More than 80 Israeli children have enrolled in UK Jewish schools
Education group PaJes says the children have joined 25 schools in cities across the UK, including London, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow in the past three weeks
UK Jewish schools and nurseries have opened their classroom doors to children from Israel who have fled the conflict.
According to education group PaJes, more than 80 children have now enrolled at 25 Jewish faith schools across the UK, including London, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Glasgow.
Ages of the children range from those who attend nursery to secondary school.
There are currently hundreds of families from Israel now living in the UK with their family, or renting until tensions ease since Hamas’ terror attack on October 7.
British-born Richard Binstock is one of hundreds displaced families from Israel, now living with family in the UK as the situation continues to unfold. A father of three children aged seven, five and two, Mr Binstock decided to leave Israel in the face of ongoing Hamas rocket attacks.
Working in recruitment, Mr Binstock, whose eldest two children are now at Immanuel College and youngest at Bushey Gan nursery, says he is not sure if, or when, he will move back to Israel.
“I have no idea how long we will be here,” he says. “We are just taking it one step at a time. I do not know if we will be here permanently on not, we need to revaluate our life, as so many people do.
“The scars from this attack will stay forever for our generation. We don’t know how safe it is in Israel anymore. We haven’t made a decision. This is unlike any other incident, we all know someone who has been killed, kidnapped or is still missing. Our whole life has been turned upside down.”
Mr Binstock, who made aliyah in 2009, says landing in the UK five days after the October 7 terror attack, was “not an easy decision, we have left our dog in Israel with friends – but the decision to leave Israel was made easier when you have three young children living in the firing line.”
Recalling the moment he first heard the sirens go off from his home in Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv, he said: “It was horrendous. We woke up and took the kids to the shelter, trying to make it into a game – but it did not work. Everyone was stressed, children in Israel know the sirens mean danger, no matter how you try to dress it up.”
Binstock, who landed in the UK via Athens on Thursday 12 October, says his flight was full – and “a significant number of people were English speakers with young families, in the same situation as us”.
The Jewish schools offering places to children from Israel, currently are: Akiva, Alma, Avigdor Hirsch Torah Temimah, Bury and Whitefield, Clore Shalom, Etz Chaim, Caldrrwooid Lodge in Glasgow, Hasmonean Girls’ high school, Hasmonean primary, Hertsmere, Immanuel Preparatory, Immanuel College, King David High in Liverpool, Mathilda Marks-Kennedy, Menorah Foundation, Naima JPS, Nancy Reuben, North West London Jewish Day, Rimon primary, Wohl Illford Jewish Primary, Yavneh College and Yavneh Primary.
Rabbi David Meyer, the chief executive of PaJes, which represents Jewish schools across the UK, said: “The schools have made every effort to meet this challenge, but it is a challenge especially at a time when schools need to continue supporting children through their academic studies, well-being and mental health, as well as providing financial support to help families in need with school uniforms and school meals.”
In a joint statement by community groups PaJes, UJIA and The Jewish Agency for Israel – organisations that are co-ordinating this education effort – a spokesperson noted that most schools would ask parents to make “a ‘voluntary contribution’ to the costs of Jewish learning”, adding: “In many schools this money is also used to support the costs of security, which the UK government gives a grant for. Whilst schools appreciate this support these are voluntary donations, and all children receive the same provision irrespective of whether a parent donates.”
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