Finchley Catholic High School and the ambassador to Israel

There is a  really good story in this weeks Finchley Times. The new ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould visited Finchley Catholic High School and addressed pupils earlier this month. Pupils from St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School, Hasmonean High School and the Jewish Free School were invited to attend. Mr Gould is the first Jewish ambassador to Israel and Mr Gould spoke about how honoured he was to be appointed.

There is often criticism of faith schools, claiming that they are too insular and inward looking. As an ex pupil of Finchley Catholic, I am proud that the school is clearly taking a lead in promoting links with other communities. Inviting pupils from the other schools clearly shows that in Barnet, faith schools are promoting a better inter faith relations in the community. In 2007, pupils from Finchley Catholic High School took a play about the holocaust and performed it at the Auschtwitz. It can only be a good thing for schools to get together to stage these sort of events. The best way to counter Racism, anti-semitism and intolerance is to address these issues with young people at an early age. Schools working together as shown here is a great way of getting people from different traditions together.

I can only commend all of the schools involved for taking part and praise Mr Gould for taking the time to speak to the pupils.