A Hopeful School Year Opens

The educational year opened right on time in September, with the nursery and Bustan opening their doors to new and returning toddlers and a new first grade class passing through the primary school’s rainbow gate for the first time. The first graders were welcomed with words and song into the school by the sixth-grade class, their teachers, representatives of the parents’ group and Neama, the school’s new principal. There are 42 children in the two first grade classes, 284 in the school, altogether.

The returning children rushed straight to their classrooms. After a year of mostly distance learning, they were happy to be back to their friends and to something approaching normal, even if it means undergoing regular COVID testing. But the beginning has had its challenges: The Jewish children were off most of September for religious holidays; the learning gaps created by distance learning are now crying to be addressed; the children and staff are relearning how to conduct classes in the classroom, how to create a cohesive group of children from diverse situations and backgrounds. Around 30 children left the school after last year as a new school opened in the area, and this has been especially hard for the older classes.

The Bustan kindergarten – for children ages 3-6 – has 34 children this year. Four staff members work in the Bustan, which offers parents extended hours – from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, as well as serving the children a hot meal. The highlight of the Bustan week is the nature lesson with Voltaire.

In the primary school the core studies are taught in two languages (or one with some translation), and the HOTAM Education, Culture, Tradition curriculum is taught on top of these in all grades. But it is not all reading and math for these kids. The school week is enriched with fun educational activities. For example, there are sport classes for the kids, as well as classes in music, theater, film, and nature crafts and local ecology. All these classes are given on top of the regular mandated school curriculum.

Nir Sharon, Director of Educational Institutions and Youth Club, says one of the focal points for development in the new year is the parents’ community. He is working with them to carry out projects for the school, beginning this month or next. By strengthening the parents’ ties to the school and to its unique perspective, he and the school staff hope to reinforce the entire school community and the message of peace that is at its foundation. That message, as we learned after the rioting in the country’s mixed cities in May, is not a given, even for parents who send their children to our school, and we have decided to invest the effort in bolstering both the message and the involvement of the parents in the school. Besides the school projects, the parents’ community will hold regular meeting to discuss and learn about subjects connected to justice and equality, and we hope they will participate in planning events and even hosting other families in their home locations.

In August, the village kids had several activities through the Nadi Youth Club. In August they enjoyed hip hop lessons as well as a graffiti class. A wall of the clubhouse was painted white for them, and they then decorated the wall with their artwork. They also painted the Nadi symbol on white shirts. Other August activities included planting flowering plants for the bees in the beehive near the Doumia Spiritual Center, a trip to the beach, and a movie and sleep-over for the fifth and sixth graders.

The regular yearly activities are just now getting underway, following the opening of the school year and the Jewish holidays. But expectations are high for this year, and we all feel the hope in the air that we can begin to get past the last year and really focus on the children.