Andrew Watt – Principal

Welcome back to what we hope will be an enjoyable and productive journey, without too many COVID-19 related pivots, to end the school year. Our students have returned revitalised and hopefully ready to engage deeply in both their studies and the broader life of the School. Restrictions around sport, music and group events have been partially reduced, allowing us to provide a greater range of activities. In the absence of increased rates of community transmission, we hope to maintain our move towards a feeling of normalcy across all areas of school life.

Higher School Certificate Examinations 

Our Year 12 will commence their HSC exams at School next week. In the light of COVID-19 infection control guidelines, we have organised separate entry and departure arrangements for both Year 12 and our exam supervisors. Emanuel Synagogue have generously agreed to host our students, should we require an emergency relocation, due to a COVID-19 infection within the School community. The clergy team also prepared a special video for our Year 12 students.

Our Year 12 students have worked hard in the lead up to their final examinations and the vast majority appear to be calm and well prepared for the next three weeks. We wish them great success in their HSC and look forward to sharing in their celebrations, when the results are released in mid-December. Parents are encouraged to reinforce our message to their children; that we can best support our Year 12 students by affording them a quiet environment , free from calling out or loud laughter.

Kornmehl Pre-school students visiting the Year 12 Visual Arts exhibition

HSC Visual Arts Showcase 

Many staff and students enjoyed viewing our Year 12 Visual Arts Major Works, displayed in the Aron Kleinlehrer Performing Arts Centre over the past week. These projects, with mediums covering textiles, pottery, photography pressings, drawings, videos, criminal investigations and record covers, were creative, original and attractive. It was clear that many hours of time would have been required to complete these major works to such a high standard. A huge mazal tov to our Visual Arts students and to Eytan Messiah and his Visual Arts team.

Maintaining a Child-Safe School

The 10 Child-Safe Standards recommended by the Royal Commission provide a framework for making organisations safer for children, providing tangible guidance for schools to create cultures, adopt strategies and act to put the interests of children first, to keep them safe from harm. This term, our Executive will be reviewing our alignment with these standards, in an effort to further embed a child-safe culture. The values and practices that prioritise children’s safety include:

• The best interests of children and their protection from harm is paramount;
• Child abuse is not tolerated and must not happen;
• Children’s rights are understood and respected;
• Concerns about child safety raised by children and their parents and carers are acted on;
• Reporting abuse is not obstructed or prevented.

One of the key areas we have thus far identified, is ensuring that we have a child-friendly procedure for reporting complaints to the School. This process needs to be communicated regularly to our staff and parents. Our complaint handling policy currently sits on our Parent and Staff Portal.  I have also included a link to two short videos that outline areas of concern that should be reported for parents of Junior and Secondary students. Parents are encouraged to access these video, as a high priority. Further details on the 10 Child Safe Standards can be accessed here.

Brody in action

Mazal tov

• Amber Langman’s Music 1 Performance Program has been shortlisted for selection in the HSC Encore Music Showcase.
• Brody Elbourne, Year 10, competed in the NSW Cross-Country Championships (Under 17s – 6km), coming 9th with a time of 21.36. Due to his success, Brody will compete in the National team. 

Quote of the week

“Light tomorrow with today.”
 Elizabeth Barrett Browning