Margaret Lowe – Acting Principal

Welcome to Term 3!

I trust our students and families are well rested after a break and excited to be back at school.

Term 3 provides an opportunity to reset. Students received reports at the end of Term 2 outlining the progress made so far this year and indicating potential areas for improvement. Parents of young students may like to consider how to get behind their children this term to work on key areas. It could be a matter of selecting one thing and carrying that through the term, such as setting aside 15 minutes three times a week to work on that selected area together. Parents of older students might like to ask their children what sort of goals they are setting around the area for improvement and what strategies they intend to try. High School students will have these conversations in their tutor groups too.

For all students, the consistency of working towards a goal is sometimes difficult. We need to remind ourselves and have the self-discipline to stay on track. Give it a shot! It is always satisfying when we have created a change that we want in our lives. Let’s talk to our young people about doing that in small but important ways as they grow and develop into independent, self-directed young people.

COVID-19

There is much talk in the media about an upcoming surge in COVID-19 cases. There are no particular government restrictions or mandates in place and the government is openly placing the responsibility for COVID-safe strategies into the hands of the public except in the a few cases such as public transport, on which masks are compulsory. In line with this, we are ensuring students have their masks on when boarding school or excursion buses, and we are encouraging staff, students and visitors to maintain COVID-safe practices throughout the school day. We continue to:

• Promote hand hygiene
• Monitor ventilation
• Clean the School thoroughly and frequently
• Ask symptomatic staff and students to test and stay home unless within a period of time after having COVID-19 or unless symptoms have been attributed to another condition by a medical professional eg allergy
• Maintain physical distancing where practical
• Encourage mask wearing.

Please ensure your children have masks with them each day even if they do not catch a school bus.

If the School is subject to an outbreak, we will consider a range of previously used strategies for minimising the spread and maximising educational opportunities such as:

• Cohorting
• Remote learning for a Year Group or Stage or part of the School
• Reducing large group activities such as assemblies.

Primetime TV 

On Wednesday 27 July 2022 at 7.30 pm, I’ll be tuning into Channel 10 to watch Emanuel Year 11 students, Alix Cane, Jake Fleischer, Ma’ayan Granot and Jake Newfield, in their debut primetime TV appearance as contestants on Shaun Micallef’s Brain Eisteddfod.

The quiz program, which premiered this past Wednesday, sees Year 11 students from 18 schools, compete in teams on a range of school subjects including foreign languages, Australiana, mathematics, physics, art, economics and, according to Shaun Micallef, woodwork. 

The team, ably lead by Ma’ayan, had no information about the format or content of the show prior to recording and had to rely on their combined general knowledge and that of the Year 11 curriculum areas as they faced their opposition, Balwyn High School, Victoria. Emanuel was the only Sydney Eastern Suburbs and NSW Jewish School to be selected to appear on the program.

Appearing on a major network TV show is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am sure that Alix, both Jakes and Ma’ayan will remember the experience for many years to come. 

Front L-R: Jake Newfield, Shaun Micallef, Jake Fleischer   Back L-R: Alix Cane, Ma’ayan Granot

Tikkun Tonga

We recently received a letter of thanks from the Kanokupolu Community Committee in Tonga, expressing their gratitude for the many items that were sent to the Village following the devastating tsunami earlier this year.

I feel that the letter writer can convey their sentiments far better than I:

On behalf of the Chairman, the town officer and the members of the village of Kanokupolu, I would like to acknowledge receiving of the enormous aid from Sydney. It is with a heartfelt gratitude and appreciation that we received the kind assistance on the 28th of July 2022. We would also like to convey our appreciation to all the relevant affiliates that were kind enough to share these wonderful belongings that has a generous impact in our daily lives.

The assistance was arranged according to the number of household with the kitchen utensils, clothing and warm materials distributed accordingly. The mattresses was (sic) distributed to the elderly families with underprivileged families getting more of the clothing and warm sheets. 

With sincerity and the utmost gratitude we pray that God will continue bless your kind soul and loving hearts of the families and to the wider community that have made the donation.

Sione To’a ‘Uta’atu, Secretary, Kanokupolu Community Committee

Zac Urbach

Mazal tov

A number of students, parents and alumni are representing Australia at the Macabbiah Games. Being selected is a significant honour and we are proud of all those who are in Israel competing and attending the Games.

• A huge mazal tov to Zac Urbach for his bronze medals for his individual performances in the Junior 100m and 200m sprints and as part of the Junior Boys 4x100m team.
• Best of luck to alumni Lara Joffe, Lara Rutstein and Isabella Schulz who play in the Women’s Open Futsal Finals today.
• Enjoy this video from the Macabbiah Games Australia Facebook page of Aiden Kanevsky, Year 10, performing his final routine on the high bars in Male Junior Artistic Gymnastics. 

Quote of the week

“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”
~ Dan Gable, Olympic Wrestling medalist