Anne Hastings

From the Principal

On Monday of this week I attended the AHISA (Australasian Heads of Independent Schools Association) Term 1 meeting at Kincoppal, Rose Bay. All of the NSW Principals of independent schools meet once a term, at a different school each time. We had a presentation from Dr Paul Browning from the Centre for Research Innovation & Future Development, who has researched the factors relevant to Principals in developing trust with their staff and within their communities. We also heard from Michael Carr, the Deputy Head of the Association of Independent Schools, about recent developments in funding (not much has changed) and about the demographics for Non-government schools.

It’s interesting to note that in relation to demographics they are predicting a considerable increase in the numbers of school-age students in the next 15 years in Australia. For independent schools they see the growth as 2.1% in Primary Schools, 2.5% in High Schools and overall a growth of 2.3%. That will mean 135 000 additional students in non-government schools, with 3760 additional classrooms needed across Australia.

Jazz on the Hill

This event has become a wonderful inclusion in our annual calendar – our very own afternoon of good music and good company on the lawns in front of our beautiful sandstone Saunders building, with your children being entertained elsewhere on site at the same time. Make sure that you book in for this afternoon very soon, as time is running out!

It’s on Sunday 26 March here at school from 2-5 pm and the booking link is http://tinyurl.com/JOTH2017

Purim Disco

A huge thank you goes to our P & F parents and the High School volunteers who ran the Purim Disco for the Primary School students last Sunday. An exciting time was had by all the children as they continued the celebration of Purim craziness. You’ll see a gallery of photos with this bulletin on the Purim page which shows just how much fun was had by all.

Year 12 Three-way Learning Conversations

The previously titled Parent Teacher meetings have been rebadged as 3-way learning conversations between students, parents and teachers to reflect our aim of ensuring our students are thinking about and assessing their own learning effectiveness and being proactive about identifying improvements they need to make. Students will initiate these discussions with comments about how they are progressing and lead a discussion around some of their recent learning products. Our first evening will be for Year 12 students on 22 March, from 4-6 pm.

 A tip

If you really liked the old version of Ma Nishma where the newsletter was a pdf document, you can achieve the same outcome with the online version, by beginning the process of printing it (without actually pressing the final print button).

Student success

Mazal tov to:

• Hannah Adler (Year 10) for her amazing photos from the High School Swimming Carnival – she did a superb job as our photographer for the day
• Ronan Collins, Mikayla Sacks, Chloe Corne, Aarin Regan Lacey and Jordana Blackman (Year 12) for creating the colourful Purim mural nearby the Primary School Library. This was featured on the front cover of the Australian Jewish News this week, along with four Emanuelites, dressed as the Super Mario Brothers.
• Koby New (Year 6) for his continued initiative in collecting soccer boots for children whose families can’t afford them
• Aron (Year 6) and Raphael (Year 4) Harpaz for their work with the Plant Earth shoe collection
• Genna Radnan (School Nurse) for her successful fund-raiser this week that raised $5000 for her Kenyan community
• Cedric Amoils (grandfather of Ashne, Joshua and Sienna) for his wonderful efforts in cleaning up Bondi Beach each day.  

Coming up

• SRC Fete for High School, Monday 20 March
• Year 12 Three-way learning conversations (previously Parent/Student/Teacher meetings) 22 March, 4-8 pm
• Jazz on the Hill, 26 March, 2-5pm, book at http://tinyurl.com/JOTH2017
• Year 11 Three-way learning conversations (previously Parent/Student/Teacher meetings) 30 March, 4-8 pm
• Year 10 Three-way learning conversations (previously Parent/Student/Teacher meetings) 3 April, 4-8 pm

Quote of the week

‘Innovation is a state of Mind’. [James O’Loghlin]

Best wishes for a restful and reinvigorating weekend.

Shabbat Shalom