Annual Fall School Trips

In the first few months of the school year each unit goes on a class trip whether a hike or an excursion to spend some time with their immediate staff outside the classroom. These trips serve as a way to re-connect within the group and with the staff after the long summer break and to strengthen these connections for the coming year.

This year the Einot Tzukim natural reserve near the Dead Sea was a great hit and more than half the groups went there. This is a wonderful setting for the staff and children to spend a relaxing day together thanks to the different natural swimming pools, picnic tables and abundance of trees and paths. The Ella group visited there a few weeks ago. Here is a summary of the trip by one of the teachers:

"On Tuesday we went to the Einot Tzukim reserve, and on the way we listened to a playlist of songs that we all compiled together and also played a rousing game of bingo. When we arrived we made breakfast together and met our tour guide Tzvi who took us for a walk through the “hidden reserve.” We walked by a freshwater lake and reached the place where we could see the Dead Sea in the distance. After leaving the “hidden reserve” we arrived at the Ein Pashcha pools where the girls and the staff swam together, had lunch, ate ice cream and then headed back to the school. The trip was an excellent way for the staff and children to bond. We all had a wonderful time in the reserve, especially the pools."

Graduates

Over the past 70 years, close to 70% of the graduates of the Children’s Home and the Kemper Group Home have gone on to lead productive lives in the greater community. They always remember the dedication, patience, care, and love that helped turn their nightmares into dreams and gave them the tools to rise above their painful beginnings. Some keep in touch and return to the Homes for a visit. An example of this is a recent visit by a graduate of the Kemper Group Home who will be enlisting in the Israeli army in a few weeks. M. spent 4 years at the Kemper Group Home, during which he underwent a significant process that prepared him for his upcoming army service. In the last two years at the Home, M. volunteered to help Holocaust survivors. He would visit a Holocaust survivor at least once a week and keep her company. He would bring her food from the Home and together they eat and talk about life. The treatment M. received at the Home helped him to be able to forge this unique connection with the holocaust survivor. M. will be serving in a special unit in the army which helps soldiers deal with the military system and provides them with a supportive and targeted framework that encourages them to serve in the army.

The Children’s Home also had a visit from a graduate who left the Home 8 years ago. He came with his wife and son and told us excitedly all about his life and what he has gone through since he left until today. From the interview with P.:

“At first it was difficult here. It was hard to adjust… I wasn’t used to being with a lot of people in a big group. I got used to it, opened up to the counselors… from here I went to the Hana Hostel [Kemper Group Home], I was there a year, I adjusted to the Home, went to a school outside the Home, I’d come and go. Then my brother died… so I decided to return home. He was my older brother so I took upon myself the paternal role. We lived in Tel Aviv in the Shapira neighborhood. Shapira was a slum with a lot of crime. I deteriorated, I went in and out of jail, I went through some not so good phases. It was difficult… But I learnt a lot [at the Children’s Home]. I cooked; I knew how to cook at the Home. Sometimes when I needed to stop I would stop. I would always remember that I was good, and sometimes I was strong and sometimes weak and I would cry. At first when I went out into the real world I didn’t really understand myself, I wanted to show everyone who I was. When I was here at the Home I didn’t know people on the outside. [When I got out] I wanted people to know me, know who I was. It was a little hard. And then I started working. I’ve been working for 5 years… I slowly climbed up the ladder, like I was taught. At first I wanted to jump to the top of the ladder but I understood that that’s wrong and I slowly got to where I want to be. I have a kid, I have a wife, thank G-d.”

The staff that taught and cared for him while he was here was greatly moved to see how he’s grown up and started a family. The encounter was inspirational and reinforced in everyone the importance of the work that is done here at the Children’s Home.

Focus on the JHTC Special Education School

Children with emotional difficulties which manifest in behavioral disorders, anxiety attacks, and attachment problems need an environment that allows corrective and constructive experiences, and a living space that provides meaningful contact with positive caregivers. Their emotional disorders often affect the child's cognitive abilities which are in turn reflected in learning difficulties.

"The intense emotional activity typical of students with these disorders - due to constant preoccupation with suspicion and disappointment - affects their thinking processes and falsifies them. This will be reflected in the difficulty to comprehend emotionally neutral learning content, while emotionally charged educational content will immediately provoke their aggression." (Dr. Yehezkel Cohen)

Therefore, the children in our care cannot attend mainstream schools and we provide an on campus Special Education School which caters to their unique needs. This allows the teachers to be in daily contact with the children’s care-workers and psychologists. This constant communication is necessary to realize our treatment philosophy which integrates therapy into every aspect of a child’s care. 

Each unit of 15 children has three specially trained teachers who accompany the unit during the four-year period in which the children stay in the home, thus providing them with the necessary stability to develop a relationship with the teachers and lead to successful learning skills. Each group is also assigned a teaching assistant. The high staff to pupil ratio means that the children can receive the individual attention they so desperately need.  Each group has three classrooms, meaning that the teachers can teach the entire class together or split off into small groups. The children’s curriculum, approved by the Ministry of Education’s Curriculum for Special Education, allows for each student to follow a personally tailored program in which various disciplines are adjusted to suit his or her chronological age as well as emotional and mental needs.