Annual Report 2012.indd - Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue

HGSS take to Thorpe Park for a great day and lots of fun.
Pizza Master class – At the end of January, we held
a pizza master class at Chestnut, where 25 kids learned
how to make their own pizza from scratch. They then
enjoyed then enjoyed eating them – lots of fun, and mess!!
Club x – This new project was started for Year 7 only
and was arranged to attract kids back into the youth, once
leaving primary school. We held several sessions including
one with a chocolate chef and a CST Streetwise activity.
Dads and Lads – This is an old idea with a new
perspective. Every Sunday morning we invite boys in
year 8 with their fathers for a shacharit minyan and
breakfast. This is a wonderful opportunity to teach
putting on tefilin and navigating the morning service.
Jonathan Collins Memorial with the Chief Rabbi Lord
Sacks
On Wednesday 21 March, we were honoured to be
joined by the Chief Rabbi, who gave us an enthralling
talk about the future of the Jewish Nation, followed by
a Q&A. Over 200 people turned out in honour of the
5th Yahrzeit of Jonathan Collins kwz, including over 50
members of the Youth.
Our Biggest Obstacles
There have been two main issues which have made
some events and programmes less successful than they
had potential to be:
1. Behaviour – There have been some serious behavioural
issues this year in certain pockets of the Youth.
Unfortunately, this has affected events and programmes
and also the Youth Service. Some of this problem stems
from the fact that the youth responsible do not have the
appropriate understanding that, whether taking place in
or outside the Shul, these are Shul events and a degree of
respect and decorum is required.
2. Lack of commitment – with every event, however minor,
it has been a real struggle to attract good numbers. Most
teens will not go to something unless their friends also
do so which often leads to a deadlock where no-one will
make the first move and agree to come. This is partly due
to the perception the youth have of Shul events – not cool
– and partly due to apathy. We feel that encouragement
from parents would really help with this issue.
Despite these issues, it has been a busy year, with areas
of great success and some others with slower but steady
growth. We look forward to more consistent successful
activities and events with HGs Tribe next year.
Kerem Schools
Head Teacher: Mr R Felsenstein Deputy Head: Miss A Burns
Chairman – Jonathan Goldstein (to Dec 2011) David Wolfson QC (from Jan 2012)
It has been a year of development at Kerem. After the
merger of Kerem House and Kerem School into one
educational unit, the months leading up to September
2011 involved the restructuring of the Kerem Early Years
Unit to include Nursery and two Reception classes.
The EYU outdoor area was developed to include new
equipment to enhance speaking and listening and
physical development and the world around the children.
As a result of Kerem’s continuing popularity, demand
for places in the Kerem EYU for September 2012, has
again meant that it is taking a double form intake and
admitting forty-eight children to the Nursery.
We were delighted to welcome Rabbi Kaplan and
his family to the community in September and have
formed a wonderful partnership with Rabbi Kaplan,
Rabbi Knopf and Rabbi Levene. Rabbi Kaplan is a
regular visitor to Kerem and really inspires children and
teachers; he gives a weekly shiur to Year 6, and Divrei
Torah each week at our Kabbalat Shabbat Assemblies.
We are delighted to report that Kerem’s Year 6
graduates in July 2011 took up places in September
2011 at Haberdashers Boys (five places), Hasmonean
Girls (three places) Highgate (one place), Immanuel
College (eleven places), JFS (two places), North London
Collegiate (one place) and UCS (one place); Kerem’s
pupils can be proud of their excellent achievements.
During the year, Kerem has continued to involve
itself in a number of community initiatives. Through the
charity Tzedek, Kerem’s partnership with the Morning
Star School in Ghana has continued, and Miss Burns
was selected with two other teachers from this country
to travel to Ghana in October. She visited the Morning
Star School, and visited the three classrooms that Kerem
helped to build. During the Succot term, Kerem raised
£786 for Camp Simcha, and participated in its Toy Drive;
three pupils accompanied Mrs Borman to Northwick
Park Hospital to deliver toys to the children on the
Paediatric Ward. Year 6 pupils were involved in very
successful social action partnerships with both GIFT and
Kisharon in 2011.
A new and successful innovation in October was a
Year 5 Shabbaton in the Lincolnsfield Centre in Bushey
organised by Rabbi Spector; we hope it will become a
regular fixture in the Kerem calendar. The recent Kerem
School Shabbaton organised by the PTA incorporated
a lovely Kabbalat Shabbat service on Friday night,
including a Dvar Torah by Chairman of Governors David
Wolfson QC, and a Shabbat lunch which was attended
by well over three hundred people. The children were
involved in each part of Shabbat and prepared songs
and Divrei Torah to share with the community.
Kerem continues to play a dominant sporting role
within Jewish and secular communities by winning
Maccabi football and netball competitions for the
different age groups, and the Jewish Schools’ Swimming
Gala for small schools. Kerem has also been runners up
in some competitions and has had a great deal of success
in chess competitions.