Natanya (Tany) Milner – Head of Primary

Welcome to Term 4

Welcome to Term 4. I hope you have all had a wonderful return to school and that everyone has settled in smoothly. At the moment, I am in the Northern Territory at Jilkminggan School with 21 Emanuel Year 6 students as well as their parents. We have had a wonderful week meeting people and developing deeper understandings of Aboriginal Australia whilst also gaining a greater appreciation for the beauty of this incredible country.

Q&A Education Special

I am not sure if you watched the Q&A Education Special on the ABC during the holidays. It offered some interesting insights into current educational issues. I do recommend that you look online and watch it if you have not had a chance. Here are some of the interesting themes that were discussed:

The importance of embedding learning in relevant contexts and ensuring students apply their skills and understandings – an indigenous educator spoke about teaching Mathematics through relevant cultural contexts such as the angles required to successfully throw a boomerang. Other panelists reinforced this through additional examples including suggestions such as sports statistics and economics. As for my thoughts on this…I couldn’t agree more! This is something we work very hard at and strive for wherever possible. Our Teaching for Understanding platform reinforces these principles and guides teachers to have students apply learning in various ways and in authentic settings wherever possible.

The role of testing in the education system – both NAPLAN and the HSC were discussed at length. There was discussion about the Australian school system and that we have more hours of mandatory schooling than many other countries. There was some criticism that our mandated curriculum requires specific content to be taught at certain ages, irrespective of individual student readiness and that this makes no sense when it comes to effective learning. The impact of public reporting and league tables on NAPLAN and HSC results and the competitive marketplace created can have a negative impact on schools being about learning rather than succeeding at single and narrow assessments. A little word on my thoughts here: NAPLAN itself is not a problem…it can provide us with valuable data about individual student knowledge and progress as well as teaching effectiveness and patterns. My issue with NAPLAN is that the results are presented to the broader community in a competitive manner that has schools judged against each other without all the information being presented. This has led to a range of questionable techniques in schools to try to appear in a positive light. I have been shocked by some of the different strategies that I have heard over the years. At Emanuel, we are committed to the following approach – we teach each child in the best ways we can, all the time. NAPLAN comes along and gives our students practice in formal testing and also provides us with the snapshot of student achievement. We teach well, not for NAPLAN but for the students’ learning and progress. We take the NAPLAN information and analyse it in order to inform our teaching in the areas it assesses, as we do with any other useful data that we collect.

The value of teachers – there was discussion about teacher demoralisation and the negative impact on the profession if teachers are not trusted and respected by the community. Over-crowdedness of the curriculum and unreasonable pressure on teachers were also acknowledged as significant issues in education. Pasi Sahlberg, originally from Finland, discussed comparisons to the Finnish model in terms of teacher education and value. Perhaps I will add a little note from me here too. We are incredibly lucky to have outstanding teachers at our School. I have no doubt that our teachers have our children’s best interests at heart. What I feel most strongly about, is that every interaction we ever have is more productive and more likely to bring positive outcomes if it is done respectfully. Gabbi Stroud and Jennifer Buckingham gave very powerful insights into ways to reconsider the parent-teacher relationship. I will take this opportunity to thank the vast majority of our parents who adhere to maintaining respectful relationships with the school staff at all times.

Needs based funding – there was discussion about targeting funding to the students who need it most and building more equity into our education system. This led to a discussion about indigenous education and the impact of teachers lacking confidence to teach indigenous perspectives and culture and the students lacking engagement in classrooms. Cindy Berwick offered some inspirational ideas about building relevance and rich experiences for Aboriginal students.

Eddie Woo ended by mentioning that a teacher’s job is “to guard hope” and be “a professional not giver-up-erer”. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful teachers for taking on this job with their minds and their hearts.

Term 4 calendar

I look forward to returning to Sydney next week. I would like to remind all parents to check the school calendar on the parent portal to be aware of all of the important upcoming dates in Term 4. There are some compulsory events outside normal school hours that require attendance including The Lion King musical and Years 3-6 Presentation Evening. Please ensure these are in your diaries.

Innovation-athon sponsorship and the Innovation Festival

I would like to offer a final reminder about our Innovation-athon sponsorship. This is our main fundraiser for the year as the JCA matches our fundraising dollar for dollar. You have all been emailed the sponsorship form. Please return it to school as soon as possible. We are so grateful for your support. Thank you!

I would also like to invite you all to be a part of our Innovation Festival on Friday 26 October. It begins with a beautiful Shabbat service to celebrate the Shabbat Project at 8.20 am and then continues at 8.50 am with the Innovation Festival. Please feel free to join us.

Spotlight Exhibition

We are also excited to announce that Spotlight – an exhibition of selected primary artwork – will be running concurrently with the Innovation Festival on Friday 26 October. To round off a year of artmaking and a series of exhibitions, the Visual Arts Department is proud to present Spotlight. This exhibition brings together a small selection of artworks from Years 1-6. Works range from Year 1 still life drawings, Years 2, 4 and 6 ceramics and Year 3 monoprints and weavings. This is our third Spotlight show. It provides a unique opportunity for the school community to engage with a broad range of Visual Arts learning across our Primary programs.

Interrelate Year 5

In Weeks 7 and 8, the Year 5 students will be participating in the Moving Into Teen Years Interrelate Program. This program will be run during school hours by external presenters with the support of classroom teachers. The program covers the following topics:

• Acknowledging personal differences and promoting respect for and acceptance of others
• Increasing awareness of personal safety and protective behaviours
• Developing students’ understanding of physical development at puberty, and providing strategies for managing these changes
• Discussing different types of relationships and strategies for managing conflict.

If you have any questions please contact Meghan Carroll via email (mcarroll@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au).

Well done, Sophie, Nava, Sam, Jess and Ben!

I was very proud to receive emails about Benjamin Diamond, Samuel Dworkin, Jessica Dworkin, Sophie Masnick and Nava Weiss participating in Kids Giving Back programs over the holidays. Sophie and Nava were part of a team of volunteers who unpacked, organised and hung clothes at Thread Together’s pop up shop. Thread Together is a charity that distributes new clothing to those in need and relies on the work of volunteers to operate. Sophie also made soft toys for refugee children at  the Asylum Seeker Centre in Newtown, an organisation that provides numerous services to refugees when they first arrive in Australia. Sam, Jess and Ben were part of a team who cooked, packaged and delivered nearly 400 warm, nutritious meals to local shelters and individuals in need today as a part of the Community Cook4Good Program. Thank you for your marvellous efforts!

Scholastic Bookclub

If you are awaiting an order from Scholastic Bookclub, please contact Tanya Jeckeln tjeckeln@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au as she has your books.