Read the latest Gesher Gazette below! Please click on the link below to view the video links.
Click on the link below to view the latest Gesher Gazette:
Useful Articles and Reading
Resources for Home
Ideas for Home
Social Stories
Sensory trays are a fantastic way to help children regulate regardless of age. A single tray can be made up or a selection of different trays (wet, dry,hard, soft etc). Plastic animals can be added for story telling, or funnels, sieves, plastic cups and spoons are also useful for exploring. These can be made in any plastic container such as a washing up bowl or shallow tray. The ‘really useful box’ brand are great as they come in different sizes with lids. You can purchase a 10-litre tray here.
Some of our favourites are:
- Sand (one damp and one dry)
- Kinetic sand
- Water beads
- Lentils or rice
- Shaving foam
- Cornflour and water
- Slime (homemade or shop bought)
In the Spring term, Gefen and Rimon classes will be worked on an extended project all about journeys. We looked at journeys in the past made by famous explorers such as Ernest Shackleton, as well as journeys to Ancient Egypt and what they discovered when they arrived at their destinations. This helped the students think about their own journeys and how they need to plan for these. We also thought about the journey they took at Gesher school and what it meant to them. As part of our project we created a ‘sponsored journey’ from the old site to the new school using various modes of transport. At the end of the project, the students created their own personalised backpacks with the resources they will need for their own Pesach journeys. The project covered Geography skills such as looking at maps and planning for a journey, as well as looking at the climate and physical features of different countries. We also looked at the history of Ancient Egypt and Shackleton’s journey to the Antarctica. As part of our project we looked at the children’s emotional and social needs, and what they will need to support them and the important characteristics that are required on their own journeys.
Teacher’s Reflections
“I think the project went well and the children seemed to enjoy all the individual parts of the project ie Egypt, Antarctica and their own journeys. The children particularly enjoyed learning about Ancient Egypt and all the practical art and drama activities we did especially the mummification! They also learnt lots of information about Egypt and what it is like as a country today. Although I actually feel that the Egypt part would have been better as a separate section after the project as it was not officially a journey that they went on in Egypt. The project was also good as it covered many different curriculum area ie geography different countries, history looking at Ancient Egypt, music creating an Egyptian orchestra and art. I also feel that it was useful for the children to reflect on what they need when they go on different journeys (sensory resources). I think the exhibition was a success as well when the children were able to act as tour guides showing off all their work!”
– Stephanie Sungtong
Students’ Reflections
“My favourite part of the the project was the trip to the transport museum” – Liam
“I learnt how to wrap a mummy with linen” – Avi
“My highlight making my holiday packing list and how to plan my journey” – Ari
by Ali Durban, Gesher Co-Founder
Gesher School started life almost 10 years ago. An idea driven by a difficult lived experience of the education system for our own children and a vision and desire to create something better for many other children. The first couple of years were intense. Sarah, my co-founder, and I met in a school playground, at the time we had children in the same class at the school. We both had full time jobs, young families and, although we were educated, neither of us had a background in education.
It was an ambitious project.
And so, we educated ourselves, researching data, visiting schools across the UK and understanding the daily struggles of the unmet needs of what we discovered to be thousands of children and young people with mild to moderate learning differences.
We knew there was a desperate need for change, something transformative. We began a dialogue with our local Jewish community in North London, and advocated that, with the right start in life, this marginalised group of children and young people, who were typically under-served and failed by the current education system, could have different outcomes in life.
We surrounded ourselves with experts and poured the very best of our shared knowledge into our collective vision. However, translating an idea into a reality needs more than passion, purpose, and knowledge, it needs funding.
So, at the same time we learnt to fundraise and to share our vision with people who cared about this group of children and their outcomes in life as deeply as we did. They too believed that real change was possible. We call them Gesher Champions and together we raised £2m to kickstart Gesher.
In 2017, Gesher opened as a primary special school in Cricklewood with seven children who were differently able and who had learning differences. Seven families who had taken that leap of faith with us. These children were going to have a different educational experience. The feeling on the first day of seeing those children was immense. A year later OfSTED visited and judged Gesher to be Outstanding in all Areas and, as the inspector shared his views, we all cried tears of joy.
The school continued to develop and grow until eventually our site was full, with waiting lists and our primary children who were graduating had no specialist secondary schools to progress onto. Then the pandemic hit, and amidst the challenges of supporting our children and families we were desperately looking for premises to expand and once again the funds to support our growth.
The universe tilted in our direction and in 2020, Gesher relocated to Pinner and opened as an all-through school, at full capacity it will be a school for 120 students aged 5 to 16. To date we have raised over £5m with our Gesher Champions to support this second phase of growth. Our vision remains the same, to build upon the success of the primary school and deliver an exceptional learning environment for children and young people who are differently able.
We have been working hard over the last two years to create a new evidence-based model of teaching and learning for students with SEN that is academically rigorous with the long-term ambition of sharing our practice with other schools and learning communities. Joining the dots and creating system change from the ground upwards.
This September, Ofsted visited a second time and, under the new inspection framework judged Gesher to be Outstanding in all Areas again. Given that we were expecting a ‘Good’ under the new framework, once again we were floored and in tears. In particular, the inspectors noted:
Pupils receive an exceptional quality of provision. Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum which is taught by the school’s expert staff.
Together, the curriculum and therapies encourage pupils’ independent living skills and emotional well-being very successfully.
Therapists, teachers and teaching assistants work together seamlessly as one team. They truly understand how to meet pupils’ varied special educational needs. While staff are nurturing, they also have high expectations of all pupils. As a result, pupils work hard and learn well.
We are all immensely proud of this.
Gesher is a learning community filled with agency, purpose and passion which puts children and young people at the heart of school life and this achievement is more than an endorsement.
This is a signal of hope for thousands of differently-abled children and young people and perhaps most importantly – an offering of what is possible in education.
-ends-
Read our Ofsted report here Gesher Ofsted
Gesher Dramatherapist, Chris Gurney, talks about the difference a bigger building has made.
The therapy provision that we offer at Gesher is integral in helping our pupils access the school setting, as well as providing them with the skills required to engage with the wider world and home environments. Since moving to our new larger premises our therapy team has talso expanded to include the following:
• Two full-time speech & language therapists; their focus is supporting the social communication needs of the pupils, and assisting with language development.
• Two full-time occupational therapists; they work on a wide range of skills, including self-care (i.e. toileting, dressing, feeding, etc.) and typing/writing, as well as specific targets related to fine and gross motor skills.
• Two full-time creative arts psychotherapists; an art therapist and a dramatherapist support the pupils with their wellbeing and mental health, as well as assisting the development of emotional understanding and social skills using creative and child-led techniques.
• One part-time educational psychologist; they work closely with both teachers and parents in helping to ensure every pupil’s needs are understood and well-known. They are familiar with each child and offer interventions where needed to assist with specific needs such as dyslexia and attachment disorder.
The therapy team is incredibly blessed to have a number of dedicated therapy spaces throughout the school that allow for them to work closely with the pupils without impacting the academic side of their education.
In fact, both therapy and academics go hand-in-hand in creating a holistic experience for the students that helps prepare them for their future.
Currently, the therapy team has begun working with both pupils and families in helping educate the young people at Gesher about their needs and those of others, with the goal being that they can ultimately become advocates for themselves and the SEN community at large. Whilst every child is viewed as an individual and will therefore have different long-term outcomes, one thing that we aim for with all our pupils is that they will be able to be happy and reach their potential. This is not something that would necessary be possible without our provision as these children would often be viewed as disruptive or unable to engage. With the skills that the therapy team support our pupils to develop alongside the rest of the school team, we are excited to see how our therapy provision continues to grow alongside the school as we move further into secondary education.
