Andrew Watt

Our Years 3-12 students commenced the new term with a reflective and respectful ANZAC Commemoration Assembly. Despite the absence of our Primary School student and parent team, who have embarked on their Jilkminggan adventure, the remainder of our School community have settled down quickly into the familiar rhythms of lessons, rest breaks and co-curricular activities.

Launching our Strategic Roadmap 2019-2021

Following on from an Executive and Board Strategic Workshop late last term, our P-12 Strategic Roadmap for the next three years was released and unpacked at our Staff Development Day. Strongly aligned to our mission, core values and ethos, we seek to:

• Cultivate highly adaptive students who can thrive in a changing world;
• Foster curious students who dig into questions, challenge assumptions and learn deeply;
• Improve teaching and learning through the way in which we collect and apply data;
• Inspire our students to experience and express their Judaism as personally and communally meaningful and transformative; and
• Ensure that every student engages in powerful learning that is suited to their unique selves.

The process of developing our Strategic Roadmap has involved significant input from our Board, Strategic Advisory Team, Executive, Middle leaders and our teaching staff. Sitting beneath the Strategic Roadmap, we have developed a set of detailed action plans to address each of the strategies. The Strategic Vision document can be accessed here, and I would encourage you to take the time to read through the strategies under each of the five strategic pillars. Our Strategic Roadmap does not, however, cover all that we are currently working on. For example, we are enhancing the profile of both sport and community engagement at Emanuel, and we will continue to pursue other worthwhile projects that are not part of the roadmap. Our key focus will remain on enhancing our teaching and learning, our wellbeing programs, and meaningful connections to our Jewish heritage and identity. We can look forward to exciting times ahead!

Giving back to our broader community

A number of our students represented Emanuel School at several community events over the non-term break. By all reports, they were proud and outstanding ambassadors, and we thank them for sacrificing their time in their holiday break to attend and contribute:

• The Jewish Community ANZAC Day event was attended by (Madrichim) Oliver Evans, Matthew Joffe and Eden Sadra.
• The Maccabi Memory Jog Event at Centennial Park was attended by Georgia Kahane and Joseph Fonteyn (Year 10); and
• The Communal Yom Hashoah Commemoration was attended by (Madrichim) Greg Allen, Oliver Evans, Isabella Flax, Dylan Herdan, Noah Klein, Mia Port, Adam Riesel, Lara Rutstein, Eden Sadra, Mia Shapiro and Rachel Turtledove.

Reminder of new measures to ensure a better traffic flow

Our traffic issues can be largely resolved if, at the morning or afternoon times, all parents or grandparents refrained from:

• Getting out of their car to assist their child;
• Double parking;
• Stopping for more than 90 seconds (after child arrives at car), in GWTF; and
• Stopping in a designated bus zone.

If there is no space in the designated GWTF area, parents are strongly encouraged not to stop, but rather to complete a second loop. Parents with older children are also encouraged to park some distance from the campus and enjoy the walk.

CSG App

A user account has been created for every parent, and it is our aim (and the aim of CSG) that all Emanuel School parents have downloaded and signed in to the app within the next two weeks. Thus far, only small numbers have downloaded the app. In the coming weeks, you may receive a further reminder from CSG.

The CSG app is an important tool for you and your family to contact CSG should you require, and for CSG to contact you in the event of a security emergency or incident of relevance to the Emanuel School or wider Jewish Community. I recommend that you download the app ASAP, log in, and familiarise yourself with the features.

• Download the app;
• Log in using the following credentials: your username is your mobile phone number (no spaces, starting 04) and your password is the first four letters of your name and last four digits of your phone number;
• To reset your password, click on ‘forgot password’ in the app.

Please familiarise yourself with the CSG through liking their Facebook page (search: Community Security Group NSW), and by joining their closed Facebook group (search: CSG NSW). Additionally, you may wish to save their 24-hour phone number in your phone: 1300 000 CSG (274) or visit their website: www.csgnsw.org.au. Emanuel School Board joins me in supporting the following important safety and security platform for our staff, parents and students: The CSG Alert App.

Mazal Tov

This week, Jared Elbourne and Gabriella Goodridge competed in the CIS Swimming Championships with the following results: Jared Elbourne: 4th place in 50m breaststroke. 

Gabriella Goodridge: 

Quote of the week

Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?

Cesar Chavez