Wellbeing Team

Julia is the joint Wellbeing Manager at PaJeS.

Julia spent 15 years as a lingerie buyer at Marks and Spencer where she became involved in Corporate Social Responsibility, using her role to support local homeless shelters and women who had undergone reconstructive breast surgery.

On leaving M&S, she worked for Jewish Women’s Aid, educating young people about Domestic Abuse and the services of JWA.

In 2010, Julia founded and implemented the ORT JUMP mentoring programme for students in Year 12 in Jewish schools. This programme is now established in mainstream Jewish secondary schools and has over 400 students mentored every year by professionals across all sectors. The programme has also been shared with six non-Jewish schools as well as working with special needs provisions.

In 2018, she recognised the need in the community for a mental health support provision and began researching and implementing The Schools Wellbeing Project.

Since March 2023, Julia is also a founding trustee of Gateways, the community’s alternative education provision for young people unable to access mainstream education due to their mental health challenges.

Julia also volunteers weekly at The Royal Free hospital with her therapy dog, Dylan.

Jessica is the joint Wellbeing Manager at PaJeS. Jessica has 20 years' experience working in pastoral and wellbeing in both schools and informal education settings.

Prior to this role she worked at Maccabi GB for 14 years. In 2004, she started there as Streetwise Project Worker with a passion to work directly with young people, addressing some of the challenges they may be facing. In 2006, she took on the role of Streetwise Project Manager and developed the programme to focus on developing the confidence of young people ‘inside and out’.

Returning from maternity leave in 2009, she became the Maccabi GB Programme Manager and Safeguarding Lead. Amongst other projects, she managed the Community Fun Run.

She was the joint Junior Team Manager at the Maccabiah Games in 2017, responsible for the Junior delegation and their managers with a particular pastoral focus. She also developed and lead on the Maccabi GB Challenge Tour for four years. This 12 day trip to Israel is for young people with learning difficulties and mirrors the standard Israel Experience many 16 year olds have.

She is also currently the Wellbeing Lead at JCoSS, and has been there for the last five years. She works directly with staff, students and parents integrating wellbeing within the school.

She is a trained Trauma Informed Practitioner and has delivered sessions to parents and educators on this and other parenting models.

She has two teenage children and enjoys walks with her dog and cold water swimming.