As a community school, the Gesher Team are hugely excited about the school’s future and getting to know the local Pinner community.  In September 2021, Gesher is set to move to the former Moriah School which is located in Pinner.  The move will enable the school to accommodate up to 56 pupils primary school pupils and to expand into secondary provision offering a further 60 places. This will mean that there is a clear educational pathway for children and young people aged 5-16 as Gesher develops to become an all-through special school ultimately offering 116 places to pupils with SEN across our community. In this podcast David Roth, Pinner Shul’s resident podcaster, David Roth has interviewed Gesher’s co-founders Sarah Sultman and Ali Durban, together with Phil Gershuny, Shul Council member and Trustee of the Harrow Jewish Day School Trust about the move and their plans for the future of the school.   You can find the podcast here.
Rimon class have been busy busy! We have been doing lots of drama and performance, practising our best acting as cavemen. We have also learnt all about Light and been exploring dark and light and reflective and non-reflective materials. We also enjoyed our final two Mitzvah mornings, first making cards for children at the Shalva community centre in Jerusalem and then making delicious cupcakes for key workers at the Royal Free Hospital. Now we are getting ourselves as excited as possible about the upcoming festival: Chanukah! Just wait till you hear our rendition of Latke Recipe by the Maccabeats.
Rimon class have been busy learning all about our new topic âThe Stone Ageâ and âLightâ in Science. In Topic, we watched a video on the Stone Age, and began writing down all the questions we wanted to answer in our learning. We put them together to make a fire because thatâs how Cavemen stayed warm! In Science, we have been learning all about natural and artificial sources of light and identifying them around school. Finally, we loved making our challah covers for Mitzvah morning, which will be sent all the way to the Belarus community. We look forward to the next few mitzvah mornings too!
Rimon Class have been learning more about Ernest Shackleton and Antarctica the past two weeks. They have experienced what it would feel like to be a crew member onboard Endurance, completed obstacle courses in PE and timeline key events in Shackletonâs life. This week we have been learning all about Sukkot, writing party invitations, and constructing acrostic poems. We had our wonderful encirhcment day where we made sukkahs, paper mache etrogs, decorative sukkah lanterns and discussed the Ushpizin that visit our sukkahs. What a great two weeks!
Chag Sameach, Miss Rowan
Gesher School and the Harrow Jewish Day School Trust are excited to announce that Gesher Special Primary School will be moving to new premises at the former Moriah School, in Pinner. Gesher will relocate from its current site in Willesden to the new, larger site in Pinner in September 2021.
Gesher opened its doors in 2017 for pupils with mild to moderate SEN needs with a specialism in Autism. The school achieved an Ofsted outstanding across all categories only 7 months later. As a result of its success Gesher is now full and currently operating a waiting list. The move will enable the primary school to offer an additional 16 primary places, growing to accommodate up to 56 pupils and to expand offering a specialist secondary provision in September 2021. This will mean that there is a clear educational pathway for children and young people aged 5-16 as Gesher develops to become an all-through school ultimately offering 120 places to pupils across our community.
By moving to new premises and utilising an existing community resource we are confident that Gesher will become a vital part of the primary and secondary educational landscape within our community. Gesher will work with other schools offering support and outreach in SEN education, wellbeing and life skills and will strive to become a centre of excellence and hub of SEN expertise.
In addition to the expansion, the school is also planning to open an assessment and diagnosis unit, and research centre working directly with Professor Simon Baron Cohen and the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge.  The research unit will underpin the critical work the school is doing, ensuring it can provide a framework and evidence the direct impact of the Gesher way.
Says Sarah Sultman and Ali Durban, Co- founders: âThis is the fulfilment of an ambitious dream, one which we have worked at tirelessly; to enable our communityâs SEN children to have access to an education that meets their needs, allowing them to develop, flourish and reach their potential. Gesher is truly grateful to HJDST for affording us this tremendous opportunityâ.
Says Howard Zetter, Chair of Governors: âThis is a hugely exciting expansion project that will enable Gesher children and families to have a clear educational pathway and is testament to the huge success of the school, its necessity and its popularity in the communityâ.
Brian Leaver, Chair of Harrow Jewish Day School Trust, says: âWe are pleased to be able to welcome Gesher to our beautiful 3-acre site in Pinner and look forward to nurturing Gesherâs future growth in the buildings and grounds that were created with the generous help of our benefactors more than 20 years ago to educate Jewish children in this leafy corner of northwest Londonâ.
From The Chief Rabbi:
“The joy of a Jewish education should be as accessible to children with Special Educational Needs as it is to any other Jewish child. This broadening of Gesher School’s provision, facilitated now by the move to permanent premises, is a very significant addition to the landscape of Jewish education in this country. It will benefit many more families, in ways that will have a transformative impact on the lives of SEN children. I heartily congratulate the Gesher team, together with the Harrow Jewish Day School Trust, on this far-sighted collaboration and considerable achievement for our community.”
Press Release Gesher School Set For Move To Former Moriah Premises
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