Eden Primary is a Jewish school where everybody is welcome. Eden Primary is an inclusive, state primary school created under the Free Schools Programme. It is a one-form-entry school with a cross-communal Jewish ethos that accepts children from across the spectrum of Jewish belief and beyond on an equal basis.
Eden Primary:
- Enables every child to develop their true potential by recognizing and meeting their individual needs in an inclusive school, creating a caring and creative environment, fostering a love of learning, and helping each child to play an active and responsible role in their community.
- Values academic excellence achieved through an innovative curriculum incorporating both Jewish and general studies with high expectations of achievement for all children.
- Uses Jewish teaching as a source of inspiration and knowledge, while promoting respect, understanding, and positive relations across the Jewish and wider community so that children of different backgrounds and beliefs learn from diversity and difference and value one another.
- Fosters a love of nature, the environment, and outdoor activity so that the children develop self-confidence and learn how to enjoy, protect and take responsibility for the world around them.
Our ethos is based on three pillars: This means understanding and learning about people of all faiths and none, as well as the different strands of Judaism. Children will learn, on an individual basis, to recognize and reach their potential, whether academic, sporting, artistic, or spiritual.
Eden Primary warmly welcomes children from all backgrounds on an equal basis. Jewish teaching imbues the life of the school, but it is teaching that will be accessible and valuable for all. It is about consideration, charity, respect, good deeds, history, and stories – things that benefit everybody and are universal values.
All our children will be included in Jewish activities such as learning about festivals and speaking modern Hebrew, as well as in activities relating to other religions and cultures. We believe that Jewish identity can flourish in a multi-cultural context, and vice versa. All the children will also learn about other faiths and cultures. Jewish teaching will make up approximately 17% of the entire curriculum.
The individual faiths and backgrounds of every child are respected equally, and all will be encouraged to share their own personal and family practices with their friends. The more variety we have in our school, the more there is for the children to learn.
By the time our pupils leave Eden, they will be knowledgeable about Judaism and other faiths, and they will carry that knowledge with them for the rest of their lives, adding to the store of experiences that they collect as they grow up. Their understanding of Hebrew will introduce them to learning a rich and rewarding modern living language.
We believe that the future of the Jewish community in the UK lies in mutual trust, recognition, and understanding between the various Jewish denominations. That understanding begins with our children. We believe that the future of the Jewish community in the UK lies in mutual trust, recognition, and understanding between the various Jewish denominations. That understanding begins with our children.
In addition to religious studies, we want to provide our children with a grounding in Jewish Culture. Cultural Judaism means learning about Jewish art, Jewish literature, Jewish history, philosophy, drama, architecture, and entertainment. We believe that being Jewish means more than purely religious understanding and that both children and parents could benefit enormously from this curriculum.
A graduate will leave the school with strong skills, important foundational knowledge in both Jewish and secular education, and good study skills. They will have the ability to think creatively and critically, ask intelligent questions, engage in discussion and apply their knowledge and skills to meaningful and authentic projects and life experiences.
Eden Primary encourages children to be courageous and to take risks with their thinking and in their activity, and also to have humility, to listen respectfully, and to take into account the work and ideas of others. Children express themselves confidently, appreciate and respect diversity in many forms and at the same time, learn the lifelong gift and skill of listening to others. They recognize that ideas come from engagement with other ideas and that they need to be able to justify their ideas and base them on what they have learned.
The curriculum at Eden Primary will be broad, relevant, and coherent, matched to the needs and abilities of all learners to develop the child as a valued and whole individual. It will be balanced and comprehensive, instilling a love of learning, the joy of mastery, and preparing children thoroughly for the next stage of their education.
