S1 and S2 pupils were treated to a visit from professor Joe Goldblatt on the 27th and 28th of May as part of their RME class.

Professor Goldblatt is chair of the Edinburgh Interfaith Association. He helped create the “JOES Boxes” which are available in every local authority in Scotland. These boxes contain twenty different Jewish ritual objects to help pupils better understand how Jewish people practice their religious and cultural activities throughout the world.
He visits schools all over Scotland every year and spends time with thousands of pupils in the Orkney Islands.

During his popular classroom programme he demonstrated how the Jewish people celebrate their weekly Sabbath rituals and how the various colourful festivals are celebrated throughout the year. These included a traditional Jewish wedding and a Bar or Bat Mitzvah which is the coming of age ceremony for Jewish boys and girls on their 13th birthday.

Ms Lidwell, Head of geography and RME, said she enjoyed watching how pupils responded to Joe, his passion for teaching and engaging pupils, she said that he wanted people to understand diversity and that persecuting people was wrong. She also let us know that he has been coming to the school for 10 years as part of an RME programme and visits us during folk festival, as well as visiting Stromness academy he also visits KGS and other primary schools.

Ms Groundwater, in history, said she learned about the ways of negotiating the parents of the bride and groom have at a wedding. She enjoyed the way he spoke easily to the pupils and kept them engaged and involved with the lesson. Lastly, she said being a part of the lesson was exciting and fun and would love to see him again.

Report by Ellen, Ola and Dana