On Tuesday 3rd March, PaJeS held its annual Headteachers conference and we were pleased to welcome 28 Heads from Jewish schools around the country for the day.  

The conference began with a PaJeS public affairs update from Rabbi David Meyer and Raisel Freedman who ran a session on the current discussions that PaJeS is having with both Ofsted and the DfE. They also looked at the recently published report by Policy Exchange, pertinent to faith schools. The session included some essential guidance for all schools as well as a question and answer session.

Zoe Sinclair from Employment Matters, together with Jillian Dunstan, former Head of Mathilda Marks Kennedy Primary School, then introduced the next session with the main focus being on the wellbeing of staff and this followed with some small group discussions.

After lunch Detective Inspector Mark Rogers and colleagues from the Metropolitan Police gave an extremely important and insightful high level briefing with the key topics being: Emerging Safeguarding Threats and Safeguarding Guidance for Schools.

The final session came from Dr Mark Berelowitz who spoke about the lessons learned from the Thai cave boys, particularly as they pertain to schools. Mark has been closely involved with the JLC’s wellbeing project and we were very pleased to welcome such a fascinating speaker.

All the headteachers unanimously agreed that the conference had been extremely interesting and very worthwhile. As always it was an excellent opportunity to network with other Heads and a chance to share ideas and hear how others are doing. One headteacher commented that, “Every time I attend a PaJeS event I feel I benefit both as a school leader and as a learner. You managed to make four intense topics feel meaty but manageable. It was an excellent day today." Whilst another said of the conference, “PaJeS has become my "wellbeing" and offers a chance to refresh, learn from other Headteachers and develop professionally."