News from the PSRP - JCoSS

newsletter
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Dear Parents
Iyar 5772 רייא
April/May 2012
A busy start to the Summer term was enhanced by some moving events in the school. Yom HaShoah was
marked with a moving assembly involving a variety of staff and students, activities from our linked youth
movements and a Januz Korzak exhibition in the Heart Space. We reflected with similar solemnity during Yom
HaZikaron, the remembrance day for fallen Israeli soldiers and we considered the tragic loss of life by those
determined to keep our Jewish homeland safe and secure.
Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day, was in contrast a celebration rather than a commemoration – thanks
go once again to the indomitable Miss Minsky for organising the Israeli breakfast and gala, and to the very large
number of staff who organised the range of exciting activities that brought a little bit of Israel to our school in
London.
The Years 7 and 8 boys basketball teams were runners-up in their leagues, and the Years 7 and 8 girls netball
teams were 3rd and 4th respectively. Our Year 7 footballers were semi-finalists and Year 8 were quarterfinalists.
Congratulations to all students (and their loyal bands of parental supporters!) in establishing JCoSS as a
top league sporting school.
We are equally proud of our Barnet LitQuiz winners, who beat all other Barnet schools and runners-up
Henrietta Barnett to gain first place for JCoSS. Well done!
We have appointed a superb cohort of staff for next year and we will be inducting them into our unique and
special JCoSS ethos at a weekend in July, ready to start our new year as committed and enthusiastic teachers of
our four (including our Year 12) year groups.
B’Shalom,
Jeremy Stowe-Lindner
Headteacher
The year 7 Credit winners
for the Autumn term were 7R
Congratulations!!
www.jcoss.org excellence choice inclusion

Bringing science to the community - Primary Science Outreach Work
As part of science specialist status, we work with two partner primary schools, Akiva and Livingstone. Mr
Lyons spends Thursday afternoons working with KS2 classes to develop their science skills. The sessions
provide pupils with a taste of secondary science and teachers with strategies for teaching and learning.
On March 15th, pupils and staff from both partner schools spent the day at JCoSS as part of National
Science Week. The day involved them completing an investigation into nappy absorbency, and it provided
a useful opportunity to demonstrate their practical and scientific enquiry skills.
Friday Closure Time from Next Academic Year
You will recall that we asked in February for parents’ views on a proposed change to our Friday closure times
from next year onwards. The Governors have taken the decision that from September 2012 JCoSS will close at
1.25 on Winter Fridays (as at present) and at 2.00 on all other Fridays.
There was a clear majority of responses in favour of the change, but the Governing Body reviewed the
responses and arguments carefully on both sides. To address some of the concerns raised:
JCoSS students will still receive at least as much teaching in all National Curriculum Subjects as in other
schools (Jewish or non-Jewish).
Our teaching week is still well above the national standard, will still include time for Enrichment and
extra-curricular activities, and will spread the teaching of Kvutzah (PSHCE) better through the year.
The responses in favour of the change came from across the full range of Jewish traditions, and across
the School’s whole catchment area.
The Governors are wholly committed to the high expectations of the JCoSS ethos, and are determined
that this ethos will not suffer under the new arrangements.
Please note that Fridays this term are unaffected: we will continue until 3.55 every Friday (except the very last
day of term when we close at 2pm).
We are most grateful to those parents who took the time to express their views: a useful exercise in democratic
decision-making!
www.jcoss.org excellence choice inclusion

News from the LRC
Library helpers
Thank you very much to all the regular LRC helpers who come at lunchtime to help at the desk to issue books or
to cover the many new books before they are displayed on the shelves. Sorry, but the list is too long to
mention names!
Scholastic Book Clubs
Thanks to anyone who placed a Scholastic Book Clubs order. We have raised £150 to spend on new books for
our library since September - so we’re really pleased!
We have just set up our Scholastic Book Club school group order online. This means you can now order all the
books in your Book Clubs leaflet and many more at http://clubs-school.scholastic.co.uk/jcoss. You need to
order your books by Wednesday 9th May 2012. For every £1 you spend 20p goes back to our school to spend
on much-needed books for our library!
Lit Quiz
Congratulations to the following students who won the JCoSS Lit Quiz competition and who represented the
school at the Barnet Lit Quiz Competition held at East Finchley Library on the 24th April: Izzy (8V1), Keiza (8T1),
Cole (8T1), Orli (7F) and Jake (7F).
Barnet Lit Quiz, by Jake S
Carnegie Shadowing Group
The CILIP Carnegie Medal is awarded annually for a
work of outstanding fiction for young people. CILIP also
runs a shadowing scheme where young people
‘shadow’ the judging process for the awards and so can
decide their own favourites. At JCoSS, a group of
enthusiastic readers are meeting in the LRC every
Monday afternoon to decide who should be the winner
of the 2012 Award. Plus some of them will have the
opportunity to voice their choice amongst other Barnet
Students at a Carnegie Shadowing Meeting on
Thursday the 31st May where they will also meet the
author Marcus Sedgwick. The overall National winner
of the competition will be announced on the 14th June.
The students will read the following books shown in the
picture on the right..
On Tuesday 24 th April a group of Year 7 and 8
students went to East Finchley library to
compete against other schools in Barnet. The
competition was to see which school knew the
most about books. The quiz was very
challenging and tested our knowledge to the
absolute limit! I am pleased to say that we
won! Thank-you to Miss Nathan for organising
it for us and to Mrs MCoombe and Mrs Mulkis
for driving us to the library.
Home Learning Club
The LRC is open after school every day
until 5 p.m. (except Fridays) for the
Home Learning Club.
www.jcoss.org excellence choice inclusion

Amazon Shortlist / Book Donation
If you would like to donate a book to commemorate your child’s birthday, bar/bat mitzvah, or any other occasion, we
have a wish list on Amazon. To access the list, log on www.amazon.co.uk and click on gift and wish lists. Enter JCoSS
into the name bar. Select the book(s) you would like to buy. Tick the gift box and note the student’s name and the
occasion of the gift to enable us to put a commemorative plaque in the donated book. The list is updated regularly.
Many thanks and we look forward to receiving your gifts!
A huge thank you to the following students and their families who donated books to the LRC since September: Ruth L
(7S), Rachel L (7W), Murray C (8S), Samuel M (8W) and Zack S (8W).
National Young Writer’s Award 2012
www.explorelearning.co.uk/youngwriters
Feel free to enter this competition and let us know about the outcome. You could win a trip to Disneyland Paris and
£500 of books for your school by entering a short story with a maximum of 500 words on the topic of “Old and New”.
The closing date for entries is Monday 11th June 2012.
Mrs Mulkis
LRC
Year 7 visit to War Horse
On Tuesday 17 April, 50 Year 7 students
enjoyed a trip to the New London Theatre
to see the much acclaimed production of War
Horse. Having read the novel and the play script
class, students were well placed to consider the
impact of the live performance. The students
behaved beautifully and discussed the staging
with maturity during the interval. Students’
comments the following day about the
show being ‘awesome’ showed their appreciation.
www.jcoss.org excellence choice inclusion

Charity Appeals
Since September, we have raised over £1,400 for Tzedaka (charity). Thank-you to all our students
and their families for your incredible generosity. Here are the amounts (below) that have been
raised:
Magen David £672.33
Genes for Genes £290.81
Dream Factory £353.00
Homeless in action £38.38
Jewish Blind & Disabled Society £63.49
Total £1418.51
News from the PSRP: White Water Rafting at Lee Valley
The White Water rafting trip at Lee Valley Water Centre saw children and staff from the PSRP have
fantastic day of learning and fun. It was a great opportunity to do some outdoor learning about
Science and PE and for the children to experience a taste of white water rafting.
It also gave, first hand, a small taste of the Olympics, which are rapidly approaching. As the
excitement builds, we are embracing this within our PSRP lessons, as it is the theme across several
subjects including English, Humanities and PE this term.
Everyone involved really enjoyed the day and the weather, especially as we were fortunate enough
to meet some of Team GB (Thanks to Mrs McCombe for her chutzpah in asking for the photo)
Mr Todd
PSRP Teacher
www.jcoss.org excellence choice inclusion

Pictures from Yom Ha’aztmaut .. turn the page for some more!
www.jcoss.org excellence choice inclusion

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISRAEL
Students showed their blue and white spirit as the School marked HaZikaron and celebrated Yom
Ha’aztmut.
Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for the victims of the conflict, involved a whole school
ceremony where students listened to Greg Mason a youth worker who grew up with Yoni Jesner. Yoni
Jesner was a British teenager who died in a bus bombing in Tel Aviv. Many of our students opt to take
part in the Yoni Jesner Volunteering Award, where they collect hours of volunteering in his honour.
Using Yom HaZikaron to remember and mark Yoni’s life enabled students to link their volunteering
work with Israel’s Memorial Day.
Yom Ha’aztmaut was a huge success this year. We began the day with an Israeli breakfast in our
form rooms. We then split into Israel project groups, where students looked at Israel through their
choice of method. Our students produced some excellent work including a dome structure, beautiful
art prints and some inspirational poetry. The celebrations ended with a special Gala show with
performances from Shir, a renowned klezmer band. A huge thank you must go to the staff involved
and our special guests who came to run sessions. A particular thank you goes to Great Food Company
for generously supplying the whole school with a great breakfast.
I am delighted to announce that on this day we raised over £300 for our Israel Charity - The Israeli
Guide Dog Association. Thank you for your continuous support in fundraising for our chosen charities.
YONI JESNER AWARD CEREMONY
The date for the Yoni Jesner Award Ceremony is the 11th June 2012. A letter will be going out shortly
to formally invite you to the ceremony. Your child has until the end of May to finish collecting their
twenty hours of voluntary work.
WORLD JEWISH RELIEF SHAVUOT TEA PARTY
On the 23rd May we are hosting a World Jewish Relief Tea Party and Shavuot Tikun (evening of Jewish
learning). Parents and family members are invited to school alongside students to take part in some
fun family education sessions run by JCoSS staff.
The evening will begin with a Shavuot tea party hosted by our students as a fundraising opportunity
for World Jewish Relief, one of our school’s chosen charities. World Jewish Relief is a UK based
international Jewish charity which is committed to meeting the needs of individuals and communities
living in poverty around the world, assisting them in the transformation of their lives and livelihoods.
Miss Minsky
Acting Informal Jewish Education and Social Action Coordinator
www.jcoss.org excellence choice inclusion

The Great JCoSS Bake Off Round One!
The Great JCoSS Bake Off started last week with 16 bakers. The standard in the first week was
incredibly high and the judges (Mr Stowe-Lindner and Mrs Follett) were most impressed. The
competition will continue for 7 weeks, when we will name the winner of our first ever JCoSS
Bake Off! Here are some of the photographs from the first round…
www.jcoss.org excellence choice inclusion