At Sinai Jewish Primary School we nurture a generosity of spirit. We know that teaching our children about charitable causes and fundraising from an early age is imperative to them growing into proud and contributing global citizens with good Jewish values as well as strong British values.

The theme of tzedakah runs throughout our Jewish Studies teaching at Sinai.  We model the notion of generosity and sharing – even in small ways – from the start of their educational journey with us.

We like to instil the children with a mindset that they can make a difference. Learning about giving and helping others gives children a feeling of empowerment in an uncertain world where unexpected or sad events happen every day. Reaching out to those in need, whether that be through fundraising, volunteering or donating is central to Jewish being.

We support a range of charitable causes throughout the school year. We are long standing supporters of Comic Relief and Children in Need. As a healthy school we are also proud to support Sports Relief with all the children taking part in walking, running or jumping a daily mile in the weeks leading up to the event.

As part of our focus on Humanities we also tie charitable learning into our assembly schedule, such as the Poppy Day Appeal and teaching the children about WW1.

Sinai is proud of the ongoing relationships we continue to strengthen and build across the Jewish community. We have supported Camp Simcha’s annual Toy Drive and Chai Cancer Care’s Mad Hair Day campaign amongst others both in our community as well as worthwhile causes across Israel.

We also support children who are keen to take on their own fundraising challenges. We encourage the children to be hands on with their own fundraising and we are proud when children proactively approach the school offering to arrange food collections for those in need, cut their hair to make wigs for children suffering with cancer or donate their pocket money to a charity close to their hearts. Smaller fundraising activities are also dotted throughout the school calendar from selling lollies and toys in the playground after school to washing the teacher’s cars!

 

We also know that teaching the children about giving can be rewarding for both parents as well as the children and a great way to reinforce charitable values is to make giving a family activity.  

Last academic year our Year 6 Young Enterprise ‘fiver challenge’, exemplified the focus on charity and the joy of performing mitzvot as they collectively made the decision to raise money for the charity Kisharon, where they had been involved in an integration project. The children raised over a thousand pounds for the children they have spent time with - helping them to develop life skills, helping them with their wheelchair exercises and joining in with their lessons.  The work with Kisharon showed all that we have nurtured in our pupils.

It is especially important to teach children that they are part of a larger community and that we are all responsible for those around us. By giving the value of charity a central role within our school we are encouraging our children to grow up with a healthy sense of compassion and a strong charitable spirit. We are a big school with a big heart.