EDUCATION
LEFT BEHIND
Innovations in curricula that cater to
children at both ends of the scale
I BY ILAN PRESKOVSKY
IN A COUNTRY WHERE THE OVERALL STANDARDS OF
education continue to plummet (don’t be
fooled by that 70% national pass rate), our
small Jewish community rightfully takes
pride in the very impressive academic
achievements of our young Jewish learners. We must, however, always strive to improve, especially with regard to children
whose learning abilities exist outside the
‘average’ range – those in need of some
form of remedial assistance and those in
need of being extended, both of whom often fall between the cracks. Two new approaches recently came to my attention.
HIRSCH LYONS PRIMARY SCHOOL
Set up for Jewish kids with learning difficulties to have their specific needs met, while
still keeping them in a Torah environment
and mixing with other Jewish children,
Hirsch Lyons Primary School’s brand new
48 JEWISH LIFE ■ ISSUE 85
remedial programme offers a much-needed
option. In the past, Jewish children with
emotional issues or learning difficulties have
gone to remedial schools that both keep
them separate from their Jewish peers and
mark them, almost by default, as ‘different’.
Starting with the grade one class of 2015,
and spearheaded by the school’s principal,
Elana Gordon, and its remedial therapist,
Robyn Menachemi, Hirsch Lyons Primary’s
groundbreaking new model works to ensure
a tight balance between integration and individual needs.
The grade one children all join together
for davening in the morning, for their limudei kodesh (Jewish studies) classes and their
breaks, and are only separated for secular
classes. Although the students are divided
into three separate classes, only one class caters to children requiring special attention,
which results in a system where those with
KING DAVID YIDDISH FOLK
PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL
On the other side of the spectrum are socalled ‘gifted’ students, whose abilities exceed
what is typical for their age. Despite ‘giftedness’ being a source of great pride to both
kids and – more especially – parents, there
are some real downsides to children being
leaps and bounds above their peer group.
This is where Yiddish Folk Pre-Primary
School and its principal, Andy Haefner, come
in. Haefner explains that gifted children are
often very badly catered for throughout their
school careers. Teachers typically don’t know
what to do with such children and often either bombard them with more work to the
point that these students feel overwhelmed,
or ignore their ‘giftedness’ entirely, creating
an atmosphere where these kids are bored,
both of which contribute towards increased
bad behaviour among gifted children. Highly
PHOTOGRAPH: BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM
No child gets
learning difficulties seem like any other
class to both their peers and to themselves;
neither of whom are aware that there is anything ‘different’ about the other.
In terms of catering for children with
learning difficulties, aside for the very obvious benefits of being in a smaller class, the
kids also have access to a full-time remedial
therapist, as well as a second, part-time remedial therapist who is on-hand for all students in the school. Further, the school
provides a weekly session with an occupational therapist and twice-weekly individualised outside care for each student in the
class. Finally, the class teacher is also supported by a teaching assistant to ensure
each and every child is given all the attention s/he requires.
Teaching aids, such as iPads, also help to
provide a more individualised and multimedia approach to studies. Despite the newness of the programme, both Menachemi
and Gordon have already seen tangible results – in the children’s secular studies and,
amazingly, in the less pressurised but still
vitally important Torah studies. And, most
importantly, they’ve managed this while doing their utmost to engender self-esteem, a
sense of ‘normality’ and a true Torah education in students that could so easily have
suffered greatly in all three areas.