Andrew Watt – School Principal

A Culture Free from Bullying

In High School assembly, I shared the 2019 MMG student survey findings, in relation to bullying. No school is free from bullying, as we are dealing with imperfect and young human beings, who will sometimes struggle to manage their emotions or to relate appropriately to each other! However, I was happy to inform our students that in each area, they rated the level and the seriousness of bullying at Emanuel as significantly less that the average school surveyed. Before we become complacent, there is still room for improvement. A brief summary of the survey findings include the following:

• 81% of our High School students feel that bullying is no problem or a slight problem – the High School survey average is 68%;
• Sadly, we have 4% of our students who feel that bullying is a serious problem;
• 77% of our High School students felt that it was clear who to report bullying to, and 76% felt that the School is effective in dealing with bullying;
• 15% of students stated that they had been bullied in the last 12 months;
• The most common spots for bullying were the playground followed by our classrooms;
• The vast majority of the bullying occurred during recess and lunch, followed by between lessons and after school;
• The top four types of bullying, in order, were verbal, exclusion, rude gestures and cyberbullying;
• Perhaps the most disturbing finding was that over 70% of students revealed that they would never or only sometimes report bullying to their parents, friends or to teachers.

I shared my concern that we are not picking up and dealing with all cases of bullying, and that this will impact the happiness and mental health of some students. My questions for each student were: What are you going to do, to make this a better and safer place for all? How can you be a true mensch, through your actions? What are you going to do when you observe bullying (either face to face or online), especially if the bully is a friend of yours? How do you intend to support those who do not fit in, who are perceived as weaker, less able, or simply different? How can you not be part of the problem but be part of the solution?

I encouraged our students to support a culture free from bullying by:

• Stepping in and stepping up when you see someone being pushed, teased, excluded or bullied online – don’t be a bystander;
• Saying something – like “that’s not right” or “give them a break” – let them know that what they are doing is wrong, and not funny;
• Doing something – like offering support or kind words to the person being bullied;
• Reporting the incident to a trusted senior student or staff member. Don’t let it go and assume someone else will do it; and
• Being a good example – friendly, encouraging, kind and­ generous towards all, not just your mates.

Stopping bullying is important to us. To support us in this endeavour, parents can report incidents of bullying to their child’s House Tutor or Head of House.

Student Leadership Across Year 6 

Playing Wheelchair Basketball with Year 6 students as a team building activity

All Year 6 students participated in a two-day leadership program, designed to equip them with the mindset and skills to lead within our Primary School. Whilst a small number will join the Madrichim team, every student will have the opportunity to lead some aspect of school life over the course of the year. Perhaps most importantly, our students learned that their role model and character will influence both their peers and younger students.

Negotiating the Online World

The vast majority of our young people have access to social media and gaming sites at an increasingly younger age. Many difficulties arise from engaging in the online world, including cyberbullying, access to pornographic and violent images and dangers associated with predatory behaviour. Importantly, whilst the School can educate students in these dangers and support them towards wise and respectful online behaviour, it is ultimately the boundaries at home, imposed by parents, that makes the difference. At both the Year 7 and Year 8 Information evenings, I encouraged parents to take the time to become familiar with their child’s online presence and to set guidelines in relation to the security, level and location of social media use in the home. Setting time limits, restricting online devices to family areas, installing net filters and checking regularly on what is happening in their screen time can make a significant difference.

Parents may be interested to know a little about the potential pitfalls of 15 apps. The Ask.FM App, for example, has generated great distress, when students solicit often hurtful, unhelpful and anonymous narratives from their peers.

Mazal Tov

Jonah Trope (Year 10) successfully trialled for the 15 years CIS (State) Cricket Team earlier this week. He will now represent CIS at the All-School trial.

Alexander Placek (Year 11) competed at the AICES Opens Tennis Championships earlier in the week. He progressed to the grand final and finished the day runner up ( in what was a large and very competitive field). He has now been selected to compete at the Open Boys CIS Tennis Championships next week.

Amber Langman (Year 12) will represent the Belvoir Theatre as an ambassador, in addition to the Griffin Theatre.

Saachi Owen’s (Class of 2019) Visual Arts Body of Work was selected for ARTEXPRESS 2020. Saachi recently attended the official opening of the exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. Her work, Idle, is a visual collage represented through self-portraits in varying media, and in various idle animations. Sarah Sharwood’s Designed Objects, The Immortality of an Ephemeral Existence, was also selected and will be displayed at the Newington Armory from 2 March. 

Danielle Raffaele, HSIE/Jewish Studies teacher

Danielle Raffaele (HSIE/Jewish Studies teacher) represented Emanuel School  at the Australia Association of Jewish Studies Conference, presenting a paper titled: Jewish imaginings in non-Jewish mediums: Harry Potter as a paradigm for teaching themes of race, antisemitism and morality in the Holocaust (and beyond). 

Quote of the Week

“Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.”

David McCullough