Yavneh students join ceremony in Israel to commemorate late headteacher

Students from Yavneh College in Borehamwood joined a ceremony to commemorate the school’s former headteacher, Dena Coleman, who died suddenly in 2013.

The pupils took their place as a school in Be’er Sheva in the Negev opened its new gym in honour of Yavneh’s late head.

Yavneh College & #JNF UK were at Gevim School, Be’er Sheva earlier, dedicating new gym to memory of head Dena Coleman pic.twitter.com/y0ngGSzOTi

— JNF (@JNFuk) July 9, 2015

“Dena’s greatest gift was to bring out the best in each student, helping each and every one of them shine,” said JNF UK’s Yonatan Galon. “It is for this reason that we chose this building to be her legacy.”

Mother-of-two Dena built Yavneh into one of the country’s most successful schools, having earlier served as headteacher at Hasmonean. She was described by former chief rabbi Lord Sacks as “one of the truly great Jewish educators of our time”. She died aged 60, one month before she was due to retire.