Yavneh - Kindergarten
Welcome to Yavneh.
We are a small committee-run kindergarten based in the Gertrude Preston Hall of the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation synagogue, near the centre of Bournemouth and close to all amenities.
Our normal opening hours are Tuesday and Thursday 9am until 3pm and Friday 9am until 12 noon during term time only. A healthy kosher lunch is provided in the afternoon session. Fruit and a drink are served in the morning session.
All children aged from 2 years to the end of the Foundation Stage are welcome to attend. We are accredited to receive the Early Education Funding which gives parents of 3 and 4 year-olds five 21/2 hour sessions free for 38 weeks a year (top-up fees apply).
There are three members of staff employed at the Kindergarten. Two of these are qualified to Level 3 and above and the third member of staff is working towards a Level 3 qualification.
The Kindergarten is currently working towards the Bournemouth Quality Standards, a quality assurance scheme recognised by the Early Year’s sector throughout Bournemouth.
All staff are qualified in first aid, safeguarding children, food hygiene and health and safety. They also regularly undertake short courses to keep up to date with current childcare developments.
Parents whose children already attend like the home-from-home environment and friendly atmosphere along with small group sizes. We currently have a maximum of 10 children attending any one session so adult/child ratios are high allowing for all children’s individual needs to be met.
We aim to provide lots of well-planned, meaningful activities, both indoors and out, for our children as well as celebrating the main Jewish festivals and acknowledging other faiths, in accordance with the guidance of the Government’s Early Years Foundation Stage.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information on 07812 050595 (Jan – Supervisor).
Changing Times at Yavneh Kindergarten - By Hilary Morris
We have read about the history of Yavneh and I would like to take this opportunity to bring you up to date with life at the kindergarten. We must thank the many ‘Aunties’ and families who have continued to make Yavneh the unique little extended family that it has become here at Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation. Currently, Yavneh is led by Elissa Rubins and myself. The children come to us at approximately two years old and from many different religious backgrounds. We still hold Yavneh in the Gertrude Preston Hall but we now operate day-care sessions with the kindergarten being open from 9 o’clock until 3 o’clock during academic terms. Some of our day-to-day activities at Yavneh continue from the early days. We are here to educate the children in their secular and religious learning. Every Friday the children continue to take it in turns to be our Shabbat Aba and Shabbat Ima, lighting candles drinking Kiddush wine (grape juice), eating challah and singing Shabbat songs. The children learn about the festivals and celebrate their Jewish identity together. During my time at Yavneh we have had several non-Jewish children who, through parental choice, are happy to join us in our special environment.
Although there are many aspects of Yavneh’s curriculum that have remained the same since the early days, one major change has taken place that has affected our day-to-day organisation. We are now part of the Foundation Stage (a period of learning which takes into account the development and education of pre-school children aged three years to the end of the reception year at school). As a result we are now regulated by Ofsted with its inspectors and inspections!
I was delighted when our recent inspection stated in its ‘How good is the day care?’ section ……
‘The kindergarten promotes very well the festivals and ethos of the Jewish beliefs’.
And in the ‘What is being done well?’ section ……
‘The promotion of the festivals and ethos of the Jewish belief is imaginative’.
The reward for our hard work is, of course, the children. We have shared some wonderful experiences with them, some happy, some sad, tears of joy, tears of sadness, bumps and knocks and some very entertaining stories! There is not time to share them all with you but two particular favourites of mine are as follows.
We were learning about Sukkot and I was telling the children about G-d being everywhere, and one little girl said…‘even in Manchester?’ This was where some members of her family were and she obviously wanted to know that all was well with them.
On another occasion one little boy at ‘circle time’ said he wanted to share some news with us. He stood up in front of his peers and began to tell them about what had happened on Shabbat.
‘Mummy got very cross with Daddy because he had eaten all the Kitkats and did not save any for tea.’
Although times have changed and many years have now passed since Yavneh Kindergarten was founded, our priorities and aims will always remain the same. We are here to nurture, care for and educate our young children and prepare them for the future.
Yavneh Kindergarten - The Beginning - By Vicky Cohen
Shortly after I arrived in Bournemouth with my young family (husband, three children and a goldfish) in 1974, I was approached by Rabbi Silberg, then BHC minister, and asked to consider starting a kindergarten at the synagogue for Jewish toddlers of nursery age.
My two older children, Daniella and Stephanie, had attended Jewish kindergartens and then Jewish primary schools when we lived in London, so I appreciated the importance of such a facility in Bournemouth, and eventually I agreed. Rabbi Silberg had asked me because he knew of my background in kindergartens at Clapton Jewish Day School and Yavneh Wembley.
The support I received from Rabbi Silberg, Reverend Cohen, the then President (Mr Norman Levy) and the Board of the BHC, Rabbi Soetendorp, and the Bournemouth Social Services was very encouraging, and made my goals even more ambitious.
The kindergarten started in 1975 under the auspices of the BHC, initially for three mornings each week, but shortly after opening we extended to five mornings. When we opened we had just four children on the register, but this gradually increased to more than twenty.
At first the kindergarten was held in one of the upstairs classrooms, but as numbers increased we moved into the Gertrude Preston Hall and funds were raised by the kindergarten to redecorate and refurbish it.
The late Helen Woolfson assisted me, together with talented volunteers who included Estelle Toba and ‘Aunty Midge’ Cohen, remembered for her wonderful and interesting stories, which she wrote herself and were broadcast on the radio. By having voluntary help we kept costs to a minimum and were able to have enough cover at all times. Parents played a very important part in fund raising, and together we organised debates, a fashion show, Ask the Panel and so on. This provided extra educational and recreational equipment for the children.
One of my aims was to involve the parents in taking part in the children’s early education and our Jewish traditions. Every Friday and before Festivals the parents were invited to join their children for Kabbalat Shabbat or for a Festival celebration, together learning songs and rituals. The first Chanukah party took place in the Gertrude Preston Hall, which was decorated with dreidels, candles, chanukiot, bunting and so forth, and had a very festive atmosphere. The pupils, siblings, parents, grandparents, Board Members and Rabbi Silberg, our Principal, attended the party. The guest of honour was Mr Harris Shoerats, who was then one hundred years older than our youngest child in the kindergarten. He presented each child with a sixpenny silver coin as a memento of his visit.
Yavneh was always open for parents to visit at any time. Visitors to the town with young children were also able to enjoy the facilities and activities, and this assisted with our funding.
By 1977 the kindergarten was flourishing. Birth rates were up, new families had moved to the town and Yavneh was an established part of the community. At this point my husband, Jeffrey, was offered a different role by his employers and we had to relocate to Brighton. Fortunately for Yavneh I was able to hand over the running of the kindergarten to Corinne Rein.
In the early years of Yavneh I promised the sometimes reluctant parents of the children who were the first few intakes that their children would not suffer either socially or academically. Meeting again these children, now many of whom are parents themselves, I believe my promise has been kept.
As I look back now after recently returning to live in Bournemouth I realise how much I enjoyed the first years of Yavneh, and how proud I feel that it is still operating. It is so important for us in the community to give every support and encouragement to ensure the continuing success of the kindergarten.
