to your mental health, then try and take a break from watching/reading the news and politely tell friends and family it is not something you feel in a good place to discuss right now. It is okay to look after yourself and it does not make you a bad person to acknowledge this. Feelings of helplessness are also very prevalent right now as watch the events unfold overseas, so it can sometimes be helpful to look for relevant charities that can be contacted who will offer ideas as to how support can be given (i.e. financial donations, letters to MPs, care packages, etc.).
Look for the Helpers
In times of war and trauma, there will always be helpers. It is crucial that whilst we discuss that terrible things can happen in the world we can always find some way to help and humanity has a wonderful way of reaching out. Be very clear with your children that helpers will be on the ground in the warring country and also support is being offered from around the world.
Avoid exposure to a constant stream of news
Be mindful of whether you have the TV or radio on increasingly as children will be absorbing the news, often without us realising it. Try to build in breaks from the news (for example when collecting your child and being aware of the radio on in the car), thus breaking away from the constant exposure to worrying and frightening news cycles.
Watch where your child is getting their news
Many of our children have access to the internet and we are aware that without realising they can be exposed to fake news. Try to ensure that your child understands that everything they see on social media is not true and that they know reliable sources of news to consider. First News and The Week Junior alongside Newsround are excellent and considered resources to use.
I hope these pointers offer some support and as ever if you have concerns please do reach out to us at school.
By Rowan Eggar
Nearly half a million children in the UK have Educational Health Care Plans (EHCP). This represents a 480% increase since 2016. State-funded special schools have seen a 22% increase in pupil headcount over the same period. In addition, a further 12% of mainstream pupils require SEN support from nursery to the end of secondary school.
Yet despite this, recruitment of SEND teachers continues to be an uphill struggle. Only 5% of qualified teachers work in special needs settings or PRUs (ONS, 2021) and there is a distinct lack of data on retention rates and the number of foreign teachers. This further highlights the problem, SEND teachers are not considered when looking at recruitment and retention despite the ever growing number of pupils with additional needs (OECD, 2019).
A solution to this problem needs to be found to help these vulnerable and extraordinary pupils.
Retention of Teachers
The special needs teacher shortage is not limited to SEND. It is a nationwide problem. Teacher retention is another uphill struggle. Current statistics are telling, with only 67.4% of teachers remaining in the profession after five years (EPI, May 2021). The government is attempting to address these issues with the roll out of ECT training, designed to better support and mentor new teachers. However, I would argue that placement of ECT teachers in schools they already have a relationship with would produce more high quality teachers. Firstly, these teachers have a solid understanding of the ethos and values of the school, which they may also embody. Secondly, knowledge and practice of key areas including behaviour, curriculum and safeguarding procedures. Finally, their interpersonal relationships with colleagues and the senior leadership team will provide a support network during those early and overwhelming trainee years.
Retention of teachers is a huge problem and workload is at least partially to blame. A primary teacher is averaged to spend 52 hours a week working, which when coupled with relatively low pay and a public sector pay freeze highlights the complexities of the problem. Special needs teaching is notoriously challenging and does require a certain type of individual. However, if the right training route was in place perhaps we would be better able to identify and support the issues of teacher retention.
COVID 19
COVID 19 has affected SEND staff shortages significantly and is having a profound impact on staff recruitment. Unlike here in the UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand all have specialist SEND teacher training, whose highly skilled teachers previously made up a large proportion of our SEND teachers. Now with Covid 19 continuing, many of these individuals have gone back home. With ever changing regulations and differing quarantine regulations, there is no clear return date for them. Anecdotally, our school alone has lost 10% of teachers and teaching assistants.
No specialist training
In the UK, there is no specialist SEND teacher training in either the PGCE or BA education route.A recent survey showed the top two reasons for teachers handing in their notice were lack of training in managing student behaviour and SEND (TES, 2019). ⅓ of teachers would like further training or CPD on SEND. Pupils in specialist settings have a range of mild to severe needs from social communication to social emotional mental health to profound learning disabilities. Therefore, they require bespoke and comprehensive training to help them overcome their barriers to learning. While some schools are able to offer CPD and paid for training, many are underfunded and unable to. Often the needs of SEND pupils are so complex that without the correct tools and skill sets behaviour can become dysregulated and pupils are unable to learn. Without appropriate training or the right supportive setting, how can we recruit teachers into SEND?
Should the UK not be a leading specialist in special needs training like South Africa and Hungry? Being able to be part of a world wide initiative would further attract new teachers and upskill our current educators.
What can we do about it?
The first step is to acknowledge the problem and raise awareness. Working together with the government, local authorities and educational think tanks will enable us to discuss the problem and come together to think of solutions.
The next step is to develop SEND specialist training programmes. Both postgraduate and apprenticeship routes should be considered. Utilising and mentoring the extraordinary teaching assistants already present in schools is one solution. Including SEND placements onto teacher training courses would also increase awareness and provide opportunities for all teachers to learn from our SEND pupils before bringing those skills back into the mainstream and specialist learning environments.
– Written by Rowan Eggar
This past two weeks in Rimon class, we have been trying out a new Literacy skillset. We have been looking at Talk for Writing, which is a technique where pictures are used to retell the story.
Next, we made our own story based on the well-known We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Our stories include dinosaurs, pokemons, chocolate, mummies, all running into problems! Amazing effort Rimon class.
In Maths, we have been looking at estimation, weight and temperature.
We have still had some time for fun though! We worked so hard for our Sports Day, cheering for our friends and participating in all the races. Great work! Bring on Gesher’s Got Talent and our Macchane week.
We’ve had a very busy two weeks in Gefen class.
We enjoyed our amazing mini Sports Day, where the children competed together as a team in four activities: egg & spoon race, bean-bag toss, hurdles and long-jump. Everyone had such a fun morning and were great sportsmen and women!
We also enjoyed a fantastic drumming experience from an amazing volunteer who performed a piece of music on his drums, and all the children got to have a turn on the drum set. In Literacy we have continued exploring our topic ‘Transport’ and have been looking at different transport books. The children have started ‘Talk for Writing’ where the children have began creating their own story based on a character from a storybook.
In Maths we have finished our units of fractions and quarters. The children have looked at halves and quarters of shapes and amounts.
