From the Principal
Andrew Watt – Principal
Guiding the leaders of the future
Interfaith activities encourage young people with different values, beliefs and culture to gather together to build relationships, trust and understanding. These programs will influence the leaders of tomorrow – our youth – to better understand different faith communities. Perhaps most importantly, Interfaith Programs enable our students to relate closely to people from different backgrounds, seeing them as individuals, thus reducing the preconceptions and stereotypes assigned to unfamiliar faith communities.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry invited Emanuel School to participate in a pilot program, Nostra Aetate, where students from Catholic Schools spend a day on our campus and learn about Judaism. Thus, we committed to host Year 10 students from St Ursula’s College Kingsgrove and Marcellin College Randwick. It was a day where our staff and students shared key aspects of Jewish culture, values, faith and beliefs. A highlight of the program was both the immersive experience and the dialogue and conversation that quickly developed between the students. The session where the Catholic students shared what they did in their religious practices that was both different and similar to Jewish practice was also very engaging.
The program included:
- Kabbalat shabbat (including ruach, dancing)
- Symbols and their meaning in Judaism
- The Jewish Lunar Calendar
- Making Challah and decorating shabbat candle sticks
- Morning tea (Jewish Festival food)
- Our connections to Israel
- Different streams of Judaism and pluralism
- Kristallnacht and the Holocaust
- Q & A session
- Lunch (Israeli food)
Our Year 10 students were welcoming and friendly and our visitors enjoyed the day, departing with a better understanding of our Jewish culture and beliefs. We have since received very positive feedback from both the students and the staff involved.
Many thanks to Margaret Lowe, Adina Roth, Daphna Levin-Kahn, Kim Slender, Kobi Bloom, Miri Heitner, Asher Klein, Adam Majsay, Jennifer Senator and Lara Ephron.
2022 Calendar – Flagging change to last day of Term 4
It has been brought to my notice that at the commencement of the school year, the designated final day for our students was Friday 9 December. Soon after the Terms Dates for 2022 were published, the last day for students was changed to Thursday 8 December, with a Staff Development Day planned for 9 December. Originally, we had looked at having an early High School Speech Night on Friday, so that our students in Israel (Years 10 and 11) could join via Zoom. We needed to move from Friday to Thursday to ensure we were not encroaching on family Shabbat preparations, as we would have had a later finish time (even though it would have been well before Shabbat came in). I appreciate that there will be parents who have made plans based on the later finish date and I apologise sincerely for any inconvenience this has caused. I will ensure that parents are provided adequate notice of any changes to the term dates in future years.
Year 7 (2023) Ma’avar Program
Our Year 6 students gathered together with students from other schools who will be part of our Year 7 (2023) at Emanuel. The program was designed to provide our new students with an opportunity to meet our current students, and to introduce all students to the intricacies of life as a High School student. Hopefully, this will allay any anxieties that might build over the summer break.
Students were divided into their House Groups, where they met their House Tutor and their Madatzim (Peer Support Leaders) for 2023. In addition to getting to know a little about each other over an informal morning program, each student learned about the role of their House Tutor, the content of the 2023 Tutor Program, House competitions and House assemblies.
Many thanks to Kobi Bloom, Adam Ezekiel and his team of Year 7 House Tutors.
New Appointments
Introducing our new Director of Sport (K-12): Heath Morley
Despite an impressive array of external candidates, Heath Morley was the most suitable candidate to fill this important role. An experienced Head of House, PDHPE teacher and sport coach, Mr Morley brings his current work in team selections and training, representative pathways and coordinating competitions to this position. Previously, Mr Morley was School Sport Coordinator for the Royal Borough of Chelsea and Kensington, London and was Head Coach of the Hills Sport High rugby team. He is currently the Head Coach and Convenor of the AICES rugby team and Coordinator of both touch football and rugby at our School. We wish him well in his new role.
Introducing our new Head of Hebrew (7-12)
Ms Natali Tchelet comes to us from Masada College, where she has taught Primary and High School Hebrew. She is currently Head of Hebrew (ELC to Year 6) and a member of the Primary Executive team. Ms Tchelet has 7 years of teaching experience in Australia, with 12 years of teaching in Israel. At Masada College, Ms Tchelet worked collaboratively with class teachers to make Hebrew relevant to the student’s lives. She initiated and led Hebrew public speaking competitions, excursions, Hebrew days, Hebrew magazines, and a Hebrew lunch club. We look forward to the many ways that Natali will build upon the wonderful work of Ruth Harvey and her team, and continue to raise both the quality and profile of Hebrew. Ms Tchelet will commence next year.
Serving our Community – Kids Giving Back
Each year, we seek to recognise those students who have been involved in acts of service, reaching out to those in need. It is encouraging to see those who have so much, be the heart and voice for those with so little.
The students listed below are among close to 500 young people who produced over 7,500 hot meals, cold meals, fruit kebabs, breakfast boxes, snack packs and care packs which all included empathetic, positive messages on each item. These were then distributed to 9 charities around Sydney.
Mazal Tov and thank you to the following students: Abbie Schnapp, Matthew Simon, Benjamin Pellow, Mia Chesler, Cooper Adler, Noah Kessell, Evie Brodovcky, Olive Byrne, Gem Roffe-Nassi, Ricky Kerlander, Iliana Lavecky, Sammy Ipp, Jake Vitek, Shayna Abitz, Jonah Bloom, Tal Wajsman, Jude Olian, Theodore Salek, Kiki Aronstan, Zac Salamon, Liam Frankham, Zack Whitten, Mahli Olian and Zen Roffe- Nassi.
Mazal Tov
- To the cast of our 2023 production, The Addams Family: Jesse Barel, Chloe Biller, Ariel Solomon, Alice Milner, Max Salamon, Eitan Hamilton, Leo Masnick, Sam Salamon, Willow Gelin, Sophie Masnick, Arlo Van der Starre, Ashley Cohn, Ben Freed, Calliope Owen, Daniel Newfield, Ella Bortz, Gemma Wainstein, Jasmine Melnikoff, Jordan Pal, Lily Foltyn, Max Rose, Maya Balkin, Maya Foreman, Milla Silberman, Niek Nathan, Sarah Manoy, Sofia Berkovic, Stacey Greenfield, Summer Glass, Tayah Starkey and Zara Sacks.
- To Willow Gelin, Stacey Greenfield, Allegra Knoll, and Yael Rembach (Year 10) for making it through to the National Finals of the Generation Entrepreneur competition.
- To our Year 10 Drama students, who gave outstanding performances at the Showcase this week.
- To Jacob Tintner (Year 7), Maya Hersch, Max Rose, Alexander Gellert and Jonathan Goldberg (Year 8) from the Stage 4 Rock Band who performed at St Joseph’s College Battle of the Bands.
- To Sarah Manoy, Noa Wajsman, Liam Danon, Kira Rothschild, Joshua Ottaviano, Hannah Greengarten, Noah Klisser (returning for his second year in the program!), Jaime Keyser and Aron Harpaz for participating in the Smith Family’s
student2student reading program.
Quote of the Week
“The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.” Mahatma Gandhi