Kol Chai is part of the first Pluralist Supplementary School in the country which runs on a Sunday morning. Four local synagogues, Hatch End Masorti, Harrow & Wembley Progressive, Kol Chai and Middlesex New Synagogue (both of which are members of the Movement for Reform Judaism) have joined together to offer their children a broad religious education encapsulating the ethos of all three progressive movements.
The school is called HaMakom, the Place, as we hope it is the place where our children want to come and learn to be caring and committed Jews.
HaMakom is headed up by Jacky M and is staffed by a group of enthusiastic teachers who are members of one of the constituent synagogues. Most are either professional teachers or have completed the DJE training (Education department of Movement for Reform Judaism), before joining the school as teachers. Teachers are helped by fully trained assistants who join to make the school and learning, fun and lively.
The team aims to motivate children to develop and enjoy learning at HaMakom. We encourage all our students to keep learning with us until they go to university. Past experience shows that retaining our young people in this way works. We run classes for each age group with a syllabus of Jewish studies, Jewish knowledge and Hebrew and a focus on being a good person. We use a variety of methods to teach our children including singing, drama and art. Which supplement the more formal educational methods. Classes are small and with many assistants who have been through our school we can offer lots of one to one help especially with Hebrew learning. In order to help our children feel comfortable in synagogue services we hold Tefilah (prayer) sessions once every half term where the whole school comes together to pray.
HaMakom runs on a Sunday morning from 9:45am-12:30pm. Classes are offered for children aged 5 years and upwards. We use the premises of Middlesex New Synagogue, one of the four constituent synagogues. However, we also have activities at the other synagogues from time to time. We ensure our children feel connected to their own community as well as to the HaMakom community.
For children 10 years and upwards, we have run residential programmes. These are normally in the spring and offer fun and informal education. Children spend the weekend at a local centre run the assistants who are trained youth workers.We take part in the Jack Petchey Awards for London and Essex. Each year we are able to award students a certificate of achievement and recognition for all the work they put into the community.
Our GCSE Jewish studies course is available to students in school years 9 and 10. The AQA course runs over the 2 years and is open to young people from all local communities and other synagogues. A highlight of the course is a visit to Amsterdam to remember Holocaust victims.
We also offer a Kabalat Torah course which studies the Holocaust in more detail as well as looking at the weekly portion. These students visit Berlin as part of their course.
Kol Chai Silver Award
In 2011 Kol Chai became the first Jewish organisation to achieve a Government backed Silver Quality Framework Award, in recognition of a high level of community based supplementary education. This is after having achieved the Bronze level last year. HaMakom is run by the same head teacher who achieved this and reflects a similar level of standard.
To find out more about our Religion School contact religionschool@kolchai.org
