Welcome from our Headteacher

Newsletter

Sh’vat 5771 - January 2011 Volume 2 - Issue 3 1

Dear Parents

Welcome to the first newsletter of the Spring Term. Following our return to School from the winter break there have been many exciting events taking place. As always the School has been a very busy and vibrant place and I hope you enjoy reading about just some of them in this newsletter. Whilst writing our Sixth Form students are preparing for their January examinations after much preparation. We wish everyone the best of luck with the examinations and subsequent results.Parents should by now be aware that the School is continuing to explore the possibility of Academy status. Towards the end of last term we were awarded an Academy Order which provides funding to continue our investigations. Updates will appear on our website where you will also find the list of questions (and answers) asked by parents at our meeting in December.We will shortly wish adios to our Year 10 Spanish GCSE students who will attend the first visit to Spain. This is just the latest in a broad range of educational visits abroad which we are delighted to be able to offer at JFS. We wish them well and look forward to reading about their experiences in the next edition of the JFS newsletter.Yours sincerelyJonathan MillerHeadteacher

Inside this issuePage 1—Welcome from our HeadteacherPage 1—New Head Boy/Girl TeamPage 2— Classics visit to British MuseumPage 2—Holocaust Memorial DayPage 3—Year 13 Graduation CeremonyPage 3— Drama at JFSPage 4—Year 8 Girls Maccabi WinnersPage 4—JFS Transport UpdatePage 4—Meeting Andy Mulligan

New Head Boy/Girl TeamAfter a hotly contested election, the long awaited announcement of the new Head Boy and Head Girl team was made in a special Year 12 assembly. Congratulations to Head Girl Naomi Wolfson, Head Boy Joel Salmon, Deputy Head Girls Aimee Belchak and Emily Goodman, and Deputy Head Boys Joseph Benedyck and Benjamin Davis. The election process saw an initial 40 applicants whittled down to a short list of 16 following interviews by a panel of the outgoing Head Boy/Girl team, Student Council members and staff. Each of the final 16 gave presentations to Year 12, Year 13 and Student Council representatives at further hustings events as well as publishing manifestos. The election saw a total of 2200 votes cast and we congratulate all who took part in the process.

The outgoing team continued with their duties until the January Student Council AGM. They have set an impressive standard of commitment and dedication. The newly elected students will have a hard act to follow.

REMINDERS• ThenextOpenMorningforprospectiveparentswillbeonThursday3March

• ThefirstdayoftheSummerTermisnowTuesday3MayandthelastdayoftheSummerTermisWednesday27July

Checkourwebsiteforfullerdetails:www.jfs.brent.sch.uk

JFS PTA Supper QuizSunday 13 March 2011 at JFS

The Supper Quiz is the main fundraising event that the PTA runs each year. The evening is always great fun and provides valuable support to the School.

Tickets are £17.50 and further details are available from: Diana Bronson: office1@jfs-pta.co.uk

For information about sponsoring the event or placing an advert in the brochure please contact:

Lawrence Blaston: brochure@jfs-pta.co.uk

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Classics visit to British MuseumThe Gifted and Talented Classics class, composed of Year 8 and 9 students, recently made a visit to the British Museum. The group were prepared for the visit in their Classics class the day before. Their visit consisted of examining the little-known Bassae Frieze, the Temple of the Nereids and perusing the Elgin marbles. The day was topped off when the class were given a private tour by one of the British Museum’s tour-guides, focusing mainly on the evolution of Ancient Greek sculpture and pottery from 6th to the 3rd centuries BCE. A day of temples, friezes and statues; what could be described as a monumental day therefore in the academic lives of these young scholars.

Holocaust Memorial DayAs part of the school’s commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, the JiEP department together with Miss Krieger from the JS department organised and hosted a Holocaust Memorial Day conference for Year 10 students at neighbouring Brent schools. The full day event saw students from JFS joined by their counterparts from Preston Manor High School, Alperton Community School, Newman Catholic College, Capital City Academy and St. Gregory’s Catholic Science College. This is the third year that JFS has organised and run this conference. The aim of the conference was to bring together students from Brent to share valuable learning experiences and promote tolerance within our society. Through interactive

and informative sessions, the lessons and experiences of the Holocaust were examined whilst discussing what can be done to prevent similar atrocities occurring in the future.Renee Salt, Survivor of the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen, spoke of her experiences living through the Holocaust and the journey she took with her grandson Adrian, when he was in Year 9 at JFS, retracing her steps in Poland and Germany as part of a BBC documentary. Miss Krieger led participants in a workshop which examined the moral dilemmas posed by the Holocaust before the Conference welcomed a second keynote speech from Ray Hill, a former neo-Nazi turned anti-Nazi campaigner. Mr Hill has been speaking

to student groups for almost 30 years and has been a regular visitor at JFS for over 20 years. He shared his experiences infiltrating the BNP as a mole before exposing their hatred and violence in a Channel 4 documentary in the early 1990s. JFS student Lucy Hirschman commented:“The conference was extremely informative and we learnt a great deal about the Holocaust whilst having the opportunity to learn from the experiences of others. Coming together with the other schools made us all realise the importance of working together as a community”.Later this term the whole of Year 10 will take part in a 2-day Holocaust Seminar as part of their Jewish Studies GCSE programme.

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The Little Shop of Horrors Production was a great success and, as is now expected at JFS, a production on a professional scale. A cast of 40 was directed and produced by a team including ex-students, the new Head of Music, Mrs Scott and the Head of Drama, Mrs Sloane, as well as superb support from a student technical team who showed a total commitment to excellence.

The A level exam performances were also excellent this year and we are all looking forward to another group of performances by the present A2 students, the new AS students and the Year 11 GCSE students who will be doing their first official practical exams shortly based on the play Blue Remembered Hills by Dennis Potter.

Year 10 GCSE students are about to start

working on a Theatre in Education project for the benefit of the Year 8 Students in Jewish Studies. The topic is ‘Being a Bystander ’. There will be a follow up workshop run by the Year 10 Drama GCSE students for Year 8 in March. Mrs Sloane with Rabbi Hirsch have been very keen to work across the curriculum in these areas and already have last year ’s GCSE Year 10 and JS Year 8 work to guide them further.

The Year 13 A2 Drama class is currently working on some very exciting projects based on different theatrical styles. The exam is on 11th May with dry runs on Sunday 8th May. They would appreciate an audience on both days.

Year 12 AS Drama students are also working towards scripted plays based on Theatre Practitioners they have studied. They will be having a dry run on Monday 9th May at 5pm followed by their exam on 12th May. Again, an audience would be appreciated.

Another production idea for the whole school is being considered by Mrs Sloane and her colleagues for December 2011. Suggestions welcome!

Drama in JFS is growing by the day and we are all, staff and students alike, excited by the number and variety of activities taking place on a weekly basis. Sundays at JFS are busier than ever with rehearsals. Staff are considering rooms in the building to rent as homes from now on!

Drama at JFS

Year 13 Graduation CeremonyThe Year 13 Graduation ceremony took place at the start of this term with a Keynote address from Baroness Patricia Scotland PC, QC.

This year saw the highest attendance yet with well over 600 people filling the Main Hall at JFS. The graduates were addressed by Michael Glass, Chairman of Governors and Lord Michael Levy, JFS President, before hearing from Baroness Scotland. The Baroness spoke with great eloquence about the exciting opportunity that the graduates now face going forward with their lives. In a first for a JFS speaker she also requested that all the graduates stand and shout ‘thank you’ to their parents for the sacrifices that they had made in bringing up and supporting the children through their school careers.

The ceremony was joined via live video-link from Jerusalem where those Graduates on a gap-year were able to graduate together with their classmates. The students in Israel are attending a range of Yeshivas and seminaries as well as taking part in gap year schemes with a variety of different Youth Movements.

Following the formal ceremony, in which each graduate was awarded a certificate and a specially printed JFS version of the Chief Rabbi’s Hagaddah, all the guests enjoyed a reception in the JFS Dining Hall. We would like to congratulate the class of 2010 as we wish them well in their studies, travels, careers and future lives.

Sh’vat 5771 - January 2011 Volume 2 - Issue 34

JFS School The Mall Kenton Harrow HA3 9TETelephone: 020 8206 3100

Fax: 020 8206 3101For the latest news and up to date information, visit our School website (www.jfs.brent.sch.uk)

We are already in the process of preparing our next edition of the JFS Alumni Magazine. If you have any interesting stories please email: (admin@jfs.brent.sch.uk)

Check out our Alumni Section of the website and re-connect with old friends www.jfsalumni.com

Meeting Andy Mulligan - the writer of Trash By Adam Lang and Joshua Wolff. (7B1)

In December some Year 7 members of READ! (the JFS Book Club) were very excited to go on a trip to meet author Andy Mulligan and hear him talk about his new book “Trash” which is about three dumpsite boys who have an amazing adventure.It starts when they find a mysterious bag in the dump, but little did they know that it would be the start of an epic adventure, bringing danger, requiring bravery and testing their characters to the limits.When we arrived at Francis Combe School, there were students from four other schools there and all of them were as excited as we were to meet Andy Mulligan and there was a huge cheer when he arrived. We asked him many questions about his life and his book. We got very good answers from him and he told us many interesting stories about his life. This was followed by Andy signing our copies of “Trash”. On the bus back to school we talked happily about our trip and hope to have many more.

JFS Transport UpdateAll students who utilise the School bus services (those buses beginning with a 6) should be aware that Transport for London have launched a crackdown across the School bus network for those travelling without a valid Oyster Card. Enforcement officers will be entering buses to check that all students travelling on the buses have valid Oyster Cards, that are in their own name and that they have ‘swiped’ on boarding. Those found to be travelling on the buses without a valid card, using someone else’s card or without having swiped their card will be issued with a £50 enforcement notice. If you have forgotten your Oyster card, please speak to the driver who can issue you with a special form enabling parents to pay for the journey afterwards. Please be aware that whilst these buses do serve JFS exclusively and enter our site they remain public buses and should be treated as such.We would also like to make parents and students who utilise the 688 route aware of potential disruption that will be caused by road works taking place at the top of Totteridge Lane. These are scheduled to continue for several months. We have asked TFL for the buses to depart earlier during the road works and should they agree we will inform all students of any changes to the timetable in advance.

Year 8 Girls Maccabi Winners

Students in years 7, 8, 9 and 10 played at Mill Hill Power League on Tuesday 11th January in the annual Maccabi 5 a-side girls’ football competition. All players showed fantastic effort and sportsmanship throughout the competition. Well done to all players involved. The results were: Year 7 – 3rd Place, Year 8 – 1st Place, Year 9 – 2nd Place and Year 10 – 3rd Place.

Year 8 Captain Rachel Rabin talks of their success…A great effort from all the players in the Year 8 Girls’ Football team led to the win in the Maccabi football tornament for the second year running. Great teamwork, skill and tactical play left JFS undefeated throughout the tournament with an overall total of 11 goals in 4 games. Excellent goal keeping and defensive play left the girls with no goals conceded throughout and an excellent victory for them”.