Anne Hastings – Principal

Innovative thinking

At our Staff Development Day, James O’Loghlin gave us some tips for breaking out of habitual thinking:

1. Question everything – an example of this is a young boy who analysed the amount of ink used in different fonts and recommended that a school district in the US use a particular font – saving the district thousands of dollars for ink over a year
2. Challenge your assumptions. Sometimes assumptions that were valid are no longer so. An example is an assumption that aircraft have to provide technology for watching movies etc. One airline challenged this assumption and came up with the streaming of entertainment to passengers’ own devices, thus saving weight and infrastructure.
3. Re-frame the question – sometimes we see an opportunity and can’t find a solution. Looking at it from a different point of view can be helpful. Considering the next best solution if the first does not work can provide an ‘almost as good’ solution.
4. Analyse data – collect data, look at a situation from the big picture and try to find patterns.
5. Think like a customer – for teachers this might mean actually doing an assignment set for students or experiencing part of the day as a student.

Emanuel School Academy

Next week we are launching our Emanuel School Academy, which will be a series of lunchtime presentations/talks/workshops for our students by interesting people. To start this off we have Jake Widjaya on Wednesday 10 May at lunchtime (see the flyer in this bulletin). Jake was born without a left hand, but rather than let that stop him he has taken every opportunity, joining Mensa at a young age and starting Law at the age of 16. All students are invited to attend and be enthralled by Jake’s personal story.

2016 YearBook

What an amazing record of 2016 this is! Hot off the press, your sons and daughters will be taking this impressive book home today or early next week. It is a wonderful representation of our School and its vibrancy, diversity, breadth and depth. If ever you wanted to show someone a snapshot of what Emanuel School is about, this is the way to do it. Our 2016 YearBook is the result of the contributions of many students and staff members and I congratulate each one of them. I particularly commend and thank Michelle Favero, our Manager of Marketing and Communications, who has driven its development, from beginning to end – a huge task that has a wonderful outcome. Thank you Michelle!

2018 Term dates

For those who are keen to organise their calendar next year, the 2018 term dates have been posted up on the portal, under ‘Calendar’.

Mazal Tov to:

• Jamie Schneider (Year 6), who sang a solo in Yiddish at the communal Yom HaShoah ceremony at UNSW on 23 April, along with the other Emanuel students who joined the communal choir for the same event
• Leo Carroll (Year 11), Jake Hyman (Year 10), Jared Kleviansky (Year 10), Elijah Grynberg (Year 9) and Danielle Rutstein (Year 9) for their inclusion in the CDSSA representative Touch teams and performance in the AICES Touch Gala day.

Coming up

• Year 12 Half-Yearly Examinations, 3 – 10 May
• Year 8, 3-way Learning Conversations (student-parent-teacher), Tuesday 9 May 4 – 8 pm
• The inaugural Emanuel School Academy with Jake Widjaya, Wednesday 10 May from 1:10pm in the Millie Phillips Theatre
• NAPLAN testing for Years 3, 5, 7, 9, Tuesday 9 – Thursday 11 May
• Breakfast with Emanuel, Wednesday 17 May, 7:30 am the Little Space at Bondi Junction
• Year 7 Study Skills Parents and Students evening, Tuesday 23 May, 6 pm
• Breakfast with Emanuel, Wednesday 24 May, 7:30 am, PwC Barangaroo

Quote of the week

‘When I say that innovators think, I mean they prioritise thinking. They realise that thinking is important, so that make sure they do it. They spend time – often a bit of time each day – thinking about how to make things better.’ [James O’Loghlin]

Best wishes for a happy weekend!

Shabbat Shalom