Posts by North West school

Year 1 Bring the Mitzvah Marathon to the Finish Line in Style

North West school — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:53:42 +0000

Wow! What an amazing 11 days it has been at North West London Jewish Day School. We started the Mitzvah Marathon on Thursday 11th November with a speaker from AJEX reminding us of the importance of remembering the fallen and injured soldiers of the past and we finished with a Jewish soldier in the British Army of today telling us how important it is to remember those soldiers serving now. He explained how grateful he was to receive cards, letters and parcels from our school while he was in Afghanistan and how much it meant to him. he also reminded us to always do our best in everything we do. Just like our school motto! North West Be Your Best!

In beween remembering the troops, the children have also filled a supermarket trolley to overflowing with goods needed by our local refugee community in Brent thus doing the Mitzvah of being kind to strangers in a strange land because, as the Torah tells us many times, we have been strangers in a strange land. Mr Hirschberger, a refugee from Nazi Germany who came to the UK in 1939 on the Kindertransport, reminded us that we must not discriminate against anybody on the grounds of race or colour or religion. That is such an important lesson that we can take forward from this Mitzvah Marathon.

North West London Jewish Day School Shares

North West school — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:13:50 +0000

The children at North West have filled the supermarket trolley outside Rabbi Kerbel's office to overflowing with goods needed by the local refugee community. Thank you so much children for sharing the berachot that you with people less fortunate.
Also the children have been busy making cards for service personnel. There is a huge pile of Christmas, Chanukah and Eid cards to brighten up the days of our soldiers, sailors and airmen far away.

L'Chaim to Mr Hirschberger!

North West school — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:15:37 +0000

Today we welcomed Mr Hermann Hircshberger to North West to speak about his experiences in Nazi Germany as a child and how he came to the UK in 1939 as a refugee with his older brother on the Kindertransport.
Children from Year 2 through to Year 6 were enthralled by his story and the lesson that he wanted to emphasise to all of us: that all people are created equal in the eyes of Hashem and we should treat everyone the same no matter what colour, religion or race they are.

Mitzvah Marathon continues!

North West school — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:12:07 +0000

Monday 15th November and the Mitzvah Marathonat North West is continuing apace! The supermarket trolley outside Rabbi Kerbel's office is already half full of wonderful items that the local refugee community needs and it's only been out there half a day! Thanks so much to those who have already brought items in.
Lt. Colonel Mordaunt Chen came in to school today to continue our Remembrance theme by speaking about his WW@ experiences both in assembly and in Year 2. He invited the children to attend the AJEX parade on Sunday 21st November, Mitzvah Day itself , to support the veterans' march.
Look out for our next visitor on Wednesday 17th November, Mr Hermann Hirchberger, who will speak to the whole school and to Year 6 in particular on the theme of Refugees, using his experiences as a Kinder to bring home to the children the importance of helping present day refugees.

2 Minutes Silence

North West school — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:47:37 +0000

The whole school community from office staff, through teaching and non-teaching staff, security and kitchen staff came together at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to remember and honour the fallen. Rabbi Kerbel explained to the assembly why it is important to remember and to observe the silence. North West has started its Mitzvah Marathon by focussing on Remembrance and will be continuing this theme next week and the week after.

Launch of Mitzvah Day Marathon at North West London Jewish Day School

North West school — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:26:30 +0000

How proud were Hannah, Danielle and Jacob Kenley of their grandpa this morning! Mr David Sherman, the Chairman of Finchley and Hampstead Garden Suburb branch of AJEX, launched North West's Mitvah Marathon with a wonderful account of his experiences in WW2 when he was not evacuated and lived in Wembley. He remembers his school being bombed and even the doodle bugs flying overhead! He also told us how he did his National Service in the RAF and was taught Russian because he was good at French! His job was to listen to the Russian pilots speaking to one another and to translate what they were saying.
He emphasised how important it is to Remember and to invite us to go to the Cenotaph on MItzvah Day 21st November to watch the AJEX march past at 2.30pm.
Thank you Mr. Sherman.

Mayor of Brent to Attend NWLJDS Mitzvah Day!

North West school — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:35:50 +0000

The Mayor of Brent, Councillor Singh, has kindly agreed to attend out interfaith Mitzvah Day activity! Year 6 from North West will be going to Christ Church C of E school in Clarence Road to join their year 6 counterparts to make the Chanukah and Christmas cards for people working away from home on Thursday 18th November in the afternoon. We are very excited to welcome him to our Mitzvah Day!

Welcome to Mr David Elias Sherman on 11th November

North West school — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 19:14:39 +0100

Our special guest from AJEX is Mr David Elias Sherman who is a Trustee of AJEX and the Chairman of the Finchley and Hampstead Garden Suburb branch. He lived in London throught the Blitz as his parents chose not to evacuate him.
He served in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955 and was staioned in Berlin during the Cold War. He was taught Russian and listened to communications from Russian aeroplanes.
We are delighted he is coming to speak to us and I am sure his grandchildren, Hannah and Danieel will love having their grandpa at school!

Update from North West

North West school — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:32:09 +0100

Some more exciting news of what is happening at North West this Mitzvah Day.
To kick start it all off, we are delighted to welcome the President of the Finchley and Hampstead Garden Suburb branch of AJEX, to speak about Remembrance and remind us all why will be stopping at 11am on that day to reflect on the debt we owe the Fallen and those who fought and are still with us B'H.
On Wednesday 17th November Mr Herman Hisrchberger, one of the Kinder, will be speaking to the children about his experiences as child refugee and on why it is so important for us a Jews especailly to help those refugees who have arrived more recently.He will then speak to Year 6 in more detail about his life and answer any questions they may have.
On Thursday 18th November, year 6 from NW will be visiting Christ Church school and making Chanucah and Christmas cards together. We are delighted to say that the Mayor of Brent, Councillor Singh, has provisionally accepted an invitation to join this interfaith afternoon.
Captain Airey is at present safe back from Afghanistan and with his regiment in Yorkshire but will be home on leave shortly and will be coming in as soon as he can to meet the children and speak to them.
More news as oon as there is some. Watch this space!

North West LondonJewish Day School and Mitzvah Day 2010

North West school — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:35:03 +0100

On the theme of Remembrance, we will be making and sending Chanukah cards and Christmas cards to Jewish and non-Jewish troops on active service. The cards are being sent through the auspices of the Royal British Legion, Support our Soldiers and the AFJC welfare organisation for Jewish troops in the present day forces.

We are starting our theme of Remembrance on Armistice Day with the 2 minutes silence and following this up by a visit from Col Mordaunt Cohen on Monday 15th November to tell the whole school his story of serving as a Jew in HM Forces during WW2. The cards are being made on Friday 19th November by the main body of the school but on Thursday 18th November we will be welcoming Year 6 from Christ Church C of E School to join our year 6 in making tha cards.Our Reception class has been in contact with a serving Jewish soldier and sends him letters and food parcels on a regular basis and Captain Airey has promised to visit us in the next cople of weeks when he is on leave to talk about what iy's like to be a Jeewish soldier serving in taoday's Forces.

Our other project focusses on the shared history of the local refugees and of the families of some of the children in the school. Some of the children have relatives who came to this country as refugees so we using that experience to link up with the Brent Refugee Forum to collect much-needed goods for them such as nappies and general toiletries. Our usual method for collections of this kind is to use a box or table outside the headteacher's office but I had the idea that the children would rather like to fill a supermarket trolley with the goods rather than a boring box. To this end and with the help of a well-informed colleague I rang Tesco at Brent Cross who were replacing their trolleys and offered to re-cycle one for them! They were delighted to accept so this will be placed in the entrance hall of the school in the week of 15th November ready to recive the children's donations.In preparation for this, we are inviting a Jewish refugee to speak to the children in the run-up to Mitzvah Day so that the children can see that we have to deal kindly with the starnger because as the Torah says, we were strangers in a strange land.

Mitzvah Day plans

North West school — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 10:50:33 +0100

Following on from a hugely successful Mitzvah Day 2009, North West London Jewish Day School is gearing up for Mitzvah Day 2010.

Our Reception Class have been writing to Jewish Serviceman on active duty in Helmand in Afghanistan and sending him food parcels on a regular basis. So building on this exsting link and bearing in mind that Mitzvah Day falls in Remembrance season, we will begin our focus on Remembrance and Honouring the Troops by holding our 2 minutes silence on Armistice Day.

This will be followed up by a visit from Col. Mordaunt Cohen on Monday 15th November who will speak to the whole school about his experiences as a Jew in HM Forces during WW2. This project will culminate with the making of Chanukah cards and Chrismat cards by the whole school, on Friday 19th November when we expect to be joined by our local C of E school, Christchurch, with whom we have an existing link.

The cards will be sent to the troops through various organisations including Support our Soldiers and the AJFC welfare organisation for Jewish soldiers in HM Forces.

Our second project involves reminding the children that many of their families came to this country as refugees and realising that we should show the same consideration and help to present day refugees as we were shown in the past. To this end, we will be cfilling a supermarket trolley, many times over we hope, with goods needed by the local refugee community in Brent through the auspices of the Brent Refugee Forum.

The trolley has been kindly donated by Tesco at Brent Cross which was replacing its fleet of trolleys and when told of it's intrended use, were only to heppy to let us have it. It will be put to good use not only for this collection but also for the various other charitable collections made by the children in the school.