Connecting our Community – Gesher
Sonia Newell – Development Officer
Emanuel School is still a relatively young school compared to the many long-established schools around Sydney, some of which are 100 plus years old. However, we have a really strong history in our short 36 years since we opened in February 1983 with just 53 students in makeshift classrooms at Temple Emanuel Woollahra, now known as Emanuel Synagogue. Our very first-ever Year 12 graduating Year Group was the Class of 1989, with only 17 students who went on to complete Year 12 that year. Alumna Lana Burdei, who has lived in London for many years, was visiting family and friends in Sydney over the summer holiday break and so it was an opportune time to hold this milestone 30-year reunion which she and Katie (Levenson) Narunsky so ably organised for last month.
Interestingly, four of their Year Group are now current parents – Janice (Narunsky) Christie, Claudia Maman, Katie (Levenson) Narunsky and Steven Vernik, and coincidentally, Janice, Katie and Steven each have one of their children in Year 5 this year.
Chris Lee travelled from Hong Kong for the reunion and everyone present had a wonderful time reminiscing about their school-days and life beyond. They also fondly remembered one of their class mates, Julian Bures, one of our very first students at the School starting here in 1983 as a Year 6 student, who sadly passed away in November 2013 after a long battle with MS.
As we head towards the end of February, our ongoing database updates continue, and we seek your help to ensure we have contact details for not just our parents but also for our grandparents. Please send grandparent email updates to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au to ensure they receive invitations to various events throughout the year, and also so they receive our bi-annual Grandparents and Friends newsletters which are a great way to read about what’s happening at School no matter if you live around the corner from our campus or on the other side of the world.
Please join us on Sunday 10 March from 3.00 pm to 5.00 pm for an afternoon of fun at our Family Barefoot Bowls. There is no age limit for this event and we’d love to see staff, parents, children and grandparents coming along for this fabulous afternoon on the bowling greens at Double Bay. Bookings are now open: https://tinyurl.com/GesherBowling
If you have photos and/or news to share, please send it to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au
