Preparation

After a good day of meetings, our staff are prepared and positive and ready for the first day with the pupils tomorrow, 1st September. The school campus is looking good and we have good exam results from June, both important factors for establishing a good foundation for another successful year. We look forward to taking you on the journey with us.

We have a roll of 334 pupils who will be arriving in their throngs tomorrow after 2 months of summer holidays. It will be up to us a team of professionals to continue to mold and shape them into successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.

New gardens

Here are our new gardens surrounding the new paved area. We are really proud of the work and we hope the pupils will get great pleasure from this upgrade.

We are also moving into the month of Ramadan and we wish all our Muslim families in the school "Ramadan kareem". All around Jaffa at the moment we have twinkling lights up in the windows (much like the ones below) to help celebrate this important Muslim festival.

More exam results…

We have received the next set of results from the June 2009 examinations. Students sat exams set by the Edexcel and AQA exam boards, both situated in England.

This is the breakdown:

Modern Hebrew AS-Level: 15A (10 100% grades), 1B, 1C (17 candidates)
Modern Hebrew A-Level: 1C (1 candidate)
Polish AS-Level: 1A (1 candidate)
Physics GCE O-Level: 1A, 5B, 6C (13 candidates)
Mathematics AS-Level: 7A, 3B, 4C (15 candidates)
History AS-Level: 1A, 3B, (10 candidates)
Russian AS-Level: 3A (3 candidates)
RE AS-Level: 2A, 1B, 1C (7 candidates)
Japanese AS-Level: 1A (1 candidate)
French AS-Level: 1A (1candidate)
Chemistry AS-Level: 1A, 1B (6 candidates)
Biology AS-Level: 4A, 3B (12 candidates)
Arabic AS-Level: 1A, 1B, 2C (4 candidates)
English Lit A-Level: 1C (1 candidate)
Chemistry A-Level: 1A, 1B (2 candidates)
Biology A-Level: 2A, 1C (4 candidates)
Arabic A-Level: 1B, 1C (3 candidates)
RE A-Level: 1C (1 candidate)
Mathematics A-Level: 2A, 1B (5 candidates)

Once again we are really proud of our students! Well done to all of you and to your teachers.

Exam Results

We have received the first set of exam results for IGCSE and GCE Cambridge Examination Board. This involves mainly our Grade 10 pupils and some Grade 11 and 12 students as well. When looking at the results, we can see a broad spectrum, with many A and A* grades to a sprinkling of U grades.

The basic breakdown per subject is as follows:

Art and Design: 1A, 2B, 1C (14 candidates in total)

Biology: 4A*, 4A, 2B, 3C (16 candidates in total)

Chemistry: 2A, 1B, 5C (10 candidates)

English as a Second Language: 5A, 7B, 10C (27 candidates)

History: 1B (6 candidates)

Literature: 3A, 4B, 1C (16 candidates)

Mathematics: 2A*, 7A, 4B, 6C (29 candidates)

We are really proud of many of our pupils who all worked hard and are now reaping what they have sown.

We expect the rest of the results to be published over the next two weeks and we are looking forward to posting a summary of those as well.

Well done to teachers and pupils!

Summer work around the school

Most of the summer work has been completed, with our cleaners now in the school doing the grueling task of getting the school ready for 1st September.

To the right is a picture of our finished paved area at the back of the school, as part of the landscaping project.



To the left is a picture showing the work in progress.




We have also decided to change the front garden area of the school. Due to the fact that there is a water shortage in Israel and it is difficult to maintain the patch of grass at the front of the school, we have replaced the grass with river pebbles.

Exciting meeting...

Today the principal of the school met with a representative from the Scots Hotel in Tiberias to discuss the possibility of some of our pupils participating in special events at the hotel. We have plenty of talent in Tabeetha; from excellent piano players to talented singers. Our pupils would perform as an introductory "curtain raiser" to other special cultural productions at the hotel.

In light of this, and the fact that we have established a relationship with a local voice coach, we will be establishing the Tabeetha Choir, who will not only perform at the hotel and the other Church of Scotland institution in Israel - St. Andrews Church and Scottish Guesthouse in Jerusalem, but will also perform at school assemblies and other school functions. We are really excited about this new venture!

Welcome to our blog!

This is where you will be able to find news and updates of what is happening at Tabeetha School in Jaffa.

We are on summer holidays at the moment, but there has been plenty happening over the past month. We are in the middle of a landscaping project, made possible by generous donations from our friends in Scotland and supporting congregations of the Church of Scotland. Pictures will be posted shortly.

We have also been working at upgrading some classrooms and doing routine maintenance, in preparation for the new school year which begins in September.