With the developing situation in the Middle East, I find myself wondering how this will impact our young people and what we can do to lessen their emotional response to what they see on the news cycle buzzing around them. I come back to a few simple principles - provide the students with a sense of normality, stick to routines and try not to heighten their emotions.

School provides the perfect sanctuary for our children. In the High School, whilst they have their laptop devices with them, they have a break from their phones for a full 8-hours and they have many very specific subjects and content to engage them. In the Primary School, they have plenty of time with their friends and they are engrossed in classroom learning opportunities. Add to this, the rhythm of Jewish Life, complete with festivals and ruach and we have our sense of normality and routine.

Children will be inherently curious about world affairs or sometimes they may hear something from another child that confuses or worries them. That is when we ‘the adults’ step in. We round off the sharp edges, we clarify misinformation and we reassure our children that everything will be ok. As a community, we have a responsibility to provide our young people with a positive example of how we handle conflict, how we manage relationships with some people who don’t share our views and essentially how we manage our own emotions.

Our kids are watching us, they take their lead from us, let’s give them exactly what they need!

Chris Hall

Principal