Binational School for Jewish and Palestinian kids

The school year is fraught with days that remind us that each of us grows up in a community and a religion, with a narrative that shapes our identity. That is why the school has begun a tradition: the Festival of Hope. On the evening of May 31, the entire village, school community and parents’ community were invited for an evening of entertainment, food and fun.

Coming near the end of the school year, it is a way for the children to celebrate the experience they have had over the year of learning and playing with friends of all kinds. And it is a chance for children, parents and village members to come together in the name of peace. The holiday is celebrated at a time when Jews and Arabs in the country are participating in events that remind them of freedom, but also subjugation, occupation and cultural and religious differences. The purpose of the Festival of Hope is not to erase these conflicting narratives, but to add a new one that celebrates not division but hope for peace and a better future.

The children were all dressed in white and they filed into the central school ground where lines had been laid out for them on the ground, showing them where to sit. With the help of a drone photographing them from above, they became a giant human peace sign.

The evening was also a festival of music, dance and theater. The students showed off the skills they had learned over the year in their extracurricular classes; playing instruments, singing, dancing and performing skits. A good laugh was had by all when they announced a skit called “refreshment break,” and the parents stood up and turned toward the tables laden with food.

the Primary School successfully accomplished a litany of laudable achievements in the latter half of 2021. These include:

• Re-opening in person for nearly 300 students after more than a year on Zoom
• Adding, in response to demand, a second first-grade classroom

• Welcoming and orienting a new principal, Neama Abo Dalu, an educator and administrator with over 17 years of experience in binational education
• Strengthening, through teacher workshops, the HOTAM curriculum (Education, Culture, and Tradition), setting the standard for bilingual, culturally inclusive education in Israel
• Working with the parents, teachers, community, municipality, and consultants to develop a systematic expansion into middle and high school grades, increasing their regional impact
• Developing or strengthening weekly instructional classes in music, sports, local ecology, theater, film, and nature crafts, in addition to teaching the mandated core curriculum
• Providing teacher training and mentoring in the HOTAM curriculum, lesson planning, and bilingual education during the summer and school calendar year
• Planning and carrying out curriculum-connected field trips and special days including first-day-of-school celebrations, science and art workshops for teachers and students, an experiential learning olive harvest trip, and multiple holiday activities connected to Purim, Ramadan, Easter, and Sigd, all of which included parents and the wider community in their invitations
• Strengthening the Parents Community, including increased classroom involvement and increased community engagement, with a goal that the greater connections fostered among parents provide a place and people with whom to process the tensions and erupting violence in Israel’s Mixed Cities
• Continuing renovation and new construction of the new playground, to be fully completed in 2022