Three UK Jewish schools close ‘in interests of the safety of our precious children’
Three Jewish schools in north London are closing their doors “in the interests of the safety of our precious children”.
Torah Vodaas Primary School in Edgware, Ateres Beis Yaakov Primary School in Colindale, and Menorah High School in Neasden, informed parents on Thursday evening they would not reopen until Monday.
In a letter to parents, Rabbi Feldman, of Torah Vodaas, said while there was “no specific threat to our school” it was “not a decision that has been taken lightly”.
It comes as Jewish students were being warned by schools to disguise their uniform because of a fear of retaliatory attacks caused by the ongoing war in Israel.
Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed in a war ignited by a bloody and wide-ranging Hamas attack on Israel at the weekend.
One Jewish charity said it had seen a 324% increase in reports of antisemitism as a result over the last four days. This included six assaults, 14 direct threats, three instances of vandalism, and 66 cases of abusive behaviour, according to CST.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced £3m to protect schools, synagogues, and other Jewish community buildings on Thursday.
The money will enable the CST to place additional guards in schools it supports throughout each school’s operating hours. They will also be able to place additional security staff at outside synagogues on Friday nights and Saturday mornings.
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Children told to ‘change their uniform’
One father told Sky News he had been advised by his children’s school to alter their uniform “so they are not signaling in any way they are Jewish”.
He said: “And in 2023 for my kids to go to school and it not be okay for them to wear uniform, a kippah, star of David on their blazers, to have to hide their identity in 2023, it’s very scary.
“I am scared for myself and my family. It’s a scary situation.”
Their mother said there have been at least three policemen waiting outside her children’s school every day.
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Students no longer taking public transport
Rabbi Chaim Pinter, the principal of Yesodey Hatorah, said they had put “certain measures” in place, including “extra patrols” as well as providing therapists and counsellors to the students.
“There is worry, people are concerned. People don’t want this to spill over,” he said.
The majority of students live locally, but “the students who live out of the local area, they are coming in via taxis rather than public transport”.
“Our priority is the children,” he added. “And the best place, the safest place for a child, is in school.”
‘Remain indoors’
The principal of Menorah High School said the “difficult” decision was taken “because of the risk of violence on the streets”.
The letter to parents said concerns have been raised by the police for the safety of young people who may “venture outdoors”, with the principal adding: “As the girls are not in school… it is incumbent on you as parents to ensure that your children remain indoors”.
Meanwhile, one security company told Sky News it had seen a rise in requests from Jewish sites.
SQR is not a specifically Jewish company but does security at a number of sites within the community.
Yael Cole-Slagter said: “We’ve had calls from schools, but we’ve also had calls from schools that for instance they’ve had security officers on site that have been called back to Israel so they’ve asked us to replace them on site for now.
“And for additional security around schools.”
Rabbi Chaim Pinter
‘Parents are concerned’
Rabbi David Meyer, chief executive of the Partnership for Jewish Schools told Sky News parents are concerned, “and I think they have reason to be so”.
“There have been unfortunately in the past significant rippled effects when things have happened in the Middle East,” he continued.
“They seem to have impacted and caused a significant increase in incidents in the UK.”
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He added: “There are justifications for parents being concerned. At the same time, we are very fortunate. We are living in a country that is very supportive of the community. Every school has security which is supported by the government, in order to ensure the children within the community can attend school safely.”
The personal safety and mental health of the children remains a priority, he added. There are concerns about the impact on children whose social media feeds are being flooded with increasingly violent imagery.
A mother from Wrexham has been awarded more than half a million pounds in damages for injuries she suffered during childbirth.
Maternity services make up more negligence claims and payments than any other hospital department – and campaigners say it reflects underfunding and overworked staff.
It took Amy Stead, 37, nearly three years to fall pregnant, but childbirth left her with injuries that will last a lifetime.
During her labour in 2019, she suffered a tear so severe it left her with a permanent stoma. What is worse, it was not spotted soon enough.
“It turned out that I had a hole between my vagina and rectum, but it had been completely missed,” Ms Stead said.
She said her obstetrician was “in such a rush to leave” that she missed the injury.
She added: “Had she taken more time and care over what she was doing… she may have seen it, and they could have put me to sleep and repaired it properly.”
Amy says her injury might have been spotted if the obstetrician wasn’t so rushed
Ms Stead suffered from PTSD and was in pain for a year after her son was born.
“It felt like all the joy had been sucked out of having my first baby,” she said.
She decided to sue her hospital, an incredibly difficult decision as it was where she worked. After a five-year litigation, she has now been awarded £575,000 in damages.
Figures for England for 2022/2023 show maternity services made up 13% of clinical negligence claims, more than any other department.
Last year, the NHS spent £1.1bn on maternity negligence payments. To put this in context, the budget for maternity services in England is £3bn.
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Amy says it made her feel like the joy of having her first baby was overshadowed
Litigation lawyers say damages are often high because of the physical and psychological impact the injuries have.
Ruth Powell, head of clinical negligence at the law firm Hugh James, says litigation is “gruelling” for people, with a “really high bar” to prove a claim.
Many mothers never seek legal advice.
“Middle class, white women who have the confidence and the background to challenge things, it’s much easier for them,” said Ms Powell.
“There’s a massive number of women, perhaps English isn’t their first language… they don’t talk to anybody about it.”
Campaigners are calling for change.
Rachel McGrath says maternity services are dealing with ‘massive underfunding and staffing issues’
Chair of the Birth Trauma Association, Rachael McGrath, was awarded damages after her twins were born.
She blames “massive underfunding and staffing issues” for the high levels of litigation.
“Why is it easier to pay out on maternity litigation than invest from the bottom up?” asked Ms McGrath.
“We are looking at staff, a workforce, who are compassion-fatigued because they are not supported appropriately in their roles and that is leading to trauma and an unsafe system.”
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A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said: “We’re committed to ensuring all women receive safe and compassionate care from maternity services and we’ve made progress in improving outcomes.
“We are determined to further improve maternity services. That’s why it is prioritised in our Women’s Health Strategy 2024.“
Ms Stead is relieved her litigation is over and hopes sharing her story will help other mums suffering from birth trauma.
“No amount of money can change that or make that better, but it certainly helps,” she said.
“But you shouldn’t have to go through that to have children, it’s not normal.”
People are having to play “pharmacy bingo” – going from shop to shop to find stocks – as medicine shortages are worsening, experts have said.
Health leaders say some patients are even having to “ration” their drugs, with a new poll suggesting shortages are a “daily occurrence” for many of England’s pharmacies.
Treatments for ADHD, diabetes and epilepsy are among those affected this year, according to trade body Community Pharmacy England.
Its survey of more than 6,000 pharmacies and 2,000 staff found shortages are “wreaking havoc” on patients.
Nearly all (97%) of staff said patients were being inconvenienced, while 79% said health was being put at risk.
Some 98% said they were also giving out more “I owe yous” – where they can only fulfil part of the prescription.
Nearly all (99%) pharmacies reported supply problems at least weekly, and 72% said they were having “multiple issues a day”.
Another survey last month, by the Nuffield Trust thinktank, said drug shortages had more than doubled between 2020 and 2023 and that Brexit was likely to “significantly weaken” the UK’s ability to deal with the issues.
Shortages have also been a growing problem in Europe and the US in recent years.
However, the UK leaving EU supply chains is said to have added complications such as custom checks at borders and drug makers facing extra regulation.
Nearly all pharmacies reported problems at least weekly and 72% were having multiple issues a day
The falling value of the pound after Brexit has also made it more expensive for the NHS to buy medicines.
Community Pharmacy England boss Janet Morrison said the supply problems were “beyond critical” and had become an “ongoing battle” for pharmacies.
“Patients with a wide range of clinical and therapeutic needs are being affected on a daily basis and this is going far beyond inconvenience, leading to frustration, anxiety and affecting their health,” she added.
“For some patients, not having access to the medicines they need could lead to very serious consequences, even leaving them needing to visit A&E.”
Ms Morrison said the survey was “yet another stark warning which must not be ignored”.
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William Pett from Healthwatch England called it an “ongoing issue that continues to wreak havoc on patients”.
“Healthwatch England hears about how shortages can lead to rationing and desperate instances of ‘pharmacy bingo’, where patients must travel from pharmacy to pharmacy looking for stock,” he said.
Paul Rees, head of the National Pharmacy Association, urged the government “to sort out the UK’s fragile medicines supply system, so that pharmacies can do their job and patients can get their lifesaving medicines in time”.
The Department of Health and Social Care is yet to comment.
A British girl has had her hearing restored after becoming the first person worldwide to take part in a pioneering new gene therapy trial.
Opal Sandy was born totally deaf due to auditory neuropathy, which disrupts nerve impulses from the inner ear to the brain.
But the 18-month-old’s hearing is now almost normal – and could improve further – after having the one-time treatment.
Opal was treated at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and the head of the trial, Professor Manohar Bance, said results were “better than I hoped or expected” and he hopes medics might be able to cure others with this type of deafness.
“We have results from (Opal) which are very spectacular – so close to normal hearing restoration. So we do hope it could be a potential cure,” he said.
Opal (second left) with her parents and sister Nora, who has the same condition. Pic: PA
Auditory neuropathy can be caused by a fault in the OTOF gene, which makes a protein called otoferlin and enables cells in the ear to communicate with the hearing nerve.
Opal, from Oxfordshire, had an infusion of the working gene into her right ear during surgery in September – the treatment developed by biotech firm Regeneron.
Her parents noticed changes in only four weeks and the improvements were especially noticeable 24 weeks later.
Jo and James Sandy, both 33, said they were “gobsmacked” when she responded to sound tests at home without her cochlear implant, the usual way to treat the condition.
Opal had her operation in September. Pic: Cambridge University NHS Trust
“I thought it was a fluke or like a change in light or something that had caught her eye, but I repeated it a few times,” said Mrs Sandy.
They say she now enjoys the sound of slamming her cutlery on the table and playing with toy drums and wooden blocks.
“We were told she had near normal hearing last time,” she added. “I think they got responses at sort of 25 to 30 decibels.
“I think normal hearing is classed at 20 decibels, so she’s not far off. Before, she had no hearing whatsoever.”
Opal’s surgery was very similar to fitting a cochlear implant, according to Prof Bance.
He said the inner ear (cochlea) was opened and the treatment infused using a catheter over 16 minutes.
“We have to make a release hole in another part of the ear to let the treatment out because it has to go all the way through the ear,” he said.
“And then we just repair and close up, so it’s actually a very similar approach to a cochlear implant, except we don’t put the implant in.”
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Experts say it could mark a ‘new era’ in treating deafness. Pic: PA
He said the gene therapy potentially “marks a new era in the treatment for deafness”.
“It was just the fact that we’ve been hearing about this for so long, and there’s been so much work, decades of work… to finally see something that actually worked in humans… It was quite spectacular and a bit awe-inspiring really,” he said.
The treatment was developed especially for children with OTOF mutations, and a second child who has had the same surgery is also seeing positive results.
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The trial has three parts – with three deaf children, including Opal, getting a low dose in just one ear.
Another three children will get a high dose on one side. Then, if safe, a new set of children will get a dose in both ears at the same time.
Up to 18 people from the UK, US and Spain are being recruited and will be followed up for five years.
Results of the study were presented on Wednesday to the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy conference in Baltimore.
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