Sonia Newell – Development Officer – Alumni & Community Relations

Thank you

We thank current parent, Natalie Ranki-Goldman, for chairing the Gesher Committee over the past two years, and now welcome Daniela Freed, current parent and Board Member to this role.  During Natalie’s time as Chair, Gesher introduced a number of new initiatives to increase community engagement, including our very successful online Speaker Series last year where some of our alumni showcased the amazing work they are doing. As Natalie announced she was stepping down from the committee at our meeting last week, she also welcomed three new committee members she recruited with the view to increase alumni involvement in our extended community – alumnus and current parent Samantha Butt (Class of 1998), Joshua Moses (Class of 2011) and Asha Friedman (Head Madricha, Class of 2020). Following our highly successful Art Gallery Tour last week, we are planning more events for the year, so watch this space. If you have suggestions for future Gesher events, we would love to hear your ideas too.

Art for all

Following on from our very successful private tour last week to The alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection, Salon des Refusés, many of you will have already seen the Archibald Prize exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW or are planning a visit. Today the Archibald Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious arts prizes, and the annual exhibition draws tens of thousands of patrons to the Art Gallery of NSW each year. You may have also been watching the wonderful series on the ABC, Finding the Archibald, with Rachel Griffiths. If you missed the first two episodes of this three-part series, you can watch them on iView, with the final episode to be screened next Tuesday evening.

We always love to know about members of our Emanuel Community who make their mark not only within our own community but also in the wider community and the world at large. One such person is Emanuel parent Dan Goldberg, a multi-award-winning producer and Executive Partner & Head of Factual at Mint Productions, the company that produced Finding the Archibald. Click here to take a first look at Finding The Archibald.

Can you help?

Friendship Circle is urgently seeking an adult to volunteer for the role of Kitchen/Food Manager at their July Day Camp, 5 July 2021 – 9 July 2021, at North Shore Synagogue. If this sounds like you, please call or message Emma Sharp, Program Manager, on 0421 011 606.  Many of our students and alumni volunteer with Friendship Circle and find this tremendously rewarding. It would also be great to see more of our students volunteer for their upcoming Day Camp. As we teach our children about giving back, it is wonderful to know they are helping others less fortunate than themselves. How fulfilling it is to help these children and young adults with a disability.

Consent: More than Yes or No

Last minute changes due to the COVID alert at Bondi Junction last week, saw Jewish Care’s event, run by alumnus Matt Friedman (Class of 2015), go from a live presentation to one on Zoom. If you missed this amazing session on consent – watched by an audience of more than 60, here is a recording. 

Matt also says Googling ’Talking to children about consent’ will provide a few hundred articles. This one provides a glimpse into talking about consent at different ages, and I’m sure you’ll quickly figure out why I like it.

Play Safe is great general information source for young people around sex (I’m sure there’s plenty for you to learn there as well if you’re wanting to up-skill). As with most government-backed websites it’s mostly about STIs and contraception. Play Safe Pro is a parallel resource for professionals working with young people. Resources like this one are aimed at youth workers but do provide some really great tips for conversation starting that parents/carers can use.

BodyTalk is Family Planning NSW’s website. It’s similar but aimed at a slightly younger audience. They have a page for parents that’s full of good tips.

ReachOut has a dedicate parent resource section as well, including an opportunity to ask questions and have them answered by a professional.

I would certainly invite every parent/carer, even if they have religious/cultural objections or think it’s irrelevant for your child, to spend some time looking at the articles on this Minus18 website. The Gender Centre has a good resource as well specifically for parents/family of trans and gender diverse young people. Surveys are reporting an increasing number of young people identifying as LGBTQIA+, and studies show that they suffer rates of mental ill-health at significantly higher rates. Family support can make a literally life-saving difference”.

WOW – Women of Worth

Members of our School Community have presented at this annual weekend event in the past, as well as been part of the audience. Like most events scheduled for last year, COVID-19 meant the 2020 event was cancelled so the organisers are very excited about this year’s event to be held on Sunday 1 August, 2021 – please save the date.

Emanuel parent, writer and journalist Kerri Sackville, School Nurse, alumna and founder of GennarosityAbroad, Genna Onuchukwu, along with past parent Caroline Lewis, organiser of WOW, are pictured below at the 2018 event, where they all presented a session.

Kerri Sackville, Genna Onuchukwu and Caroline Lewis – WOW 2018

Shabbat Shalom. Stay safe, have a great weekend and enjoy the term break. We look forward to sharing more news with you next term.

If you have photos and/or news to share, please send to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au