Andrew Watt – Principal

Preparations for the return of staff and students to our campus

We are both excited and well prepared! Our maintenance team, gardeners and cleaners are working around the clock to have our campus spick and span for the return of our school community. Our ventilation work is almost completed, and we are expecting delivery of our CO2 monitors soon. The bowl of chocolates on my desk has been replenished and we are planning for our welcome of students at each gate. As every student from Years 3 to 12 will be required to wear a mask indoors, parents of our younger students may wish to purchase suitable masks, and practise mask wearing for periods of time at home, to familiarise them. Details related to masks can be found in the Parent Handbook.

Our survey of Primary School parents has been completed, with only a small number of families indicating that they are keeping their child at home. We are currently contacting a group of ‘undecided’ parents, as they finalise their position. This number has reduced, with the release of our Parent Handbook. The response rate to our survey of High School parents has been slower than anticipated, so we are not in a position to provide details, other than with just over 50% of responses received, we have only one family indicating that they will keep their child at home. The responses from the (anonymous) vaccination survey thus far indicates a high level of vaccination across students in Years 7-12. We encourage parents to respond, so that we can release more accurate details to our school community.

Introducing Project Based Learning (PBL) in the High School

Our students will shortly return to school and the ‘new normal’ will emerge. We have learned from our remote learning experience that our students are creative, innovative, and able to adapt well to different learning experiences. Rather than return fully to our on-campus timetable, we felt that our students would benefit from an enhanced academic program. An exciting new learning initiative was launched at our High School assembly this week. Our students viewed a range of presentations on potential areas of interest that will form the basis of project work to be completed over four days, spread throughout Term 4. PBL will provide an opportunity for our Years 7-10 students to apply their knowledge and skills to personally relevant and real-world situations. PBL seeks to develop the skills to think critically, solve problems in creative ways, work in teams, and communicate ideas to an audience. These are skills which will help our students succeed in the future, both in school and beyond.

All our projects will start with a driving question and finish with the presentation of a final pitch, product, or performance, at our PBL Showcase in Week 10. Throughout the project, our students will be able to make connections with practitioners in their field of interest and seek out expert insights into their process. The completion of tasks and other accomplishments will be recognised with the awarding of digital badges throughout the project process. Students who excel will be acknowledged at Speech Night later this term. Mr Messiah and many of our teachers have been working hard to develop an exciting plan for this term. We look forward to viewing the showcase of projects!

A very bright future

Emanuel B’yachad is just over 48 hours away and our parent Ambassadors have been busy hand delivering over 500 B’yachad Boxes filled with delicious and fun goodies to those attending. Our Ambassadors have played such a vital part in spreading the Emanuel joy and building B’yachad excitement within our wonderful community and we are eternally grateful for their their enthusiasm, commitment and support. 

In your B’yachad Box you will find a number of items to help make the most of the event. The brightest of those are a few sets of sunnies – one for each person in your household (you’ll have to share with your furry friends though). Please follow the instructions provided and take a photo of your family donning their shades. I am sure that you’ll agree that my wife, Cath, takes a much better selfie than I!

Text your pic to our photo hotline (0419 789 973) before 7.00 pm on Sunday and your family will be part of Emanuel history. 

I’ll be at Emanuel Central on Sunday, looking forward to sharing our biggest and brightest event of the year with you. 

Condolence

We were deeply saddened to hear that Eddie Jaku OAM passed away earlier this week. There have been many moving to tributes to a great man, husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather who embodied goodness, kindness and humility. Our students have been privileged to interview Eddie for Project Heritage. I am sure that his words will continue to guide and inspire them. We wish Eddie’s family long life – he will be deeply missed by all who knew him. May his memory be for a blessing, always.

Eddie Jaku z”l and his 2016 Project Heritage Group – now the Class of 2022

Quote of the week

“There are always miracles in the world, even when all seems hopeless. And when there are no miracles, you can make them happen. With a simple act of kindness, you can save another person from despair, and that might just save their life. And this is the greatest miracle of all.”
― Eddie Jaku OAM