Andrew Watt – Principal

Maintaining our focus on sustainability

As Stephen Hawking famously stated: “There is no Planet B.” Many corners of society are seeking ways to reduce emissions for a range of health, environmental and financial reasons. Our Mission Statement includes a commitment for our learning community to practise Tikkun Olam. One aspect of this commitment involves taking steps to protect our environment through education, leading to action and a lifelong value of sustainability. One of the 5 Key Commitments within our Strategic Plan 2022-2024 is to embed sustainable practices:

Our students face the challenge of meeting their own needs without compromising the ability of others to meet their own needs in the future. Our students are encouraged to make decisions aligned to the long-term strategy, in terms of protecting our natural resources as well as our social and economic resources. Sustainability is also about investing in self-care and reflective practice.

Our School has recently committed to two significant initiatives, aimed at supporting sustainable practices and culture.

The Zero Emissions Cohort

It is pleasing to note that nine Jewish organisations in Sydney (including Emanuel School, Masada College and Kesser Torah College) have committed to this program, which was conducted successfully in Melbourne. The program includes five sessions, delivered by industry-leading experts and facilitated by Jewish Climate Network and Shalom. Each session will be attended by different members of our leadership team, including the Principal, Deputy Principal, Director of Finance and Operations, our High School Sustainability Co-ordinator and Marketing and Communications Manager. We also intend to invite members of our Student Sustainability Va’ad. A brief description of each session is outlined below:

• Session 1: The Journey Begins provides an opportunity for cohort members to establish their main reasons for participating, hearing from other senior community leaders about the same, and laying down our organisation’s goals for the program.
• Session 2: Policy and People supports organisations to develop a climate policy that underpins their emissions-reduction activities, and proposed governance frameworks to sustain their initiatives over time.
• Session 3: Getting Your Emissions to Zero examines the main sources of emissions applicable to our organisation and the best ways to bring them to zero in the most financially viable way.
• Session 4: Finance and Fossil Fuels explores the major risks to organisations from actively or passively investing in carbon-intensive investments and assets.
• Session 5: Climate Communication presents a range of angles to share the success of our zero emissions journey with families, members and stakeholders and consolidate our learnings from the program.

The HICES Educating for Sustainability Collegiate Group (ESCG)

The ESCG is a group of dedicated like-minded individuals from a range of schools who meet regularly, to develop sustainable practices and make impactful and positive changes, in addition to teaching the next generation about the importance of caring for our planet. Practical and inspirational ideas have been shared between members and participating schools have expanded their pool of resources and ideas as a result.

The group of staff first came together to discuss the HICES Earthshot Prize, a student version of HRH Prince William and Sir David Attenborough’s Earthshot Prize, which was designed to develop solutions that will repair our planet. This program seeks to guide and inspire our students to develop solutions targeting the five Earthshots: Clean our Air; Fix our Climate; Protect and Restore Nature; Build a Waste Free World; and Revive our Oceans. Our Year 9 HSIE students have engaged with this program, which was built into their learning of environmental change and management. It was well-received by our students, who devised innovative solutions to real world problems. It is hoped that there will be an opportunity for our students to share their work with students from other schools who have also engaged with the program.

Hot off the Press: 2022 Year Book 

They say that “Good things come to those who wait,” and in this instance I can attest to that adage. The 2022 Year Book is now available online for you to enjoy. 

I know that the photos always gain much attention. However, I urge you to read the articles, poems, stories and recounts which have been carefully constructed by students and staff. 

In keeping with our focus on the reduction of waste, this year, each family will receive one copy of the YearBook, via the oldest child. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did and look forward to sharing the printed version with you too.

Talking about AI

Our Director of Studies, Julian Abelson, addressed the High School Assembly this week, to talk about the opportunities and dangers of generative AI technologies, and to encourage our students to reflect on the good the bad and the ugly elements of AI. The opportunities include having information at the tips of our fingers, the ability to synthesise data and to explore meaning. AI can also provide immediate feedback on student work, and it can support improvement.

However, easy information and shortcuts can be very appealing, particularly when students feel time-poor. On the negative side, students can lose the ability to think critically and develop ideas, as they rely on the easy information. If this impacts a generation of students, before we realise it is happening, the impact will be significant. There are also issues around ethical use and pretending something is their work when it is not. Mr Abelson informed our students that:

Your teachers are learning about AI, critically analysing the tools available and considering how to use them innovatively to support your learning. We are examining what it means to engage in ethical practices with AI, and we are developing our assessment practices to ensure we have accurate measures of your performance to support future learning. We need to learn to use AI ethically.

We have introduced a ‘traffic light,’ an easily identifiable system for all students. Teachers will start to use this to help make it clear when student should be using AI:

• A green light for when generative AI is expected, 
• An orange light when parts of a task may involve AI to support learning,
• A red light when you should not be using it.

Primary P&F
40th Anniversary Kabbalat Shabbat and Challah Make

Last week Friday, over 600 Primary students and their families celebrated the School’s 40th Anniversary with a lively Kabbalat Shabbat and Challah Make. I thank the P&F for their support, of this event, which will be remembered for many years to come.

For photos and a full article on this, please click here.

Whacky Walk-a-thon

The Whacky Walk-a-thon is our JCA-athon event for 2023. K-6 students enjoyed a session in Centennial Park today, with all sorts of fun or ‘whacky’ walking activities as they completed laps of the course, thus raising funds for the School. Each dollar raised is matched by JCA and used to fund an initiative at Emanuel. Previous years have funded the creation of the ‘chill zone’, table tennis tables, new books and more.

Thank you to Katie Narunsky and Stacey Rosenfeld for their outstanding organisation of this annual event. We appreciate the community’s support in this fundraising initiative.

Poem in my Pocket Day

The day is a fun way to celebrate literacy and poetry. On Wednesday, all Primary School students and staff carried poems in their pockets, sharing them with each other throughout the day. Thank you to Debbie Cohen for her fabulous efforts in organising this special day each year.I too carried a special poem, titled An Ode to our Teachers. In keeping with the theme of this week’s assembly, I ‘wrote’ this poem using ChatGPT:

In Randwick City, Emanuel School soars,
Teachers, our champions, open knowledge’s doors,
Superpowers they wield with a caring touch,
Guiding and inspiring, they mean so much.

Invisible capes trailing sparks of light,
They nurture our dreams, making futures bright,
In the tapestry of learning, each a thread so fine,
Bringing warmth and wisdom, just like sunshine.

Appreciated they are, beyond measure,
For their care and love, a priceless treasure,
Emanuel School’s teachers, a guiding light,
Illuminating futures, day and night.

Mazal tov students

• The Emanuel High School Chess A team beat Sydney Boys A in the inter-school semi-finals chess competition. Congratulations to Joshua Barnett, Daniel Zipser, Max Tsipris and Dylan Vitek for winning against a very tough team. The Emanuel team has now progressed to the finals.
• Kobe Bloom, Year 6, recently sheared his rather long ‘mullet’, raising over $2000 in aid of The Leukaemia Foundation. Kobe, who celebrated his 12th birthday on the day of the World’s Greatest Shave, was inspired to take part in the in memory of his grandfather, who passed away from Multiple Myeloma (a form of blood cancer), when Kobe was young. Kol Hakavod! Donations are still open. If you would like to donate to the Leukaemia Foundation through Kobe’s fundraising page, please click here.

Mazal tov staff

Last weekend, Jordan Williams, Head of Athletics, ran a gruelling 100 km with the aim of raising $100,000 in support of Cardiac Research at St. Vincent’s Hospital Sydney. This philanthropic initiative, named HEARTBREAK 100, draws its inspiration from Williams’ father’s personal struggle with cardiac arrhythmia. Jordan ran up and down the iconic City2Surf ‘Heartbreak Hill’ 25 times – a total of 100kms with a combined elevation of 2,500m. Jordan has raised over $42,000 to date. Should you wish to help him reach his $100,000 goal, please click here.

As I posted on Instagram this week, Erin Archer, Head of Netball and Sports Administrator, played for the Australian Tagaroos team that won the OzTag World Cup in Ireland! This is a superb achievement and we look forward to celebrating with Erin on her return. 

How fantastic it is that we have so many talented staff at our School!

Quote of the week

“There can be no greater legacy than giving young people the tools they need to save our planet.” ~ Sir David Attenborough