Good news for Metula residents: School opens with an advanced educational model

About 45 students are expected to start the school year at the "HaNadiv" school, which had not operated for three years following the war and the evacuation of the town. About 90% of the students are residents of Metula. The school will operate in a growing format with small classes of 8-10 students.

After three years of closure due to the war and the evacuation, the "HaNadiv" school in Metula will reopen its doors for the upcoming school year. About 45 students are expected to enroll, compared to the approximately 75 students who studied there before the war. The local council views the return of children to the classrooms not only as a renewal of educational activity, but as a significant step in rebuilding the community and restoring life to the town.

In the first stage, the school will open for grades 1 through 6 and will operate as a growing institution that expands every year. Alongside its reopening, Metula is launching the "Holistic Education" model, under which 8 to 10 students will study in each class at this stage.

The small class sizes are partly a result of the number of students returning to the town after years of evacuation, but the council decided to turn this reality into an opportunity to build an educational model based on personal attention and deep familiarity with every child.

According to the plan, there will be continuous synchronization between formal and informal education teams, with the goal of creating an educational and emotional support system throughout the day. The model also includes continuous contact with parents, adapting learning to the students' needs, and integrating academic achievements with personal development, emotional resilience, social responsibility, and a sense of belonging.

In recent days, the council completed the recruitment of the educational staff and preparations for the start of the school year. According to the council, many applications were received from educators, and the team that will lead the new model was selected from these candidates. The school will also be open to children who are not residents of Metula, and the council expects that students and families from other settlements in the Galilee will join it later on.

"Our greatest investment will be in the children"

Head of the Metula Council, David Azulai, said:

"When you rebuild a settlement after a war, you can choose to return to what was. But we chose to build something new, bigger and better. We decided that our greatest investment will be in the children. 'Holistic Education' is not a curriculum, but a worldview that the town will operate by. We want every child to feel that they are seen, that they are believed in, and that they have a place to grow, dream, succeed, and fulfill themselves."

According to Azulai, the new education system is intended not only for Metula residents returning home, but also for families from the entire Galilee region who are looking for a personal, high-quality, and values-based educational framework: "There are places where the school adapts the child to the system. We believe that in the current era, the system must adapt itself to the child. This is the revolution we seek to lead."

The reopening of "HaNadiv" takes on special significance in Metula, a border town whose residents were forced to leave their homes and which is now in a prolonged process of recovery. Restoring the local education system is a key part of the ability to bring families back and rebuild a stable community over time.

After three years in which the school gates remained closed, their reopening marks for Metula much more than the start of another school year: it is an attempt to return to the town the life that was interrupted and to build its next generation in the place where it grew up.