Andrew Watt – Principal

Celebrating our 2023 HSC Showcases 

Our new, customised exhibition space within the Innovation Building showcased the Year 12 Bodies of Work in Visual Arts. Many staff, students and their families enjoyed browsing around a wide variety of outstanding creative works. Professor Kate Sweetapple, Head of School, Design at University of Technology (UTS) Sydney, viewed the exhibition and spoke about design as a form of enquiry, impacting our understanding of the world. Our VET Hospitality team made and served snacks, which was very well received.

Completing a major project is both challenging and exhausting. Our Year 12 students have been working on their Bodies of Work and Diary since Term 4 last year. Their Visual Arts Process Diary is a central tool for capturing and progressing what is largely an experimental and exploratory creative process towards the finished artwork. In reality, the design process involves many hours of creative efforts, many false starts and re-starts – and finally, a measure of satisfaction as their skills grow and their ideas are brought to life.

We are very proud of our results in Visual Arts, with six Emanuel Students selected for the much coveted NSW Art Express exhibition over the past six years (we have had many more nominations). Thank you to Chrystal Rimmer, who set up the exhibition, Lara Ephron, who organised the hospitality team, and the Visual Arts teachers, Eytan Messiah and Rebecca Keong. For those unable to attend opening night, you can check out all the students’ beautiful artworks here.

Guests enjoying the HSC Visual Arts Showcase

Many of the families attending the Visual Arts exhibition moved to the Millie Philips Theatre to join the audience attending our HSC Drama Showcase. As always, the individual and group performances were entertaining, reflecting the many hours required to create and rehearse a performance item, to the high standards required in the HSC. Our Drama students appreciated the warmth and support from the audience, as they used this performance as an invaluable rehearsal, in preparation for the formal, external marking process. Thank you to our Head of Drama, Samantha Bauer, for her tireless support, patience and invaluable advice to our HSC performers.

Our HSC Music Performance Showcase will be held on Monday 21 August, in the Millie Philips Theatre. We look forward to this wonderful opportunity to showcase the musical performance and composition talents that reside within our Year 12 Music students.

Look out for more photos of the HSC Drama Showcase in next week’s Ma Nishma

Year 10 Machane Ayekah Camp

With the campsite located in the Southern Highlands, our students have enjoyed the opportunity to  a tranquil bush setting, as they enjoy outdoor activities and quiet, guided reflections. This special camp program is a pivotal Jewish Life experience at Emanuel School and an important factor in preparing our students for the five-week Chavayah program later in the year. Led by a team of Informal Jewish Life educators and Israeli Madrichim, the students have been participating in peulot on topics ranging from Judaism and Zionism to self-discovery and values-based living. Highlights this year have included watching the Matilda’s play on Wednesday night and the nightly ruach sessions. The students are looking forward to a beautiful communal Shabbat experience this weekend, filled with prayer, conversation and song. Thank you to Kobi Bloom, Adina Roth, Sidney Melamdowitz and our youth leaders team for creating and delivering such a rich program.

HICES Music Festival 

The year we have sent three students to participate in the HICES Music Festival. This is a four-day residential camp in Stanwell Tops and involves students from HICES schools all over NSW who are selected by audition to participate in choir, band and orchestra rehearsals for the duration before presenting a formal concert at the Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday night. This is a fantastic opportunity for passionate musicians to play music at a high level with new and excellent conductors and to get to know other young people from all over the state. This year, Mirabella Marshall (Year 7), Olivia Byrne (Year 7) and Ethan Garfinkel (Year 8) participated. Dylan Kramer (from the Wolanski Family SLC) kindly accompanied them as an “honorary” music teacher.

Dates for the diary
IPSHA Music Festival and Night of Song 

• Our Junior Choir with an accompanying orchestra of Primary School musicians, will perform at the IPSHA Music Festival in the Sydney Town Hall, on Monday 21 August. They will present their own item (a version of ABBA’s I Have a Dream in English and Hebrew) and they will also be part of combined school choral and instrumental items. They have been well prepared by Ms Yendell, Mr Owen and Mr Burley.
• Our K-12 singers are currently preparing for our annual and beautiful Night of Song on Monday 28 August. This year the program will also include our new pop-up choir of parents, alumni and staff for their inaugural performance. 

Quote of the week

“Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci