Generations of Support

A reflection by Boaz Herszfeld and Kelly Naphtali, Co-Chairs of the Bialik College Fee Assistance Committee

At Bialik College, we believe that no Jewish child should be denied an education because of financial circumstances. That belief is not merely aspirational, it is embedded into the very fabric of how Bialik operates, and it has been since the College’s inception.

A Program Built on Dignity and Confidentiality

The Fee Assistance (FA) program is administered by the Bialik Finance Team alongside a dedicated volunteer committee of current and past parents who are chosen for their empathy, integrity, and deep commitment to the community. Every application is assessed with rigour and compassion, and every family is treated with total confidentiality.

Students themselves are never made aware that their family receives assistance unless their parents choose to tell them. Bialik graduates move through school and into the world, having grown up alongside a tapestry of backgrounds, never once conscious of who received support. That is inclusion in its truest form.

Inclusion That Shapes Who We Are

Currently, one in four Bialik students receive some form of fee assistance. These include families navigating illness, divorce, job loss, or other unforeseen hardship. FA ensures they do not have to choose between financial survival and their child’s Jewish education and identity.

A Growing Need and Our Response

As the cost of education rises, so too does the proportion of families who need support. School fees as a share of household income continue to grow, and we are seeing more families access assistance than ever before. The College is actively exploring ways to counter this burden, because sustaining enrolment diversity is not just a moral imperative, it is central to Bialik’s future.

Importantly, FA students also attract increased government funding, optimise the College’s fixed costs across a broader student base and strengthen the community ecosystem that makes Bialik exceptional.

The Role of Our Donors

The FA program depends significantly on the generosity of our community. Donors who support affordability initiatives make a tangible, lasting difference, not just to individual families, but to the culture and character of the entire school. As demand grows, continued support is essential.

The community's Fee Assessment Board (FAB) also plays an important complementary role, facilitating enrolments for assisted families from government schools into available places at Jewish day schools, widening access to Jewish education across our broader community.

While FAB’s input and role is innovative and effective it is still left to the Bialik families and its supporters to cover the vast majority of the cost of fee assistance.

Brave Conversations

2025 marked the inaugural year of Brave Conversations, an initiative designed to build the confidence and capacity of our community to engage respectfully and thoughtfully with complex conversations surrounding Israel post October 7.

Through the generosity of our seed funder, Philip Bruder and family, Bialik were able to offer a pilot program that brought together staff, students and parents through a series of interactive workshops exploring the art of Sacred Disagreement. Led by Dr Daniel Heller from the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, our Jewish Study educators and members of the Informal Education team, participated in sessions that were both engaging and deeply relevant, identifying clear opportunities to embed essential thinking and listening skills within the Jewish Studies curriculum and across the College.

The workshops designed for our students were an opt-in after-school series, which provided a safe and stimulating space for students from different year levels to explore meaningful dialogue centred around hard conversations about the conflict in Israel and its impact on our community. Participants responded enthusiastically to Dr Heller’s engaging and thought-provoking style, often continuing the conversations at home and around the dinner table.

Parent evenings were also a highlight, featuring Dr Heller, Charlotte Korchak and our Zio Mads. Personal stories and bravery following October 7 were shared and resonated deeply with attendees. These evenings emphasised the desire within our community to foster understanding, empathy and open discussion around the complexities post October 7.

Following the success and positive feedback from this pilot initiative. Brave Conversations has continued into 2026, thanks to Philip Bruder and family.

We look forward to expanding its reach, including integration into staff professional learning and the senior school Jewish studies curriculum program, ensuring that respectful, values-driven dialogue remains a cornerstone of the Bialik experience.

A Gift That Set the Pace

The Naphtali Family Running Program

In honour of a milestone birthday, Kelly and David Naphtali wanted to show their support for the Sport Department early morning Athletics Program.

The Naphtali family’s contribution enabled the sports department to expand access to expert coaching, establish a consistent training schedule, and build a culture where every student with potential could represent the Bialik Wolves.

The results have been remarkable. In 2025, the Bialik Wolves placed 2nd overall in the EISM Athletics competition, a dramatic turnaround from 4th place in 2024. The Girls team improved by 195 points year-on-year, and the Boys team by 36 points. Overall, the school gained 231 points across the competition, a figure that speaks to depth, commitment, and growth across the entire squad.

Early feedback from students and families involved in the program reflects improvements not only in athletic performance but in academic focus, confidence, and mental wellbeing. Students speak of setting goals on the track and then applying the same thinking to their studies.

With the team having returned to 2nd place and the foundations of a first-class Jewish school athletics culture now in place, the ambition is clear: to move up a division. Specific strategies are being designed to re-engage senior students, with a target of a 30% increase in senior participation by the end of 2026. Kooyong District results will serve as an ongoing external benchmark.

The Naphtali family’s contribution has not only changed outcomes, it has changed expectations. The Bialik Wolves now arrive at competition knowing they belong at the front of the field.

We are deeply grateful to the Naphtali family for their generosity, their vision, and their trust in Bialik College to make the most of this partnership.

If you are interested in creating further opportunities just like this within Bialik or something similar to honour a milestone, the Foundation would love to connect with you.

The Year 12 Legacy Project

Each year, as a graduating class prepares to close one chapter and begin another, The Bialik College Foundation invites them to leave something enduring behind, on the place that has helped shape them.

The Legacy Project is a beautiful tradition born from the belief that a school is shaped not only by its buildings, but by the generations who walk its halls. From a student’s first steps whether it is through the Tooronga Road entrance to their final farewell through the Auburn Road gates, every student within the Bialik kehilla becomes part of a shared story, one of friendship, growth, and belonging.

In 2024 and 2025, the Legacy Project raised funds for new water stations across the campus, a practical yet meaningful contribution to the everyday life of the school. This will continue year-on-year until every water station has been replaced, renewed by the generosity of those who came before.

Though graduating students may not directly benefit from these improvements themselves, there is something quietly powerful in knowing that their contribution will matter to students they may never meet. It is an act of generosity that looks forward, a gift from one generation to the next.

And it creates something more personal, too; a reason to return. Whether it’s at a reunion, or one day walking these same halls with their own children, graduates will know that a part of them remains here in the school they helped to leave a little better than they found it.