EDUCATION IN SHA’AR HANEGEV
Sha’ar Hanegev’s education system in among Israel’s best and most advanced, and the regional council invests more in education than in any other area. Its elementary school and high-school both pioneer innovative methods, fostering achievement-oriented learning in tandem with an educational perception.
THE EXPERIMENTAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ,
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SHA’AR HANEGEV – A SCHOOL FOR LIFE-SKILLS
Close to 700 children attend first to sixth grades in the elementary school, and they are drawn from three regional councils – Sha'ar Hanegev, Hof Azza and Azzata.
It is located within the Education Complex, and works in close ties with the many other facilities situated in the complex – the college, music studio, ballet studio, the sport department, the community psychological service, the senior citizens club, the hydrotherapy center, and the junior-high and high school.
An unusual curriculum has been developed at the school, focusing on life-skills as the central trajectory of its educational endeavors. The curriculum is wholly based on the skills needed by the school’s students and graduates in the third millennium.
Five core issues are featured in the curriculum – self-management, cooperation, cross-system literacy, investigative research, and creativity.
Using this outlook, the school has developed learning environments, curricula and in-service training courses for the school’s population, the wider community and for other schools.
Students at the school share in planning curricula, in building behavior frameworks and designing their learning environment. The school-day is longer than in similar Israeli schools, and children have a hot lunch at school.
The learning environment is innovative and offers a range of unique learning methods and curricula.
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Examples of programs offered by the school:
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Communications:
Third to sixth-graders learn communications from educators and communications people. In fifth and sixth grades, they produce radio and TV programs as well as a newspaper recording events at school.
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Computerized communications, Information gathering, and Library:
The school has a computerized information center providing children with enriching experiential work in handling information by the latest means. An excellent library is also available at the center. | |
Mentoring:
Each child from the older age-group level mentors a child from the younger age-group level, with a strong emphasis on collaborative and planning skills. | |
Mediation:
: Children and teachers acquire the language of mediation as a method for conflict-resolution and developing interpersonal communication skills. Mediation tools are integrated in the curriculum at all levels. | |
Ecological Bubble:
An innovative learning environment in which children research natural phenomena while enhancing their awareness to ecological principles. | |
Students’ Council:
The council is active, proactive and influential on school life. | |
Elective Activities:
As well as mandatory subjects, the school provides enrichment classes, among them - music, creativity, sport, movement, computers, music, magic, jazz, chess, sculpture, product design, model aircraft, combined arts, photography, karate, gymnastics floor and instruments, ballet and investigative skills with pets.
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School office – Shoshi Amsterdam – (972)8-6802700
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