I have spent today with most of the Brodetsky teaching staff, taking part in training linked to our new Data Tracker package.

This year has seen the introduction of a new National Curriculum and the move away from the levels against which pupils have been assessed in the past.

Our new package will allow us to track pupil attainment and progress in line with the new national standards.  We will share details of the new system of recording progress with the end of year reports.

I am pleased to say the staff response was very positive (as you can see from these focussed faces) and they could all see the many benefits of the new package.

Mid-way through the day I received a message from one of our parents who had raised a real and serious concern about our pupils and their understanding of cyber safety.

Despite all the work we have done in school it became clear that a number of older primary pupils had been talking via Instagram and Facebook (despite not being 13 years old) with people who they did not know.  Whilst this has not happened at school it is important that we follow this up with and revisit the key issues linked to cyber safety.

I have included a link to an excellent video (via You Tube) that should be seen by both parents and your children, if they are old enough.

When used in LJFS it resulted in significant changes in student on-line behaviour.  However, following today, I intend to revisit the issues with the students again to freshen their memory.

This second video is for older students and aims to ensure all students understand the implications of sharing personal information.

Tremors and Trembles in Year 6

I spent part of today supervising a small group of Year 6 pupils as they undertook a practice SAT.

In my own experience as a pupil I had to sit the 11+ (and failed it).  This had a much more significant impact on my educational offer than the current SATs.  I had to start at a secondary modern school, with my parents moving house to get me into the better choice.  After two years they managed to then have me transferred to a comprehensive school that allowed me to try for O' Levels.

Based on the 11+ outcome this should have been a chance I was denied.

The Year 6 SATs should not/ do not play such a role in the educational life of our pupils. They are a measure of the progress they have made to date, and against which future progress is measured.

The pupils do aspire to as high a level as is possible but this must be seen in relation to both their starting point and any challenges they may have faced.

If a child is dyslexic an exam paper is immediately a barrier to them showing their real potential.  They will have had to learn strategies to help them attempt the tests, as well staff ensuring the materials are prepared and accessible.

A more able child in English will need to be challenged to show their true potential and working to this must include them facing things that are difficult and challenging.

In all cases Resilience is needed.

In Brodetsky we are starting to engage in a Local Authority project called 'Growth Mindset' which will develop the resilience of all the pupils.  In LJFS this is followed by Resilience lessons in Year 7 that aim  to produce confident and independent learners.

How should we value such skills and strengths and how important are they for the future of each pupils?

Think of our Year 6 pupils as they draw`another line in the sand, and their teachers/headteachers whose reputation rest on where that line is drawn.  Remember that this is just another starting point for a personal race for each child to achieve all they can, not a finish tape.

Catering Update

We have started the process of recruiting a senior catering manager.  This is a new post that will replace the original catering manager position.

Some may ask what the change is between the roles and the answer is an easy one.  As we develop our in-house catering we need to establish a school kitchen that is managing and developing itself.  This manager will oversee all procurement, kitchen development, menu development and adherence to Kashrut requirements.

We`also want to explore how our kitchen can develop as a revenue generator so that we do not rely entirely on school meal income to cover our costs and replace equipment.

Once this appointment has been made the existing consultation feedback will be used by the catering manager to build on the improvements already made, All our students will be able to see changes as they happen.  This feedback will be shared with everyone later this week.

It is important to note that we have made significant improvements in our service without a major increase in meal cost so far.

This has included provision for the Universal Free School Meal for all pupils in Reception and Key Stage 1. The national target was for an 85% uptake for these meals.  We currently stand at a 95% uptake which I think is a real measure of the changes we have made.

On a personal note I do dream of the day that we can have a real Shawarma  cooker in the kitchen, however I must be realistic and say that this personal dream is a little way off at the moment.

Another weekend, another network loss.

If anyone sees this tonight, the school has again loss access to the internet and therefore lost access to our emails and ParentMail. We will try and get it working again tomorrow morning.

Even though the Brodetsky staff do have much to do already, some of them are now planning to complete the 3 Peaks walk, to raise money for St Gemma's Hospice.

Mrs Gill, Mr Gordon and Mrs Bhogal have taken part in the first training walk today. Others will be joining the training on later dates as well as the actual fundraising walk itself.

I will keep you posted as further details are made public. For now you can enjoy this photograph and hope that they get similar weather each time they walk.

The rise in pupil numbers is becoming very clear as I have shown around a significant number of families, still looking for school places for Reception in September.  It is clear that, for the first time, we might be over subscribed and may have a waiting list in September.

For some this might cause anxiety, wondering if the Jewish ethos with will be affected or that classes will get bigger.

I come from the much more positive perspective that Brodetsky is now known by the whole Leeds community and is seen as a good choice of school, irrespective of faith.

Every family shown around understands the Jewish ethos and know, if they are coming to the school, that they are buying into/supporting this ethos.

In a purely mercenary sense, more children also means more money.  I do not doubt that any family would support us in seeking any good source of additional funds.

We should all be proud that our school is seen in such a positive light by so many.

LJFS is also following a similar route.  Twelve months ago we had 8 pupils, this has now risen to twenty six and we expect to be close to fifty by the end of the autumn term. 

Within the context of our community, and the historic issues over local educational choice, this must be something that we are all able to be proud of.

If you then add in The Zone, another stunning success, planned field developments in partnership with Leeds Maccabi and the imminent introduction of the Scouts and Guides (brownies, cubs etc) to the campus we can having nothing but immense pride in what we have achieved.

All this is reliant on us maintaining the highest quality of education possible.  I am hoping that staff will start providing me their own examples to share on my blog. 

Mrs Saxby, one of our Reception teachers has sent me some photographs showing some of the pupils sharing costumes/clothes that the pupils have made.

I hope you like these outfits and appreciate the amazing educational offer we give to pupils of all ages. The staff are committed, hardworking and resilient and I am proud of both them and the pupils they teach.

Yom H'Atz Maut

We all had a great day today.  The Nursery kicked of events with dancing in their outdoor area.  I am still waiting for some photographs of this but I will add them once they have been forwarded to me.

The main school, from Reception to Year 6, gathered on the playground to show their Israeli dancing moves.  They were joined by many parents and grandparents which was fantastic.

Mrs Engle led events, perched above the crowd, microphone in hand and moves to match the music.

Below are some photographs and videos of the event.

1. Cllr Dan Cohen has a break from the campaign trail.

2. Take your partner by his hand.

 3. Dr Rushforth and the children show us their moves.

4. I'm a teapot...

Later in the day the LJFS students had their Yom H'Atz Maut BBQ.

A quieter day today.

This morning I popped into Year 6 and found them solving challenges in maths.  The pupils were collaborating, challenging each other and fully engaged.  They may have SATs on the horizon but they are still getting a full education.

I managed to join some of the Reception pupils as they waited for their lunch.  You can have an amazing conversation in such situations.  I heard about uncles coming to visit, which games had been played today and even who had fallen out with who.  I did not hear anything about their 'lessons'.

Our dining hall can be a noisy place but when you look to see the cause, it is children engaged in conversation in an honest and confident way.  When anyone comments on the noise I ask them what the noise would be like if 100 adults were sat down together eating?  If the staffroom is anything to go by....noisy.

At lunchtime I had quite a long conversation with some of the staff on the subject of "Why vote?" and I was then asked the question "Which of the British political parties was most sympathetic to Israel?" Whilst it was not appropriate to give the full detail of the conversation, we did get into many of the thorny issues linked to this whilst not giving a definitive opinion for that member of staff.  There are some discussions you cannot complete over chicken and spaghetti.

This afternoon Mrs Bhogal shared with me some of the progress of Year 2 pupils who missed the threshold in the Phonics Screening test last year. These pupils have been working very hard all year and have made brilliant progress.  However the real measure of their progress is in the full range of skills and knowledge they have acquired this year. A single test can not judge this, and we know the pupils are much more than the sum of their collective scores.

The day ended with Year 7 Form period. As with Reception pupils, conversation can go in unusual directions. We had a detailed discussion of the health and social issues linked to smoking. We also discussed the challenges for those who are trying to give up, and the support they need.  I am please to say that it was clear that all the Year 7 students saw smoking as something they would avoid in their adult life.

One of the greatest joys for me in my current position is that I can have a conversation with Reception and Year 7 pupils in the same day, every day. Today was one of those days.  I did also manage to:

                                       a) Discuss catering and recruitment
                                       b) Look at Brodetsky budget planning.
                                       c) Update`elements of the LJFS planner and website
                                       d) Review our plans for Early Years Provision

The Election Result

This post is a little late.  The wonders of modern technology proved their fragility over the weekend and as a result no staff have had access to emails or the network. My bright idea of emailing myself the details on Friday, for use on Sunday, proved to be a poor decision.

However, we do have a result from the election and these will be announced at the end of this post.

The election process ran very well and the Brodetsky pupils and LJFS students really enjoyed taking part.

Before anyone could vote our election officials had to check that the individual had registered. Not everyone had.

Our election officials were very diligent in their checks.

Once the individual's registration had been confirmed they could then make their mark...

and place their vote in the secure polling box.

Please note the unique 'seal' across the join of polling box, a little piece of Abigail's humour.

I have now made you wait long enough for the result.

A total of 141 votes were cast and the following percentage votes for each party were awarded:


The Fairness Party:            24%
The Phoenix Party:            17%
The Hope Party:                14%
The Environmental Party:  17%
The Future Party:              21%
The Insurgent Party:           7%

As with the national picture there was not an outright majority for any party but The Fairness Party did win the highest percentage and their candidate, Connor ,was elected as the LJFS MP.

The students did ask if their could also model the possible national outcome and negotiate a coalition to form a majority government.

As a consequence a coalition was formed, if a somewhat unlikely one.  the coalition was made up of The Fairness Party, The Phoenix Party and The Future Party with 62% of the vote. We are going to discuss whether this coalition would have been likely to success, knowing the respective parties behind the names we gave them.

Initially all but one party had to draw their policies from a named national party and the students had to represent the party they given, irrespective of their own views and beliefs.  The final party was independent and was able to draw`policies from any of the parties.  Do you think you can work out which parties were which?

We were very fortunate today to have Holocaust survivor, Leslie Carter, come to school as we marked Yom Ha'Shoah.  Born in 1935, she grew up under the shadow of Nazi Europe and experienced its worst atrocities.

The LJFS and Brodetsky Key Stage 2 Pupils were spell bound as they listened to her speak.  I was moved by almost the first thing she said.  As she started to talk and referenced life under the Nazi party she stopped and said that she didn't want to talk about them (The Nazis) anymore and instead she wanted to talk about herself.

This personal approach emphasised the true meaning of today.  We must remember the victims, the survivors who lived on with the physical and mental scars, and care for those few who still survive today. Most importantly of all, in remembering, we are also working to ensure it does not happen again.

I led an assembly for the reception and Key Stage 1 pupils which focussed on having pride in their Jewish identity (or in that of their Jewish friends).  This followed Mr Scheftz who spoke to them about valuing themselves and each other, irrespective of faith, ethnicity or family.

I finished the assembly by reminding the children of a Jewish tradition, that of placing a stone on a visited grave, and reminding them to bring in their stones to be set into our own memorial wall. This will help us move our remembrance from single days to all the year round.

I have really enjoyed watching our election debate in action today .  Four pupils from each class in Brodetsky Key Stage 2  joined Years 7 and 8 as our Question Master, Gaia posed a selection of issues raised by the LJFS students.

The questions were challenging for the candidates but they coped very well.  They were asked to speak on subjects such as housing policy, global warming, education funding/university fees and care for the homeless.

A further two questions were saved until the primary pupils had left.  Their mature theme may not have been appropriate for all the Key Stage 2 pupils.  The first was on the subject of mental health provision and care for those at risk of committing suicide.  The second raised the equality rights of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people within our society.

After the debate we held a quick poll of the Brodetsky pupils to see how they would vote based on what they had heard in the debate.  The results were:

Hope   5%                  Fairness  20%             Future  15%          Insurgent  0%

Environmental  15%    Phoenix  25%             Don't know  20%

Clearly, as with the national picture, a coalition looks likely. However, will our result mirror the national picture or will our home grown party change the balance?  You will be able to see our result tomorrow (Before shabbas of course!)

As promised, but a little late, here are the links to the blogs and surveys produced by the different LJFS political parties.  Some blogs and surveys will be added later.  In addition some blogs host the survey directly.

Please remember that the students have drawn their policies from real national policies, and the choice has been their's alone.

Years 3 to 6 (if they have registered) will vote on Friday.

The parties and groups are detailed below.  All the parties were given the chance to speak to the Brodetsky Key Stage 2 pupils.  Details of this husting, and tomorrow's debate will be shared by the Media group.

The Phoenix Party    
Blog   -     http://thephoenixparty.tumblr.com/

Survey  -  https://www.surveymonkey.com/collect/?collector_id=67012362

The Insurgent Party

The Fairness Party

The Hope Party      

Blog  -      http://hopepartyljfs.tumblr.com/

Survey  -  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XGXQQP3

The Future Party      

Blog  -      http://leahpotter2244.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-future-future-is-political-party.html

The Environmental Party  

Survey  -  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MBRHBX8

In addition there are blogs for:

The Election Officials

The Media

There are days when pupils and students can surprise you, and in so doing, put a smile on your face.

One of my Year 7 students caught my eye, with what could have been said to be a cheeky smile.

When I asked him what he was smiling at (assuming some private joke being told at the wrong time) he told me that he was smiling because I had my ' concentration face' on.

At the time I was showing the students how to create an on-line survey and the package was not     co-operating.

He then elaborated, telling me that my 'concentration face' appears very quickly and can make me look like I am angry, but then quickly changes back when I am talking to them (phew!!).

It then became clear that this is well understood by all the students who all visibly relaxed when they realised that I did not mind them mentioning this.

This then took us into an unplanned discussion about autism and multiple intelligences.  In regards to autism we talked about how it was that some people found it very hard to read faces and that life could be very stressful because of this as they had to work extra hard to cope in social situations.

The discussion about multiple intelligences focussed on being 'people smart'.  This student had shown that he was probably adept socially as he has shown a strong ability in relation to understanding people and this is an important skill for life (collaborating, interviews etc).

The Year 7 and Year 8 students will launch their election campaigns tomorrow, presenting their key policies to the Brodetsky Key Stage  2 pupils.  This will be filmed by the Media team and the officials will explain the voter registration process, and voting schedule, to the pupils.

Once I have checked their blogs I will add links to them later today.  These blogs will include links to their surveys tomorrow as well as information about their policies. Each party hopes that you will complete their survey, and you may choose to complete them all.  They also hope the Brodetsky pupils will complete the surveys as well.

My second nice surprise today involved a small group of Brodetsky pupils who can have some social difficulties in the playground.  It has been agreed that they will meet twice a week with myself or Mrs Bhogal (my deputy).

In our discussions today they shared two key things they have learnt that are helping them solve any problems themselves.  These are:

1.  It is OK for someone to want to just be on their own sometimes, it is not because they have fallen out with you.

2. If you fall out pick up the phone, go to their house, meet at The Zone and talk it through and you can clear the air. We all fall out sometimes.

For young pupils these were very mature observations and I am sure they will all make great use of this bit of learning.

Years 7 and 8 have had a very busy day today.  All six political parties have established their main policies and have created their own blogs to promote their cause.  Tomorrow I will add links so that you can see what the policies of each party are.

The Election Officials have completed all their preparation work and tomorrow will start their campaign to encourage voter registration.

The Media group are working on an election newspaper and video.

Tomorrow they are going to all learn how to make an on-line survey so that they can start

The Primary School had a very calm and collected start to the term.  I saw some excellent Read Write Inc (Literacy) work being undertaken by KS1 pupils. Tomorrow I will I introduce the planned election to the Key Stage 2 pupils and start the preparation work for Yom Ha'Shoah.

We have asked pupils to start bringing in special large rocks and stones as we would like to create a remembrance wall/floor around our flag poles.

As I am also learning this week (How to create and use a blog) I will try and add a video tomorrow. 

The First Week Of Term

Monday is the first day of the summer term, and also the start of our run up to the UK General Election on May 7th.

LJFS Years 7 and 8  students will be running a full campaign for the week, with the Brodetsky Key Stage 2 pupils serving as the electorate. We hope that,  by doing this, the following aims will be achieved:

1.   The students will  understand the role/purpose of the British Parliamentary system.

2.      The students will understand the policies of the main national political parties.

3.     The students will start to develop their own political opinions/beliefs through challenge and question.

4.      The students will understand and challenge the use of bias in all forms of media.

The LJFS pupils will be split into eight groups.  Five groups will represent the main political parties. They will have to campaign under assumed party names but base their chosen policies in their understanding of agreed national policy for each party.

The sixth group will be able to represent a party of their own creation and policies of their own choosing.

The remaining two groups will represent Election Officers and the media.

To guide the process I am using resources provided by the Parliament Education Service.

Use this link to see the resources: Parliament Education Service Resources

We will post updates on their progress each day with links to any on line resources each party, officers or our media team produces.