3 JUNE 2021
TO ADVERTISE CALL 020 3906 8488
FEATURE 31
Broughton Jewish Casssel Fox Primary School is this year celebrating its 75th anniversary The school started as a small Cheder class of 8 pupils in 1946 and today has 500 pupils on the roll. What is most striking about this particular School is how it has stayed so true to its founding fathers principles. Set up in the aftermath of the Holocaust, its German founders were determined to set up a School which would be built firmly on the principles of Torah Im Derech Eretz, combining excellence in both Secular and Jewish studies and at the same time, would ensure that each child’s individual needs were catered for. When one walks around the school, these ideas and principles are not only physically on the wall displays of the school but one can feel it within its walls. The other thing that hits you is the warmth and happiness of the children. There are so many smiles to greet you as you walk along the corridors of this lovely school. The happiness and friendliness of the children is perhaps no surprise once one delves a little deeper into the thoughts and processes going on behind the scenes. I had the opportunity to talk to the current Chair of Governors, Dov Black, who explains that he is only following in the footsteps of his predecessors, “I took on the role 12 years ago, I had been a pupil at the school myself and all my children have also been through the school. What was clear to me was that there was something very genuine about the school which I was determined, together with my fellow governors, to maintain. I feel that whilst the school has grown tremendously in numbers during this period as the community of Manchester has grown, we have hopefully stayed true to these principles”. When I ask Dov to explain what he thinks is so special about Broughton Jewish, his face lights up and says “Just let me take you round the school, you will see for yourself. I always say that when education is genuine and real, just watch the kids, the classrooms, the playgrounds, the interactions between the children and staff and you will see all you need to know”. And he’s right. There is a genuineness to the place and a real sense of warmth and happiness that radiates throughout the school from the Senior Leadership Team, headed by Rabbi Yehuda Pearlman through to all the Staff and the Children. I also had the chance to speak to Rabbi Pearlman and again, a real enthusiasm for the values of the School comes through.
“Covid was obviously, like for all schools, a challenging period but we were determined to learn from that time and see how we can improve the education and experience of the children”, explains Rabbi Pearlman. At this point, Rabbi Pearlman explains to me that the School has approximately 60 children per year and that they are now divided into 4 classes of approximately 15 per class. There are 4 teachers for each year group throughout the day, each year group in its own corridor with separate toilets and in the earlier years, their own separate playground and break times. “We call it the Bubble of the Future. Going back to the founding principles, we wanted to create a model that allows us to nurture and develop each individual child. That’s much harder in a school of 500 and so we have created this new model where there is Kodesh and Secular being learnt throughout the day by 4 dedicated year group teachers. This allows for far more cross curricula work between Kodesh and Secular subjects and means that we can cater for the emotional well-being needs of every child”. “We look at the child as they are today in the here and now, explains Rabbi Pearlman. The approach to the children is founded on 2 ideals. We believe that the relationship between the teacher and the child is key. Developing strong attachments at this stage of their development is hugely important and so we have worked very hard on building that idea into our approach and at the same time, the curricula is designed to cater for the children’s educational and emotional needs. With this two pronged approach, we hope to allow the children to flourish in the warm environment of our school”. One can’t but help be impressed by the school. I asked Mr Black how they are celebrating the 75th anniversary. “We are holding a Matched Funding Campaign. We know there are so many of these campaigns going on and I guess it has replaced the old Dinners. We wanted our campaign though to focus on the children. So there is going to be a fun day for all the children of the school on the day of the campaign and we are also engaging the children in other ways to celebrate the
75th anniversary. Whatever we do at the school, it is really important to us that it should always be child centred”. So what are the school raising funds for. Mr Black explains that “the governors have some really exciting ideas for the future. We are focusing on 3 main capital projects. Firstly, we want to enhance the outdoor play areas of the school. With our new bubbles of the future, we are able to create separate outdoor provisions for each year group upto Year one. These new play areas will be specially designed to allow the children to develop their creativity, problem solving, independence and confidence. We are also building a specially designed Learning Hub. This area of the school will be available for all children of the school and will be permanently manned by a member of staff who will work with children who have either self refered or been refered by a teacher and who require extra intervention. Included in this Learning Hub will be a sensory room, and therapy rooms for children to have Speech and Language Therapy, music therapy, art therapy and play therapy. All of this of this will be designed with those founding principles at heart, every
THEJEWISHWEEKLY.COM
child matters and every child deserves to be the best they can be”. Thirdly, explains Mr Black, “we are building a Beis Hamedrash. We felt it would be special for the children to combine all the learning that goes on with an attachment at an early age to the world of Torah and the Beis Hamedrash. The Beis Hamedrash has been carefully designed with this in mind and we are very excited to add this to the children’s wonderful experience here at Broughton Jewish”. This Beis Hamedrash is being kindly donated in memory of one of the Schools Trustees, Rabbi Kupetz, who took a close and active involvement in the development of the school. Rabbi Kupetz is sorely missed by the two other Trustees of the school, Rabbi Avrom Jaffe and Rabbi Berel Cohen, also the Menahel of the school. Rabbi Cohen says that whilst the school is well known for its excellent Kodesh and Secular standards, what gives him most pride is the beautiful Middos Tovos (behaviour) of the children and this is something which is remarked upon by many people within the Manchester community, including Rabbonim and also the teachers of the High schools that the children go on to.
