Anne Hastings – Principal

Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde opened on Wednesday evening to a packed theatre and very engaged and appreciative audience. It was a wonderful success – once again raising the bar of expectations in relation to our annual High School production!

Huge congratulations and thanks go to Sam Bauer and Adam Majsay, the directors of the show. This was the culmination of months and months of rehearsals and preparation – it was a fantastic testament to the power of positivity, good judgement in terms of casting, patience, positive feedback and support for the students as they worked on their performances and developed their characters. The great attention to detail, from the set, music and costumes to the students’ acting and singing, and even the inclusion of the two dogs, contributed to the professional feel of the production. The end result was an absolute delight and it was a joy to be there to see the talent, energy, confidence and obviously very well-prepared cast of over 70 students.  

Each member of the cast gave very professional performances. They clearly enjoyed the whole experience, were very proud of the final product, and had developed a huge amount of confidence along the way. Special mention must be made of our very talented Genevieve Goldman, who as Elle Woods shone in every scene. Gabriel Wolf, Zev Shteinman, Angel Mitrani, Lara Rutstein, Joshua Amoils, Erin Nabarro, Danielle Kramer, Sonia Redman, Eve Lemberg, Gabriel Sebban, Joshua New, Tomer Belkin, Noa Blair and Eden Sadra were strong supporting actors and also gave very polished performances, impressing the audience with their confident singing and acting. The large ensemble and other supporting actors added much to the whole production, supporting each other and contributing to the play’s overall success. We congratulate them all and thank them for their wonderful efforts in bringing yet another joyous, impressive production to the School.

Thanks also to our wonderful musicians who toiled away behind the black curtain. The music was first-rate. The food prepared by Lara Ephron and the hospitality students was delicious and added to the experience. Thanks to Ofer Levy for his wonderful photos which will be available next week. As well, our appreciation goes to many other behind-the-scenes people who helped out with such a production. Emanuel School has demonstrated again the power of the combination of strong effort, persistence, positive support, attention to detail and committed, hard-working teachers and students. 

Reports

Teachers have been working on formal academic reports for each student. We will be sending emails with links to the reports in the next two weeks, beginning with Year 11 reports, which were sent today. Please read the reports carefully with your son/daughter and help them take careful note of their teachers’ suggestions for improvement so they can develop an action plan for Terms 3 & 4.

Staff news

Gabrielle Whately

Gabrielle teaches French to Years 8 – 10 and is going on Long Service Leave for the whole of Term 3. We wish her well for her extended break and look forward to her return in Term 4. Hilary de Joux, a very experienced, well-qualified teacher, will replace Gabrielle for the term.

Louise Heilpern

Louise has been awarded the role of K-6 Professional Learning Project Officer for the Visual Arts and Design Educators Association. This is an honorary role which is done while she is teaching and involves the promotion of quality visual art education K-6. Louise’s involvement in both the IPSHA community through co-ordinating the touring student exhibition, as well as the past two VADEA conferences through her lectures on ‘Pots that Tell Stories’ and ‘The Tree of Life’, has led her to a position of prominence in the small community of specialist Primary Visual Arts educators. Her experience in the classroom and her unique ability to translate creative and rigorous programs into exciting learning experiences and beautiful artworks make Louise an excellent resource for our peers around the state. Mazal tov Louise!

We are very pleased to support our teachers who take on roles in their professional teaching associations. The connections they make and the experience they gain are no doubt of benefit to the teaching of their subject and our students here, and they are supporting the continued development of knowledge and enthusiasm in their subject around the state.

Maccabiah Games

We wish the Emanuel School students who are travelling to Israel for the Maccabiah Games in the next few weeks all the very best. These students are: Oskar Beck, Nadia Coburn, Jared Elbourne, Amy Collins, Lara Joffe, Gabriella Goodridge, Ethan De Melo, Jake Hyman, Lisa Seligsohn, Isabella Shulz, Danielle Rutstein, Joel Epshteyn, Lara Rutstein, Shai Stern, Jordan Weizman, Reece Berelowitz, Justin Sarif and Leo Lipman.

Mazal Tov to

• All of the age champions at Athletics Carnival and record breakers (see the article by Ray Francis)
• Sonia Redman and Liahm Simon (Year 11), who have both progressed to Round 2 of the Mikolot Public Speaking Competition
• Our Primary and Secondary chess teams who both achieved second place in the Sydney Academy of Chess competition during the week. Daniel Melamed (Year 7) won the High School division individual trophy (see the Head of Primary article).

 Coming up

• ‘Legally Blonde’, our High School production, 24, 25 June
• Years 9 – 11 Art Camp, 26 – 27 June
• East Timor Film night, Thursday 29 June, 6:30 pm, MP Theatre
• Last day of Term 2, Friday 30 June
• Staff Development Day, Monday 17 July
• First day of Term 3 for students, Tuesday 18 July
• Year 9 Ski Camp, 23 – 28 July.

Quote of the week

‘It’s only after you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform.’ [Roy T. Bennett]

Best wishes for a restful weekend.

Shabbat Shalom