Supporting your Jewish pupils in school
- Sara Alston
- Oct 20
- 8 min read
This is an incredibly difficult time for the Jewish community. We are still reeling from the attack on Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur (2nd October) which was both dreadful in itself and brought up memories and fears from previous attacks in other places. We are also trying to process the emotions and implications of the hostage release on October 13th and the ongoing impacts of Israeli actions in Gaza.
There is no homogenous Jewish community in the UK. The community ranges from the ultra-religious to non-religious cultural Jews and anything and everything in between. There is no one emotion felt or shared across the community, but it is fair to say the equilibrium of the whole community has been shaken. For many of us, our sense of safety has been disturbed. And many of us are fearful for our children.
Since the attacks on Israel by Hamas on October 7th 2023, when 1,189 Israelis and people of other nationalities were killed and another 251 were taken hostage into Gaza, there has been a growth in antisemitism across the country, particularly in our schools. In the calendar year 2024, 32% of Jews reported experiencing at least one antisemitic incident. Further, more frequently we are hearing from our children things like “My friends don't like that I'm Jewish," "I don't feel safe anywhere," or "I don't think I can trust anyone." While this continues to be prompted and often orchestrated by the far right and its influencers, much of this is based on an underlying confusion between the actions of Jews and those of the State of Israel. Blame for the appalling and inhuman actions in Gaza of the Israeli government, under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, have been seen as the responsibility of all Jews, regardless of their relationship to that state.
This has led to a normalisation of antisemitism and a growing use of antisemitic images, language and tropes in public discourse and particularly on social media. This is modelled, nurtured and encouraged by the far right, and at times the not so far right in politics and the media, and their supporters. Antisemitism is identified as an online risk in Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025 (para 135).
This is having a huge impact in schools on both Jewish and non-Jewish pupils. In this blog, I will focus on the experiences of Jewish pupils and how these pupils can be supported in schools. The experiences of Jewish pupils in schools are hugely varied. While some children are in schools where the majority or even all of the pupils are Jewish, many are in a minority or the only Jew in the school. For all these children, as with any minority, how they are supported by their school is vital for their safety and wellbeing. This is not simple, but there are clear steps that schools can take to support their Jewish pupils.
Challenge misinformation.
This is immensely difficult for teachers as much of the information and history of antisemitism is complex and often controversial. Finding and understanding accurate unbiased information is difficult and there is often a lack of agreement and clarity in the information produced by even reputable sources.
However, some things can be easily stated and agreed:
Not all Jews are Israeli and not all Israelis are Jews.
While many Jews in this country may have family links and 75% feel emotionally attached to Israel, and approximately 64% identify as Zionists, they live in the UK. They hold British citizenship. They do not have a vote for or a say in the government of Israel. They are not responsible for the actions of Netanyahu’s government. As it would be wrong to regard all Muslim pupils as responsible for the actions of Hamas or any other Muslim state or body, so it needs to be challenged when the actions of the Israeli government are seen as the responsibility of British school children or their families. Similarly, when students are Israeli or do have Israeli family, they can no more be held accountable for the actions of their state than British students should be held accountable for the actions of the UK government. At the same time, this group may face particular challenges and have further need of understanding and support.
Bullying and Racist comments should not be tolerated or accepted.
Discussions about world events are natural and healthy in a school environment. Singling out individual pupils for bullying, harassment or racism is not. While not every expression of pro-Palestinian sentiment should immediately be seen as antisemitic, often the information being expressed and more importantly the way it is being expressed may need exploring.
Don’t shy away from the debate.
As a teacher when faced with potential, or actual, hate speech, racial slurs or antisemitism, it often feels easier to say little or fall back to ‘there are different points of view’. But for example if a student were to tell a Jewish classmate ‘Jews kill children’, this should be treated as any other racist comment rather than allow nervousness surrounding the political situation in Palestine to paralyse us. Teachers lack time, training and knowledge of these issues. There is a fear of saying the wrong thing or using the wrong language, so we say nothing. This exacerbates the issues and leaves Jewish pupils and others facing or at risk of facing this kind of attack (verbal or physical) isolated and vulnerable.
Teachers need to have the courage to step in and challenge inappropriate language, misinformation, disinformation and fake news. They shouldn’t be shutting down discussion of Israel/Palestine issues entirely, as this is not going to help Jewish pupils, and might foster a hostile environment towards pupils of other ethnicities. One of the fundamentals of good teaching is the development of critical thinking. We need to be willing to both look for and develop an empathetic response in our pupils: challenging their thinking, questioning how they develop their thinking and the sources of their ideas.
Check in and express your allyship.
Children need to know that they have safe adults in their schools. At a time when the world is feeling less safe in general that is particularly so. A simple check in letting your Jewish pupils know that you are aware that things may be challenging for them right now can be hugely powerful. We talk about the importance of allyship in other areas, we should not forget its importance now.
Give them time to process.
As I have said there is a lot going on for the Jewish community right now. Jewish children and their families need support to process their own emotions and confusions. Their sense of safety has been challenged by a fatal attack on British soil on the holiest day of the year. They can feel joy and elation at the release of the last of the hostages seized on October 7th and yet horror at events in Gaza. Feeling contradictory emotions at the same time is difficult and for some will be expressed through unexpected behaviours or actions. This needs an empathetic response.
Teach about Judaism
Judaism is a minority religion in the UK. In the 2021 census only about 0.5% of the population identified as Jewish. This means it is understandable that it is not given a huge amount of time in the curriculum. However, it is vital that Judaism is covered. It is one of the Abrahamic faiths and closely linked with Christianity and Islam. Neither can be properly understood without some understanding of Judaism. Also, it deserves to be taught in its own right.
Further, when you are teaching about Judaism, it is important to represent the range of the community. Too many of the curriculum resources for teaching Judaism focus on the orthodox community and do not acknowledge that there is a wider range of practice within the Jewish community. The focus on the extremes within the community means sometimes Jewish children in schools are being taught about things that they do not understand or recognise in their own practice. This can threaten their idea of themselves as Jews and can place them in the position of trying to explain the unfamiliar and being told that is what Jews do, when they don’t. So when teaching Judaism it is important to check with your Jewish pupils and their families, giving them the opportunity to share their experiences if they wish. But be clear there is as much diversity in religious practice within the Jewish community as there is in Christianity, Islam, or any other world faith.
Teaching about Judaism and Jewishness should be well rounded. For many students, their primary awareness of Jews will be through discussions of the Holocaust or Nazism. While this is important teaching should also stress other, more positive elements of Jewish life and history. Persecution is not the only Jewish story.
It is always worth reaching out to your local Jewish community for support with the curriculum and education for staff so that they are better placed to support their Jewish pupils.
Change the narrative about us and them.
Teaching about any faith or minority group can be hard. Too often our language becomes ‘they do’ or ‘they believe’. This creates separation and othering. We need to be aware of this when we are talking about any minority group. But at present there are particular risks with this language for the Jewish community. Teachers need to be aware of the images and tropes they may be using and consider how they may feel to the Jews and others in their community. This may mean having to face up to and be aware of our own biases and prejudices.
Tackle bullying including recording and treating antisemitic incidents as racist incidents.
Unfortunately, there are children facing antisemitism in schools. They need to be given a safe place and support to report this and be confident that they will be taken seriously. This includes for microaggressions. The impact of which can be hard to understand from the outside. Further antisemitic language and bullying often goes hand in hand with other forms of abuse and harassment, such as homophobia, ableism and other forms of prejudice-based bullying, so that the same pupils are being attacked on multiple fronts. This should be both recognised and not used to diminish the impact of antisemitism. Antisemitism needs to be responded to in the same way as any other form of prejudiced based bullying or racist incident. This includes both support for the victim(s) and education for the perpetrator(s). This sounds obvious but unfortunately is not always reflected in practice in all schools.
Much of the work needed to support your Jewish pupils in school is the same as a school would do to support any minority group. This is no way intended to suggest that children from other minority religious, ethnic or cultural groups are not in need of support. But at this time, we need schools to be particularly aware of their Jewish pupils. This is in part because they are often unseen and considered as a minority group in schools. Support is key to tackling antisemitism in schools and a fundamental part of the wider work to tackle racism and create safe school environments for all pupils. Not acting in support of your Jewish pupils can in itself both be seen as siding with those expressing antisemitic views and giving those expressing them permission to continue and go further.
Resources to help understand and teach about Antisemitism.
• Resources from Facing History and ourselves for teaching in the wake of acts of violence and a unit on contemporary antisemitism
• The Community Security Trust have published several educational resources to support understanding and identifying antisemitism.
• Stand Up! Discrimination Today and Yesterday: a resource focuses on antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred on the Educate Against Hate website
• Jewish Living online from Board of Deputies
• The National Education Union has some resources but mostly focused around the Holocaust
• Tell MAMA provides resources to help counter anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobia.
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