In the 12 years since headteacher Jo Sassienie took over the newly opened Eden Primary, the changes in national education have been “massive”. And they’re a huge factor in her decision to retire, at the age of 62.

She had spent ten years in Jewish education in New York and had become passionate about the Reggio Emilia child-centred approach when she accepted the headship of the cross-communal Muswell Hill primary, which welcomes children from all backgrounds. 

So loved is the school, and with places based on proximity for Jewish and non-Jewish children, many families move close to Eden while others drive miles in rush hour. To commemorate Sassienie’s legacy, parents are creating a garden in her name.

From designing the structure with architects and co-founder Peter Kessler, to appointing the staff, she played a key role in building Eden.

“I had a crazy vision of how you can do Jewish education in meaningful ways,” she reflects. This vision resulted in the integration of Jewish studies within the general curriculum and using the same teachers across both.

“It means that you have this exemplary model of a teacher who is interested in English, maths and science, but they’re also passionate about Judaism,” she says. “Children have this seamless connection between Jewish life and the other parts of their life.” One of her proudest moments is when Eden scored “outstanding” from Pikuach, the Department for Education-accredited Jewish service that inspects religious learning.

At first, the inspectors asked, “Where’s the Jewish education?” When Sassienie explained that it was in the events, the community service, the music sessions, they were “blown away” by the more experiential approach.

“For me, it was important that children were experiencing excitement about Judaism, rather than sitting writing and reading.”

Part of Eden’s appeal is its one-form entry, creating a tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone.

“I think one-form-entry schools are amazing,” says Sassienie. “You have this capacity for a community that’s nurturing and not overwhelming.” 

The smaller team enables extensive staff collaboration and support. But it also means less money. Since schools receive a sum per child enrolled, the downside of fewer pupils is less to spend on staffing and resources.

“The government could recognise that there’s something really special for children being in a school this size and about people working together in this way,” she says. 

Jo Sassienie

Eden head Jo Sassienie (photo: Adam Lawrence)

A few years ago, the government stated its intention for all schools to be part of multi-academy trusts (MATs) by 2030. A Jewish conglomerate is a proposition that Sassienie feels would be a disaster for any institution with a unique identity.

“When I heard that, I was like, ‘That’s it, I’m definitely out by 2030!’” she says. “Unless you could find a way without taking away the vision and values of each individual school, I’d be completely against it. It’s cookie-cutter schools. 

“I don’t see it working for people who have this real commitment to children, community, vision and innovation, and not being tied to a prescriptive curriculum.”

The issue of money, along with a new Ofsted framework emphasising subject knowledge, and the rise of mental-health problems in both children and teachers since Covid, have created a melting pot of pressures. 

Sassienie has observed an increase in the number of children with special educational needs and anxiety post-pandemic. The reduced funding means it can be hard to cover those additional needs in the classroom. 

“It wasn’t like that when I started,” she says. “I had this amazing opportunity to bring everything I’d ever learnt together and create a school. We had all this flexibility, we had good funding, Ofsted was different, there were a lot of options to be creative. Then Covid came.” 

For those nine years prior to Covid, Eden was “flying”. But things have become harder. “It’s definitely contributed to me making a decision to retire now, there’s no question. My anxiety levels are higher. Many head teachers wake up every morning worrying about the Ofsted call,” she says. “Ofsted needs to change.” 

Add too teacher strikes — not just to raise their own pay, but because of the challenges posed by under-funding. “I’ve never seen teachers so ready to go on strike for this many days and lose pay,” Sassienie says. “Because they can’t carry on.”

Record numbers of teachers have been quitting and it is becoming ever harder to recruit staff, particularly at Jewish schools, where there are extra facets to the job. “It’s a very particular idea of a school,” says Sassienie. 

“Ideally, you get someone that has some Jewish background.

“It’s a real struggle. Lots of the people getting headships now have been deputies for a short time, and are really quite young.

“I know of many schools that don’t have a full complement of staff in September. Headteachers are emailing each other saying, ‘Do you know anybody?’”

When Eden advertised for a teaching assistant, it had no applicants. “You see all these articles about teaching assistants deciding to work in Tesco — because they’re getting paid more, and there’s less stress.”

Meeting the high expectations of parents sometimes can be difficult because they can “find it hard to understand the limitations”. 

The community’s strong interest in education can “create additional pressures. We have a lot to think about that other schools that are not Jewish —or not faith schools — don’t.”

With an excellent provision of local secondary schools, between six and 12 of Eden’s 30 graduates go on to Jewish schools. The difficulty of getting into JFS, and JCOSS in particular, with their policy on siblings, has meant there have some years when no children go, a factor that will change as Eden ages. 

However, the answer to whether the school has raised engagement with the Jewish community is indisputable.

“Every family here benefits,” Sassienie says. “There is this sense of Jewish community that is built within the school, and even those families that are not Jewish have always said to me, ‘It’s amazing, this sense of Judaism, getting invited to things and learning.’”