UJIA JAMS - What's happening at a school near you?

UJIA JAMS has been busy this term, bringing Jewish learning to over 2,000 high school students across the country. To find out about the JAMS highlights of the school year, read on...

Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
Habs' Girls' J-Soc has had a great term so far. Our bi-weekly nosh and learns have maintained the fantastic atmosphere created by 30 girls, lots of food and brilliant speakers. We have held assemblies on topics ranging from Jewish music to Hannah Szenes. One of our highlights as a J-Soc committee was the overwhelmingly positive response we got from our Holocaust assembly, which involved quiet music, candles and stories read by girls from the school. We also held a Purim Burger Bash with Habs' Boys', involving food from Ralphy's and all profits going to charity (more details below).

As a J-Soc, we have been collecting money for our chosen charity, Beit HaShanti, an Israeli charity that provides a home for teenagers. We feel it is a really worthwhile cause. In addition to people giving Tzedakah at the end of assemblies or nosh and learns, we held a cake sale last term to raise even more money. We're all really sad that our wonderful year as J-Soc Chairs is coming to an end - we will shortly be announcing our changeover and wish next year's J-Soc all the best of luck. We've had a fabulous year together on J-Soc and have enjoyed every minute of it!

Henrietta Barnett School
HBS J-Soc has had an exciting second term, kicking off with the launch of our Facebook group in January. Our nosh and learn topics included women in the Holocaust, mental illness in the Jewish community and combating hate crime. We have been very lucky to welcome speakers including Dr Brian Berenblut and Rabbi Natan Levy. A definite highlight was our Yom Ha'atzmaut session where we were joined by a delegation of Israeli teenagers from UJIA's Magic Moments programme who told us about their lives in northern Israel over a falafel lunch. We wish all our J-Soc members good luck for their exams this summer and look forward to the new committee next year.

North London Collegiate School
This year has seen some major changes in NLCS' Jewish Society. We have worked hard to introduce new speakers and events to appeal to a wider cross-section of students. It was our first year using UJIA JAMS and we feel it was a great success.

Lunch and Learn goes from strength to strength with speakers from the various youth movements and a number of charitable organisations such as Jewish Care, Jewish AIDS Trust, Middle East Education and topics including "Should the Diaspora have a voice in Israeli politics?" At our assembly for Holocaust Memorial Day we listened to Gena Turgel, Holocaust survivor and author of "I Light a Candle". She told the story of life in the Krakow ghetto, deportation to Auschwitz, execution of four of her siblings and imprisonment in Belsen from where she was finally liberated, later marrying one of the soldiers responsible for that liberation. We were very moved by her words and her belief in the power of education to change people's behaviour.

A highlight of our year was Mitzvah Day where we supported the Blue Peter Appeal by turning 120 t-shirts into 'hospital gowns' for children who are undergoing a life-changing operation on a cleft palate or other facial deformity. Every gown we made saved £3 to be used towards vital medication and supplies to make these amazing operations possible. Our Chanukah event was a Jewish "Question Time" with four speakers from the youth movements BA, FZY, Noam and RSY-Netzer. The panel fielded questions on issues ranging from exchanging hostages for convicted terrorists to whether Alan Sugar and Stacey Solomon are good role models. Huge thanks to all the committee for their hard work and commitment and good luck to next year's J-Soc.

South Hampstead High School
When we first started running J-Soc we didn't really know what to expect, but armed with the JAMS booklet and our typical South Hampstead enthusiasm we set out trying to make this year's J-Soc the best one yet. The religious views of the girls at South Hampstead varies greatly, so we had the challenge of creating a neutral environment in which everyone was welcome to share their opinions, Jews and non-Jews alike. For our first session we plastered the school with posters luring people in with the promise of 'delicious food' and 'interesting speakers'. The girls reacted really well and we had a turnout of around 35 people. The sessions attracted more and more people each week as the hype about J-Soc grew. At one session in Mid-February, we had so many girls turn up that we couldn't fit them into the room! We would like to think that it was our choice of interesting and engaging speakers, but something tells us it may have been the mini pizzas and bagels.

Chairing J-Soc whilst trying to balance school work has been a challenge for us this year and at times slightly stressful. But it is always worth it to see the girls engaging with and having fun at almost every session we have held this year. Next year we will really miss the eager Year 7s running up to us in the corridor asking if J-Soc is on that week. We are so thankful for the support of UJIA who have enabled this year's J-Soc to be so amazing - we can only hope that next year's will be just as good!

University College School
There has been much media coverage of the prime ministerial debates over the last few weeks. However, UCS J-Soc feels that the media is missing the truly inspiring debate going on every single week - that of our very own J-Soc. This term our weekly nosh and learn sessions have continued to be the place where Year 7 students can challenge the views of sixth formers and, on occasion, challenge the view of the speaker as well. Discussion has ranged from international human rights to the future of Zionism, however, it is clear that all parties were able to get behind the famous J-Soc Purim Party. But there is still some debate on what the best flavour of hamantashan is! Roll on next year...

Habs' 2010 Purim Burger Bash
To put it simply, the Burger Bash was a great success. One hundred and forty people from Haberdashers' Aske's boys' and girls' schools turned up to feast on what was for many, the nicest school meal of the year. Having run the advertising campaign from midway through the first half of term, tickets went on sale on the first week back after half term, and in those five days we sold an extraordinary number. It's probably fair to say we should have started selling sooner, but all credit must go to those who worked tirelessly to sell tickets.

All in all, the committee from both the boys' and girls' school and all attendees had a wonderful time, enjoying the Israeli music playing on the loudspeakers, the hot festive meal and a joyful schmooze with friends. The fact that we still managed to attract so many young Jews on a day when several school events were on is testament to the effort made by each and every member of the committee and to the thriving Jewish life at Habs'.

To see pictures from the Burger Bash visit our photo gallery.