Reply To: Bais Chaya Rochel (Newer Gateshead Seminary)

I can’t answer all of your questions, but all I can tell you is only from the research that I’ve done so far is that I keep hearing about how their very much into the Hashkafa-and how the girls really enjoy it & grow from it. They have a lot of shiurim through the first part of the day & then again in the evening too. In the afternoon, as I’ve said in my original post, they have these extra curricular courses that they give to the girls which they can use for life.

As far as Shabbos is concerned, they usually have the girls stay in the dorm. & they have all the meals in the school. I’m told that they try to give them as much of a warm Shabbos as possible. On Shabbos, they also have numerous shiurim too. They try to bring in certain speakers from the area to come & speak to the girls on various topics I suppose.

It seems also like their pretty firm on the concept of tznius (that the length of the skirts should be 4″, clothing not being tight fitting-if a girl comes w/ a garment which is against their rules &/or halacha they’ll either make the girl change or in a more severe case, they may take away the garment/skirt).

The Jewish section of Gateshead from what I hear is just a few short blocks (aprrox. 5,6-I think)so there’s not much that one can do. The girls are basically on their own in their spare time & when they all go together on an outing, I think they have one or two of the girls who are there for their 3rd yr. (the 3rd yr. is optional) already as supervision for the girls. I was told that even the pizza shop has separate hrs. for boy & girls. Certain things they can get help from the Aim Bayit there-but from what I understand that most things like laundry, Dr., etc… they can go w/ a friend, but, they’re on their own pretty much. As far as the adj., I was told that in the beginning, it’s quite difficult to adjust-but, after a couple of weeks they bounce into it. And then when they come back from their extended vacations, it may take some time to adjust again but probably not as long as the first time it did.

I don’t know too much more, so I hope that I answered some of your questions blstrasburger from whatever research I was able to obtain so far. Hatzlacha Rabba to you as well!!!!