Robbins Hebrew Academy – Architects of a new day school model.

I would like to thank all the administrators, staff, teachers and parents who participated in the curriculum evenings this past week and helped make them a great success.  This was a wonderful opportunity to continue building our collaborative learning community as partners in the education of your children. 

We are on a path of continuous improvement to provide the best education for your children. At Robbins Hebrew Academy, we are the architects of our future, and a leader in the education of Jewish children, with a program designed for 21^st century learning.  Through the creation of our new school model with critical thinking as its foundation, RHA is poised to be the first Jewish day school in Toronto to apply to be a candidate school for accreditation by SEAL (Standards in Excellence & Learning.)

SEAL is an association for independent and private schools that focuses on developing and promoting educational excellence, school improvement and leadership. SEAL is a proud member of the Association of Accrediting Agencies of Canada and is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools.  For more information on SEAL, go to www.seal.edu. I have been a member of the SEAL board for many years and I am thrilled to bring my experience with this process to help RHA become accredited.

We began this process by creating the vision of our mission: the ideal “relationships” needed for 21^st century graduates.   As critical thinking is foundational to our vision, the curriculum at first was designed to honour this vision and make achievement of critical thinking more likely.  Our teachers began by building their understanding of “critical challenges” to determine what success looked like.

We have embarked on a process of continuous school improvement in order to provide the best education in both General and Judaic Studies. This process is inclusive and supports all types of learners, as we believe a Jewish education is important for all.

As “architects” we have now created the detailed documents or “blueprints” that describe the richness of our curriculum. These documents are created to align with the SEAL accreditation process.  To achieve these standards, we have delineated the best practices in teaching and learning to ensure the integration, scope, sequence and continuity of the program.  “We used Schooling by Design (Grant Wiggins, 2007), Five Minds of the Future (Howard Gardner, 2007), The Global Achievement Gap (Tony Wagner, 2008), and other educational research sources to support the curriculum portion of our strategic plan that is being designed to achieve the school’s mission.

Robbins Hebrew Academy students are fortunate to be on the leading edge of education with their LEARNING POWER.

I look forward to the year ahead and many future opportunities for collaboration.  My door is always open and I would be happy to talk to you.

G’mar Chatimah Tova and an easy fast.  May you be inscribed in the book of life.
Claire Sumerlus