King David School Exchange

Last Sunday saw 12 students and 3 music teachers from King David School in Melbourne arrive for an intensive day and a half of rehearsals with a number of our students, culminating in a concert on Monday afternoon. The concert was a delight, with a wide range of repertoire from classical to modern to quite unusual. It is always amazing that the students learn so much in such a short time! Congratulations to the students for their entertaining performances and the music teachers from both schools who led the ensembles, choirs and bands. I particularly thank David Gwilliam, our Head of Music, and Adam Yee, the Head of Music from KDS, for their commitment to this event, and also all the families who billeted the visiting students on Sunday evening. Please see the page on Musical Events in this bulletin for some photos and further information.

Susan Longney

Today we farewell Susan Longney who has been a Music teacher with us for the past 4 years, as she begins her maternity leave. Susan is well known for her great energy and enthusiasm, and for the outstanding success of her Primary School productions in recent years. We thank Susan for the considerable impact she has had on music and the students of Emanuel School, and wish her and her husband all the very best for the birth of her first child and her maternity leave.

Parent Safety Group

Each week we will mention the PSG volunteers who have helped ensure the safety of our students by completing a shift on campus. Please see the Parent Safety Group page for this week’s group of very appreciated volunteers.

Gender in Leadership Forum

On Thursday of this week two Year 12 (2018) students ran a forum on Gender in Leadership. Ashne Amoils and Sonia Redman were the drivers of this event, which featured a panel of successful women (and me) who discussed their own personal journeys and issues around women in leadership with students from Years 10 and 12 (2018). I was very impressed by their organisation and thoughtfulness in bringing this session, which was held during their usual Tutor period, to the students. The discussion stimulated students to think about issues such as the best ways to encourage and support women to apply for and take up the mantle of leadership.

New Gate for Waxman Drive

Over the coming holidays we will be installing a new gate system at the main entrance to the campus (corner of Avoca and Stanley Streets). The Communal Security Group (CSG) has recommended that we upgrade our security at this main entrance. When the students return at the beginning of 2018, the new gate and more secure system of entry into the School will be completed.

HSC Examinations

Our comments on the recent HSC examinations papers continue: 

Mathematics General 2  

The 2017 General 2 HSC examination provided a clear link to syllabus outcomes. Despite feeling the usual nerves that accompany any examination, the Year 12 General 2 class of 2017 took the challenge head-on in their usual cheerful, motivated and disciplined approach.

The students thought the paper was challenging yet very fair and manageable with a few tricky questions. They commented that that there wasn’t anything that they were unprepared for. Whilst a few of the multiple-choice questions were tricky and a couple of the theory questions needed to be deconstructed and broken down into more manageable tasks, the content was accessible and fair to all students.


Neil Furman

Music

Both the Music examinations ran smoothly and the students would have enjoyed and benefitted from the clarity of our upgraded audio systems.

The Music 1 examination paper was not unusual. It presented a diverse mix of music styles and allowed students to demonstrate their understanding of all 6 concepts of music. Past Music 1 HSC papers have included words or terms that are not exactly the same as those commonly used in textbooks and by teachers. For example, “musical material”, instead of “musical concepts”. This year’s paper did not include any of these “red herrings” that often confuse students rather than allowing them to demonstrate their knowledge. Question 3 presented an excerpt combining orchestral instruments with electronic music. This complex texture with unusual tone colours is likely to have been more difficult to write about due to the difficulty of correctly identifying specific instruments and naming electronic sounds. Students were generally happy with the paper and their responses and did refer to Question 3 as being a more difficult one.

Diana Springford 

The Music 2 examination had some wonderfully attractive and compelling music. The questions were clear, fair and allowed students to show their strengths whilst still enabling discrimination between higher and lower order levels of response. The examination was consistent with what could be expected from previous years. Our students were satisfied with their responses and happy overall.

David Gwilliam

Modern History

Students were happy with the questions that were asked in the Modern History Examination. The National Study essay on Germany focused on the impact of The Great Depression and was a similar question that Emanuel students completed in the Half Yearly Examination. Other essay questions involved students identifying three significant events in the life of the Albert Speer and analysing the role of the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact on the course of WWII. The multiple-choice and short-answer components of the paper are worth 25% of the total mark and assessed student knowledge on a range of topics including the Paris Peace Conference. Most of this section of the paper tested the ability of the students to read and assess sources related to the war. It was a straightforward examination that kept our students busy for the three hours. 


Max Friend

Biology

The Biology examination was a fair paper. There were two longer responses that were more challenging in the core section and option section on Genetics: The Code Broken. The students’ comments included: 

“It was a good exam, not easy, but way easier than some of the other past exams.”

“I agree, I was dreading the Beadle and Tatum question and Human Genome Project” – these were the 8 and 7 mark longer questions.

“I thought it was a good paper besides the long response questions.”

“The exam was easier than I thought but a few questions stumped me”.

 Natalie Lijovic

Business Studies

The 2017 HSC Business Studies examination was fair in that tested students on all four topics of Operations, Finance, Marketing and Human Resources. The Human Resources essay required students to think about how human resource management responds to economic, technical and social influences. The Business Report is worth 20% of the examination and centred around a retailer of sports goods that was experiencing falling sales and profits. Most Emanuel students selected and completed the extended response that asked them to examine the effect of globalisation on operations strategies. Students were able to use their Qantas case study to answer this question. As a global business the airline provided good examples of how their operations management has been impacted by the global economy. 

Denise Goldmann

Ancient History

In the examination, students wrote responses on the topics of Rome, Pompeii and Persia. Students were given historical sources to analyse. One example was a painting from a Pompeian business and students were asked to identify what occupation was being depicted. In this case it was a fuller, a worker in an ancient laundry. Students were also offered a painting of Venus, the type of imagery that inspired Botticelli’s Renaissance painting ‘The Birth of Venus’, and they had to consider what this demonstrated about religion in the lives of Pompeians who appear to have been a highly devout people. The other sections of the paper required students to write longer responses, some of which were quite challenging. For the Rome topic students were fortunate to receive a similar question to one completed in a previous assessment this year, which required them to evaluate the role of a powerful Roman, Pompey the Great, in causing the outbreak of Civil War in Rome.

Christian Bell

Mazal Tov to:

• Shane Doust, Rebekah Goldsworthy, Esther Reznikov, Sarah Sharwood and Nathaniel Spielman, from Years 8-12, who were very excited to once again have the wonderful opportunity of working with musicians from the Australian Chamber Orchestra
• Jesse Gothelf (Year 6) for winning the very competitive Bruce Cup in Tennis
• Coby New (Year 6) for being awarded the Fred Hollows Humanitarian Award for his ‘Boots for All’ project
• The senior boys cricket team who won their first-round game against Arndell Anglican College
• Ashne Amoils and Sonia Redman (Year 12 2018) for their organisation and management of the Gender in Leadership Forum.

Coming up

• The Shabbat Project, 27 October
• World Teachers’ Day, 27 October (say thanks to a teacher today!)
• High School Jilkminggan trip, Sunday 29 October – Friday 3 November
• High School Parent Wellbeing evening, Monday 30 October, 6pm
• Year 7 2018 Information Evening, Wednesday, 1 November, 7 pm
• Twilight Concerts, Thursday 2 November, 4 pm and 5:30 pm
• P & F Camping Trip, 3 – 5 November
• Writers Awards, Monday 6 November
• 7 – 10 Music Soiree, 7 November, 4:30 pm
• Evening of Refugee Voices, 16 November 6 pm 

Quote of the week 

‘Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together’. [Thomas Dekker]

Happy Shabbat Project!