Finchley Reform Closes Religion School
Monday, 26 October 2009
Finchley Reform Synagogue (FRS) is launching a daring new experiment in Jewish education, which will replace their current cheder (religion school) from November 1st this year. In an attempt to buck the trend of declining attendance, a choice of modules and family-based learning will replace the traditional system.Kochavim will be launched at FRS next month to provide a cutting edge, experiential style of education for the 55 children aged 5-11 who attend the Sunday morning religion school. Students will choose each term from a range of modules relating to Jewish life. Parents will join their children once a month to participate in activities.
Modules on offer will include ‘I Can Save the World’ which will see them taking on social action projects within the community; ‘The Storytellers’ which is a Jewish book club, aiming to improve English literacy and knowledge of Jewish history; ‘Virtual Israel’ which sees IT skills infused with the geography and history of Israel; ‘Stars from the Past’ which combines drama and Jewish history, and ‘Tefillah v’Shirah’ which introduces learning through prayer and singing. There will also be modules on Jewish cooking, art and crafts and a dance module which will combine modern interpretive choreography with events in the Jewish calendar.
Hebrew will continue to play a major part of Kochavim, not just through optional classes but through assembly, prayer and singing. The ‘Lightening Learning’ module teaches modern Hebrew in the Kumon style, a new way of learning in short sharp bursts. And ‘Ivrit b’Ivrit’, a module designed to cater for the many Israeli members of the community, is for those children who have an Israeli speaker of Hebrew at home.
Fully-qualified teachers will be joined by madrichim (leaders) trained by the Reform Movement’s youth movement, RSY-Netzer, to teach at Kochavim.
Debbie Juggler, Director of Education at FRS since April 2009 who is a history teacher by background, commented: “FRS has acknowledged that the old style of cheder was no longer working as it didn’t guarantee the future involvement of families in the community. We don’t want kids simply disappearing after bar and bat mitzvah, so this is partly an attempt to build closer connections with communal life. We want to make families aware that Judaism is not an experience just for Sunday morning – it’s a life experience. They will be learning skills and gaining knowledge that can be utilised in order to lead a rich Jewish life in all its aspects.”
Mrs Juggler also explained how parents are being empowered to make choices for their children’s Jewish education: “Parents will be alongside their children in making a choice about what they are learning, giving them more ownership about what they learn. For example, if Tikkun Olam is close to your heart, you might choose to do social action. If you are Zionists, you may choose ‘Virtual Israel’. Parents can decide what is important about their Judaism and pass that onto their kids.”
For further details, please contact Andrea Newman, Public Relations, the Movement for Reform Judaism.
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