From the Principal

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

From the Head of Jewish Life

Rabbi Daniel Siegel – Head of Jewish Life

Remember to erase the memory

This week’s parashah is named after the rebellious leader Korach. He and his cohort of “uprisers” are quickly joined by a larger group described as אנשי שם/anshei shem -“people of name”, that is, renowned individuals. The entire band, just as quickly, meets its demise, with Korach and his mates swallowed up by the ground and one would think by history itself. Curiously, however, the very parashah in which he is made to vanish preserves his name and memory.

Similarly, two parshiyot later we encounter Balak, king of Moav, who seeks to destroy Israel through the agency of the diviner Bil’am (whose name connotes “swallowing up”). Here too, the villain, Balak, is memorialised, as the parashah bears his name.

Perhaps the best known example, within our Jewish tradition, of preserving one’s name and memory by the very means we seek to obliterate it is Haman. In mentioning Haman, we are required to add the words ימח שמו/yimach shamo -“may his name be obliterated”. Accordingly, in reading the Megillah, we noisily drown out his name every time it is “heard” or put his name on the soles of our shoes to stomp it out. Yet, this has served to make Haman and his name most memorable.

Haman is described as a descendant of Amalek, Israel’s arch enemy. We are commanded to “obliterate the memory of Amalek” (תמחה את זכר עמלק/timcheh et zekher amalek) at the same time that we are told “remember what Amalek did to you…do not forget”. (זכור את אשר  עשה לך עמלק.. לא תשכח/zackhor et asher asah lekha amalek.. lo tishkach). Thus, in recalling our greatest enemies, we say /ימח שמו וזכרו yimach shemo ve-zikhro -“may his name and memory be obliterated”, even as we ensure they are not.

There is a necessity within our Jewish tradition not to let the memory and legacy of our greatest enemies be forgotten but to give them an everlasting place in infamy. The root word in Hebrew for “obliterate” is the same as that for “protest” מחה. If their names and memories were truly obliterated, protestations would be absent and such individuals ever-present.

We are all אנשי שם/anshei shem – “people of name”, renowned individuals. Whether our names are preserved in memory to be obliterated through protestation, like Korach, or celebrated by means of approbation, like Moshe, is for each of us to determine.

Ma Koreh including Year 4 Pathways

Adam Carpenter – Head of Jewish Studies Primary

Weekly Torah portion

Parashat Korach Numbers 16:1 – 18:32

This week we read of a rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron by Korach, a Levite, with the support of 250 members of the community. Korach accuses Moses and Aaron of taking their leadership and authority too far over the people. In response Moses accuses Korach and his supporters of rebelling against God. The Torah describes how God intervenes in the disagreement and punishes the rebels with death.

Family discussion

This week the Torah deals with matters of leadership and power. Leadership is often described as serving and guiding others and the community, and not a quest for personal power and glory for those who are leaders or wish to be so. What makes for effective or ineffective leaders and who are examples in our world today?

קרן קימת לישראל JNF activities

Yigal Nisell from the JNF came to the Primary School this week to run sessions for some of our classes. Year 4 students enjoyed learning about the activities of the JNF and the history and role of the blue boxes. Students then had the opportunity to create and decorate their own blue boxes. Yigal also gave an informative presentation to Year 6 students about the history of the JNF and its role in developing and nurturing the land and the State of Israel.

Year 4 Pathways – presentation ceremony

On Thursday, parents and grandparents of the Year 4 students attended a special Primary School Torah service and Tanakh presentation ceremony. Morah Gaida and Primary students conducted the morning tefillot filled with singing and ruach. To symbolise the passing on of the Torah from generation to generation, Devan Bloch and 3 generations of his family were called to the Torah and Lily Berger, who is celebrating her Bat Mitzvah this Shabbat, read beautifully from the Torah. In preparation for the ceremony, each child’s Tanakh had been lovingly decorated and personalised with family histories, stories, photographs and blessings. Before giving their child the Tanakh, parents were led in the Birkat HaBanim – the blessing over the children for their Year 4 child.  

After receiving their Tanakh, students recited the Shehechiyanu prayer. This beautiful ceremony was followed by hugs, kisses and the singing of Siman Tov uMazal Tov. The pride and delight expressed by the children and their families over the giving of the Tanakh were something very special to witness. Families shared a quiet moment at the end of the ceremony to read over and share the personalised messages and decorations with their child. Thank you to all the parents and family members who attended the ceremony and for the love and care put into personalising each Tanakh.

Year 9 Jewish Studies – gender and sexuality

Year 9 Jewish Studies – gender and sexuality

Zoe Feigen

Last Tuesday, Ms Rosin’s Year 9 Jewish Studies Gender & Sexualities class had a visitor from a member of the Emanuel Alumni, Zoe Feigen. Zoe was actually part of Ms Rosin’s Tutor Group and graduated in 2007. Zoe qualified as a veterinarian and now works in Melbourne. Zoe visited us because Zoe is asexual and agender and was invited to speak about their experiences as a Jewish asexual person.

In Ms Rosin’s class we have been studying the LGBTQI+ spectrum and what Judaism says about differing sexualities. Zoe is Jewish, so this story was extremely important in our learning about this topic.

When Zoe came into the room, the very first thing that was asked was which are the correct pronouns to use when speaking about an agender person. With Zoe originally being female, some of us thought that she/her would be appropriate but Zoe said they/them is preferable. This was hard for many of us, including myself and Ms Rosin who are grammar freaks, however, we figured it was the correct and polite thing to do, so we tried very hard to use the correct pronouns.

Before I continue talking about Zoe, I would just like to point out some very important things that need to be understood. There are three categories that need to be filled when speaking about a person. The person’s biological sex, their gender, and their sexuality. Many people didn’t know that there was a difference between gender and sex, but interestingly enough, some people didn’t know the difference between agender and asexuality. A person’s biological sex is the genitalia they are born with, their gender is the sex they identify with, and their sexuality is who they are sexually attracted to. So, although Zoe is biologically female, they identify as being agender, which means that they don’t identify as being either male or female. And being asexual means that the person doesn’t feel a sexual attraction towards anyone, however, Zoe says that they feel a romantic attraction towards their partner, who is also asexual and agender.

Zoe was explaining how their mother wasn’t excessively pleased when they came out, but Zoe was prepared to be disowned by the family if they wouldn’t accept Zoe’s true self. Fortunately, this never happened. At the beginning of last year, Zoe had their breasts removed because it made them feel dysmorphic and is now much happier. Originally, Zoe had bound them in order to feel more like themselves. After the surgery they are fortunately now on the road to recovery.

It was a pleasure meeting Zoe, and I found their story absolutely fascinating because they enlightened and increased my understanding on such a controversial topic. I learnt a lot and I really recommend increasing your knowledge on this topic because what you learn is absolutely priceless! Our class would like to thank Zoe for being so honest and forthcoming with all of us, and also to commend them for such bravery in spite of many challenges.

Miriam Itzkowitz

Double the love – Rabbi Steven Greenberg

Double the love

On the 15 June Rabbi Steven Greenberg came to talk to the Year 9s and the Year 11s, who are currently studying gender and sexuality in Judaism, about his life being an openly gay, Orthodox Jew.  He began life as a Conservative Jew living a normal, teenage life in the US, which was forever changed by a voluntary trip to an Orthodox synagogue for a Shabbat service. After the service, he was offered a seat at the Rabbi’s table for lunch. After just one meal together, the Rabbi took an interest in him and requested he join him for study every week. Each week as he studied with the Rabbi, his interest and knowledge in Judaism grew, until he ultimately decided to be a Rabbi himself.  

He always knew he was gay, but had not admitted it to himself or anyone.  When he finally came out, it was to one Chassidic Rabbi who did not reject him or suggest he change himself. All he said was, “You have double the love”. Rabbi Greenberg came out to the world after deciding to appear in the movie, “Trembling before God”, and after fighting through discrimination and hatred, wrote a book called, “Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition” where he talks about the relations between homosexuality and Judaism. 

Currently, Rabbi Steven Greenberg is married to his husband, also named Steve, and they have a 6-year-old daughter, Amalia. He is currently giving lectures all around the world, talking about how he learned to accept his sexuality, whilst remaining Orthodox. He has also started an organisation, ESHEL, in order to have a place where young observant Jewish LBGTQI+ members can express their concerns and feel safe within a protected environment.

Rabbi Greenberg is a most inspiring and dynamic speaker. His love of Judaism and his self-acceptance were an inspiration to our students.

Cade Collins – Year 9

From the Head of Primary

Natanya Milner – Head of Primary

This image was shared with me by our Year 1 teacher, Talia Hynek. It is a wonderful reminder of the importance of student attitude and the language that we encourage in our children as they learn. It is important to remember that learning can be uncomfortable as children step out of their comfort zones and risk making mistakes. The more we can encourage our children to have a “can do” attitude and remember that “mistakes are opportunities to learn”, the more we can facilitate positive and optimal growth. I like the acronym for FAIL as a “First Attempt In Learning”. The idea that things are not meant to go perfectly the first time we attempt them assists the children to see the “failures” as steps to celebrate as part of a process towards mastery, instead of single disappointments.

I am reminded that we also play an important part in role modelling this process. Ensuring that we highlight and even celebrate our willingness to give new things a try and accept starting something at a low standard and learning to improve can be a powerful way to instil this in our children. I have recently taken up tennis after many, many years of not playing. Let’s just say that I am remembering all these lessons the hard (and slow) way!

Lior Misrachi

It is with an incredibly heavy heart that we will be saying farewell to Lior Misrachi and her family at the end of this term. Lior has been an asset to the Hebrew and Jewish Studies Department as well as the wider school. She will also be missed as our Year 6 Leadership Co-ordinator and New Staff Mentor. We have appreciated Lior’s wisdom and expertise and she will be sorely missed. We thank her for her many contributions and hope she will keep in touch with us. I wish her and her gorgeous family all the very best as they make aliyah.

Year 4 Pathways

This week we celebrated the Year 4 Tanakh Pathways event in a beautiful ceremony with our students and wider community. The Pathways events are such special markers of the children’s journey through Jewish rites of passage. Thank you to Adam Carpenter and Rebecca Gaida for their hard work and mazal tov to all the Year 4 students.

Chess

It was another wonderful week for our amazing chess team. Last Friday afternoon, the Emanuel A team beat Coogee Prep (4-0), the Emanuel B won against Coogee Prep (4-0) and the Emanuel C drew with St Brigid’s Coogee (2-2). On Wednesday, some Primary and High School teams entered a competition at Rose Bay Secondary College organised by the Sydney Academy of Chess. After seven rounds of chess, both our Primary and High School teams came second in their divisions in very close battles. On individual points, Daniel Melamed won the High School division. Thank you to Colleen Elkins and the sensational chess teams for their commitment and effort.

CIS Cross Country

Last week, Emanuel was represented at the CIS Cross Country carnival in Eastern Creek. The children represented the School well with most finishing in the top half of the field. Thank you to our athletes and to Mr Taylor for co-ordinating our participation in this event for us.

Netball

Schools Cup

Emanuel entered five teams into the Year 5/6 Mixed Netball Schools Cup, held at Heffron on Wednesday. The day was enjoyable for all students and an outstanding opportunity for boys and girls to play competitive sport both with and against each other. Emanuel’s five teams performed very well, but none better than the Emanuel Orange (A) team which went through the competition undefeated and racked up a points differential of 137 (for) – 5 (against) in their five games.

Congratulations to all students who attended the Gala Day for their incredible teamwork, sportsmanship and enthusiasm throughout the whole day.

Thank you to Adam Ezekiel for organising our teams for this event. Thanks to Adam as well as Stuart Taylor, Nicole Brandes and Sharon Fairfax for accompanying our students.

Calendar links

Next Week’s Calendar Link

2017 Calendar Link

Upcoming dates

• 26 June: Y6 Interrelate Evening, 6:00-8:15 pm in The Millie Phillips Theatre
• 27 June: Project Heritage Briefing for Historians 12:00-1:00 pm, Primary Library
• 30 June: K-2 Music assembly
• 30 June: Last day Term 2
• 18 July: First day Term 3 for students, Primary lice check
• 19 July: SRC Pancake Fundraising Event
• 25 July: Y6 Project Heritage Interview 1
• 25-27 July: YK, Y1, Y3 and Y5 Protective Behaviours Session 1
• 27 July: Y5-6 Australian Mathematics Competition
• 1 August: Years 3-6 Tisha B’Av Ceremony
• 1 August: ICAS English Competition
• 1 August: Y6 Project Heritage Interview 2
• 1-3 August: YK, Y1, Y3 and Y5 Protective Behaviours Session 2
• 2 August: State Futsal Championship
• 4 August: Primary Athletics Carnival, Hensley Athletic Field

Term 3 K-2 Assembly items

• 28 July (Week 2): Puppet Club
• 11 August (Week 4): 1B Miss Hynek’s Class
• 25 August (Week 6): YK Hebrew
• 8 September (Week 8): KH Ms Yunis’ Class
• 22 September (Week 10): School closed for Rosh Hashanah

Primary EActive – bookings now open

Bookings are now OPEN for Term 3 Primary EActive! 

Adam Ezekiel – PDHPE Teacher & Acting Head of Rabin

Primary after school clubs

The Green Team

Liberty Waldner – Year 4

Dear parents, teachers and students

Are you sick of seeing rubbish around our beautiful school? Do you want to help put a stop to it? Well here’s how.

The Green Team has been focusing on waste this term, and we would like to introduce a Waste Free Friday for Kindergarten-Year 6. We are on an environmental mission to put a stop to excess packaging in our playground and in landfill.

Waste-free lunches are lunches that use only reusable packaging which means no rubbish!

Waste-free lunches use lunchboxes, small re-usale containers and zero disposable packaging.

The Waste-Free Fridays will begin in Term 3.  We ask for your help and co-operation with this exciting plan.

Thank you

Liberty Waldner and the rest of the Green Team

From the Primary Library

Ginnette Cameron-Gardner – Primary Teacher/Librarian

The Primary Library has acquired many new books. 

Hero by Jennifer Li Shotz, a New York Times bestselling author, is on the shelf at JF SHO, barcode 102275.  This was recommended by another Teacher Librarian, Barbara Braxton, and is a fine addition to our collection of wonderful stories about the relationship between pets and their owners

Hero, a retired search-and-rescue dog, and twelve-year-old Ben find a stray puppy, injured and afraid. This is a compelling story about the bond between a boy and his dogs and the lessons Ben has to learn about sorting out priorities as he promises that he will keep up his schoolwork and grades if he is allowed to keep the puppy, Scout. It’s hard when you have friends and baseball also vying for your time.

When Scout goes missing, it’s up to Hero to use his search-and-rescue skills to find Scout and bring him home. The new addition, Scout, leads them into an unexpected and dangerous situation.

Ideal for the independent reader, it is not a short read as it is 224 pages but nevertheless, it would make a great read-aloud to a class or to a younger person who loves dogs as it has just the right amount of tension and a happy ending.  

Socks, Sandbags and Leeches: Letters to my Anzac Dad by Pauline Deeves is completely different. In 20 letters written to her father between 1914 and 1918, Ivy describes what life was like for people on the home-front and the attitudes of people towards Australia having become involved in the War. It is unusual in its format of a child’s chatty letters to her father serving overseas in the army, also in the perspective it shows of wartime life in Australia at that time. Usually war experiences are told from a soldier’s point of view but this format and style makes it an appealing way of describing to a child what life was like 100 years ago in wartime. This book is well referenced and also contains a glossary and many copies of posters and photographs of that time from the National Library of Australia Archives. It is located at JNF 940.3 DEE in the Primary Library.

K-2 Play Leaders

Aiden Merten – Year 6

The K-2 Play Leaders have been very busy with our mini clubs. On Monday we have a book club with Mariah Lewy, Sara Hakim and myself. The kids have loved reading Dr Seuss.

On Tuesday we have a sport club with Joshua Benchoam and Mariah. All the kids loved kicking around the balls. On Wednesday we have a drama club with Sara, Harrison Fischl and Phoebe Narunsky. They made a whole range of plays together.

We have no clubs on Thursday due to sport. But on Friday we have an art club with Ella Hart and Sophie Freedman. They are making some bracelets, origami and some beautiful pictures. We have all had a lot of fun running these clubs and have big ideas for the future.

By Aiden Merten, K-2 Play Leader (Year 6)

Photos below: Jesse Lasarow (Year 5)

Mentors: Ms Hynek and Mrs Narunsky

Asylum seeker fundraiser

Asylum seeker fundraiser

Over the last few weeks, we have collected food and toiletries for the Asylum Seeker Centre. The centre provides goods for asylum seekers and helps to get them involved in the community. The centre is helping asylum seekers daily and it is important to support and help this centre. A speaker from the centre came to talk to Years 3-6 about what the centre does. This taught the students about asylum seekers and how we can help them. We had a food/goods drive so that we can help these people in need. Some examples of things that were brought in were canned foods and toiletries such as toothpastes and shampoo bottles. We are still collecting items, so please continue to bring your donations in.

We think that this has been a great initiative to help and support those in need.

Year 6 charity leaders

Lotus Van Der Starre, Lilia Joseph, Alix Cane and Danielle Nescher

High School Athletics Carnival

Ray Francis – Head of PDHPE

Emanuel Athletics carnival 2017 results

Congratulations to all students who participated with such great spirit at the athletics carnival last Friday.

A special thank you to the PDHPE staff for organising the event, and to all the staff who helped ensure the event ran smoothly on the day.

Good luck to our top athletes who will represent our school at the CDSSA Athletics Carnival in Week 6 next term.

House points

Rabin: first place 2125 points

Szenes: second place – 1954 points

Rash: third place – 1790 points

Age champions

New records

High School EActive

Kristy Reed – Sports Co-ordinator & PDHPE Teacher

High School EActive

Term 2 proved to be a busy and exciting term for the EActive program, with a large number of students involved in the program. The Term 3 program commences on Monday 24 July and concludes on Friday 15 September.

Bookings for Term 3 are now open. Places are expected to fill quickly so it is important that registrations are completed at http://www.trybooking.com/FNNJ

Activities offered in Term 3 include:

• 14 Boys Basketball Training & Competition
• 16 Boys Basketball Training & Competition
• Open Boys Basketball Training & Competition
• Girls Netball Competition
• Girls Fitness
• Boys Fitness
• Rugby Development Program
• Swim Squad Training
• Gymnastics
• Tennis
• RollerFit Roller Skating
• Year 7/8 Boys and Girls Basketball Development Squad
• Pilates
• Running Group

If you have any questions please email Kristy Reed (High School Sports Co-ordinator) on: kreed@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

Music enrolments deadline

Deadline – Private Music tuition and Infant Strings program

The deadline for new enrolments, notification of changes or intention to discontinue private tuition or Infants String Program for Term 3, has now passed.  All students currently receiving private music tuition and students participating in the Infant Strings Program will be automatically entered into tutor schedules for next term, committed to the full term of lessons and liable for the full term of fees. Please contact David Gwilliam, Head of Music, by email to music@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au if you have any questions.

Gifted and Talented 7 – 12

Suzanne Plume – Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator, 7-12

Gifted and Talented program – term 2

Term 2 has been packed with activities for the large numbers of gifted students who revolve through the doors of our busy program.

Some of our verbally talented students have completed Round 4 of the HICES debating competition and, under the guidance of our experienced coaches, have met with a notable degree of success. At this stage, we are looking forward to the elimination and subsequent finals next term with most of our teams still in contention.

Meanwhile, Sonia Redman and Liahm Simon have both progressed to Round 2 of the Mikolot Public Speaking Competition, supported and judged by Rabbi Siegal and Morah Harvey.

Year 11 Da Vinci team 2017

Our creative and academically high achieving gifted students competed with up to 75 other schools in the Da Vinci Decathlon at Knox Grammar and, despite exceedingly busy schedules, performed with much enjoyment and achieved creditable results.

Our technology-minded gifted students have embarked upon a mentorship program, held in the Makerspace under the leadership of Ryan Chadwick. These students are currently engaged in building and creative problem solving with encouragement and inspiration from Engineering students from UNSW.

Our organisational skills program has again been helpful to a number of our gifted students, providing scaffolding which enables the building of personalised study and homework routines which are both successful and achievable.

The Emanuel Academy, our speaker program for students, has already featured Jake Widjaya, who told his interesting life story and shared his tips for maximising school and university experiences. We look forward to hearing from Brad Hastings on 28 June who will share some provocative questions as well some inspirational stories from his personal quest for adventure.

As our teachers continued to put the needs of students at the centre of the learning equation they were addressed by Fiona Smith and Helen van Vliet from Gifted Minds who discussed the social-emotional needs of gifted students.

Next term looks to be equally busy and fulfilling as we strive as a community to support our students both in the realisation of their potential and their development as well-rounded, happy individuals who enjoy contributing positively to our world.

Natasha Gering – Year 10

HICES round 4 Debating report

Last Tuesday the Emanuel Debating team were pitted against a multitude of prestigious debating schools including Moriah College and Thomas Hassel College, to name a few. I am proud to announce that every single division of the Junior, Middle, Senior and Opens’ were triumphant. The only debate our teams lost was an Emanuel team vs another Emanuel team! Every member expressed class, pride, a display of character and learnt from the opposing teams – as well as having fun in the process. These were all the key elements to their successes last week and I commend them for their efforts.

Open Debating team

Middle Debating team

Rabin is tops!

Carnival conversations

Comments from Greg Allen (U16 Age Champion)

• My favorite event: 200m and 100m races. They are fast and exciting, and I always get a big thrill from the short distance races. The best thing about these races is that because of the short distance, you must push yourself 100% for the whole run.
• My favourite memory from the carnival: Coming first in the High Jump. This was memorable because I have never trained for High Jump, and it came as a huge surprise to me that I could achieve what I did without knowing what I was doing.

Comments from Danielle Rutstein (U14 Age Champion)

• My favourite event: the High Jump – as it is my specialty.
• My favourite memory from the carnival: My favourite memory from this year’s carnival was when I was doing High Jump and all my friends and kids from other years came to watch me. As I cleared 1.55m they all got excited and congratulated me on how well I had jumped.

Congratulations to the Rabin students below for winning Age Champion at the Athletics Carnival:

• Hunter Weinberg (U13 Girls)
• Danielle Rutstein (U14 Girls)
• Gabriella Goodridge (U15 Girls)
• Adam Riesel (U15 Boys)
• Jordan Weizman (U16 Girls)
• Greg Allen (U16 Boys)

I also congratulate the Rabin record breakers:

• Danielle Rutstein – Long Jump, High Jump, 100m (WOW!)
• Samara Trenaman – 800m
• Jake Sharwood – 400m
• Jeremy Hyams – High Jump
• Greg Allen – 400m
• Brianna Gadley – Long JumpGabriella Goodridge – 400m

With so many Age Champions, broken records and incredible participation from all members of Rabin, it is not surprise that we finished the Carnival in first place.

Well done everyone!

Dan Bethlehem, Year 10

Time to Draw the Line Documentary

OPAL Cards

Maxine Chopard – Assistant to the Deputy Principal

OPAL cards … mystery solved

Whenever an Opal card application is made by a student at Emanuel, Transport NSW forwards an email requesting endorsement of the OPAL card application and the request is attended to promptly. However, I got an email last Friday and there were about 60 applications to be endorsed. You can imagine my shock! Applications went back 18 months. I am sure this is a glitch on their part (it definitely must be as 3 were for Year 12, 2016 students who have left the School) but to be on the safe side, I endorsed all the applications which met with the criteria.

You may now either get a second card for your child, which you may wish to discard or you will now have solved the mystery as to why your application has never been endorsed. Irrespective, here’s hoping everyone who has ever put in an application for an Opal card will have one in the next 2 weeks.

Reminder: If you change any of your details e.g. your address, please update the on the Portal.

Careers

Subject selection and more

Last week I spoke at the Year 10 subject selection evening and have been seeing students and answering questions about the variety of subjects to take. Most students seem to have an idea of how to start this list – and sometimes starting the list can be the trickiest part. You would be surprised how quickly 6 subjects (12 units) are put together once the initial conversation takes place, even with students who feel they don’t know which way to begin this process. Here are the links that I discussed last week:

1. University Entry Requirements 2020 for Year 10 Students can be downloaded from UAC: www.uac.edu.au/documents/publications/year10-booklet-20.pdf This booklet gives all of the information that Year 10 need to choose their senior subjects towards entering into university in 2020.

2. The leaflet: “Top 10 Tips for Choosing HSC Courses” will also help with subject selection. http://uac.edu.au/documents/schoolink/toptips.pdf is a great resource that will help each and every student.

3. Bullseye Posters www.education.gov.au/career-bullseye-posters showcase the many jobs that can come from a love/interest in HSC subject areas (this eg Art).

4. Slides – I have shared these with all of the Year 10 group from last week’s presentation.

To reiterate the very strong message we promoted last week, choose subjects based on the following three things: Choose subjects that you:

• like
• are interested in
• are good at.

 Please do NOT choose subjects based on:

• the teacher, or
• the scaling you have heard about
• what your friends are choosing.

If you stick with this in the back of your mind, you cannot go wrong. Remember that this does not set you up for life, or decide on your career, it simply fills in another piece of the puzzle amongst the many, many pieces to come.

Careers with Mathematics

Read this story of where a career in Mathematics can take you. I always find it interesting when students tell me they are interested in the subject but cannot see any relevance to jobs out there. 

https://careerswithstem.com/profiles/campaign-manager/    

National Art School open day and information sessions

Open day: Saturday 2 September

/www.nas.edu.au/study/bfa/important-dates/

Information sessions: Tuesday 20 September, 6-7.30 pm @ National Art School, Postgraduate Centre Seminar Room

www.nas.edu.au/Whats-On/bachelor-fine-art-information-session/

UNSW Co-op program

Australia’s leading companies take part in the training and professional development of some of the nation’s best and brightest students with a view to recruiting high-potential young professionals. Minimum ATAR of 96 (or equivalent) is required, and aside from training and mentorship throughout university, you’ll increase your chances of being offered a graduate position at a participating company.

www.coop.unsw.edu.au/future-students

Connecting our Community – Gesher

Sonia Newell – Development Officer

Refugee Week: 18-24 June 2017

During this very important week, it is appropriate to highlight the plight of some Vietnamese refugees and the good work done by Shira Sebban, Emanuel parent and School Board member, and other supporters.  

See Shira’s story which was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 11 June www.smh.com.au/world/turned-back-by-australia-vietnamese-recognised-as-refugees-in-indonesia-20170608-gwn475.html 

Shira spoke recently at Limmud Oz, about the story behind this news article. Here is her story:

Helping Vietnamese Families Rejected by Australia, by Shira Sebban

I recently went to Jakarta to visit 18 Vietnamese boat people, including 12 children, in detention, who have just been recognised as refugees by the UNHCR.

Two of the mothers had been facing lengthy prison terms in Vietnam for helping to organise ‘illegal’ departures to Australia on family-owned fishing boats in 2015.

At the end of January 2017, they fled Vietnam for Australia again, only to be rescued 10 days later from their sinking boat off the Java coast by Indonesian authorities.

The three families were among more than 100 Vietnamese asylum seekers intercepted in three separate incidents by the Australian navy in 2015-16. Assessed at sea and found not to warrant protection, they were forcibly returned after the Australian government received written assurance from its Vietnamese counterpart that returnees would not be punished. Several members of the three groups were subsequently incarcerated and mistreated. Last December, Australia and Vietnam signed a formal agreement to return “Vietnamese nationals with no legal right to enter or remain in Australia”.

I first became involved in helping to support these modern day Vietnamese boat people after reading a newspaper article about the plight of one of these families in mid-2016. Both parents had been punished with two- or three-year jail sentences by a Vietnamese court, while their four children, then aged 4-16, had been told to leave school and go to an orphanage because no one in their extended family could afford to look after them.

More than 100 Australians from all walks of life contributed $11,000 to our crowd fund – enough for their grandfather to care for the children for two years and for their parents to get back on their feet after they would be released from jail.

Since then, the number of families we are assisting via a second crowd fund has risen to five – close to 30 people – three families currently in Indonesia and two still in Vietnam. The focus of our campaign is to help feed, clothe and educate the children, who all face a precarious future. Please see www.gofundme.com/careforthechildren for more details.

My trip to Jakarta to meet the families for the first time was an emotional experience, which I shared recently at Limmud-Oz, and this week, with Rabbi Danny Siegel’s Year 9 class. It was particularly difficult because even though they have now been recognised as refugees, they are still in detention.

Together with an American Vietnamese volunteer refugee advocate based in Bangkok, we presented them with phone tablets purchased with funds raised, as well as books and stationary, so they can at least access educational resources on line. We also established a support network on the ground in Jakarta, with the help of some amazing local members of the Vietnamese community, who have been bringing necessities and visiting on a regular basis.

In addition, we have been advocating on their behalf, writing to the first Canadian Senator of Vietnamese origin, Thanh Hai Ngo, to ask whether Canada would consider taking them in as part of this year’s quota of 300,000 immigrants.

“Despite their assurance that refugees would face no sanctions or retributions for leaving the country, the government of Vietnam continues to jail, beat, torture and prosecute refugees returned to them by the Australian government,” Canadian Senator Thanh Hai Ngo said.

“The occurrence of these violations of basic human rights and civil liberties are at the core of why many are choosing to flee and are well known by the Canadian and Australian governments.”

I have also sent him copies of all their refugee cards, as well as an update on each of the family’s claims, which he has submitted to the highest authorities in Canada’s Immigration Department for immediate consideration, so let’s hope for a good result.

If you know anyone who might be interested in contributing to the children’s education and the families’ support, please refer them to www.gofundme.com/careforthechildren

Breakfast with Emanuel – Save the Day

Wednesday 2 August – The Little Space, Bondi Junction

Wednesday 9 August – KPMG, Barrangaroo

More details out soon.

If you have something of interest that you would like to share with our Emanuel community, please send it to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

Kornmehl

Terry Aizen – Director of Kornmehl

Parent/Teacher interviews

We have now completed all our Starfish and Dolphin Parent/Teacher interviews and just have the Seashell interviews next week. We hope the parents found this chance to meet with the teachers informative and enjoyed hearing about their child’s progress and development.

We trust that parents are also enjoying the posts on Educe, our online communication and e-portfolio system. This system helps parents to connect with their child’s learning on a daily basis and to provide feedback and comments to the educators, thus creating a partnership for learning.

Collection of pre-loved toys and books

Our toy collection has started today and will continue Monday and Tuesday next week. Please bring in all your pre-loved toys and books in good condition to send to the Aboriginal Pre-schools in outback Australia. These schools are in desperate need of quality resources and materials. Through our book and toy collection each year, we have been able to help these pre-schools and bring a touch of happiness and learning into these children’s lives.

The toys will be collected by Gunawirra, a not-for-profit organisation in Redfern that will distribute the materials to these Pre-schools.

Buddy reading

Over the past few weeks we have been having Buddy Reading on alternate Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with the Year 2 children. It is so exciting when the children, especially siblings and previous Kornmehl students, come and read to us. This is a lovely program, encouraging both a love of literature and a strong sense of belonging within the school community.

Vitamin N (for Nature) – The essential guide to a nature-rich life by Richard Louv

Below is some information on a wonderful book for parents and educators about encouraging nature play and how to do this. Vitamin N is a complete prescription for connecting with the power and joy of the natural world. It’s a one-of-a-kind, comprehensive, and practical guidebook for the whole family and the wider community, including tips for parents eager to share nature with their kids. It is a dose of pure inspiration, reminding us that looking up at the stars or taking a walk in the woods is as exhilarating as it is essential, at any age.

Louv (The Nature Principle) proclaims the many advantages of reconnecting with nature, both for children and adults. For support, he points to studies that have found many potential benefits of spending time outdoors, such as reduced symptoms of ADHD, alleviation of anxiety and depression, decreased obesity, and improved immune system functioning. Many physicians are on-board and some are even prescribing nature time for their patients, but Louv sees parents as the most essential factor. Suggestions range from the most basic, such as hiking or building sand castles, to more adventurous activities, such as camping or horse riding.

Louv includes a superb chapter on building resilience and the importance of taking small, manageable risks; this section is a must-read for all parents. He also includes suggestions for grandparents, advice on how to “create your own nature gym,” and ideas for building nature-rich classrooms and communities. This book provides the tools to reclaim the wonders and health benefits of nature. The book promotes the following:

Grow outside: Make time for free, independent play for children, allowing them to explore and find answers on their own. Explore hundreds of traditional and new ways to connect your family to nature, including games that will not be digitised.
Create a restorative home or workplace: How to use native plants, indoor living walls, and a variety of other biophilic design techniques to make your home, yard and garden a place that improves the health of your family.
Explore nature, nearby or far: Whether you live in an inner-city neighbourhood, a suburb or in a rural area, you can enhance mental, physical and spiritual health at any age. Learn how other cultures connect with nature.
Reduce stress: Use nature time as healing time to escape the pressures of daily life. Learn how to calm a crying infant through nature, designate an outdoor sit spot as a place to read, think, and meditate.
Enhance fitness: Calorie for calorie, exercising outside offers more psychological and physical benefits than an indoor workout; how to build your own natural gym in the backyard or find a green trainer.
Raise resilient children: Fear of strangers and the outdoors is rooted in reality, but can be overcome. Learn how to be a “Hummingbird Parent.” Be a “weather warrior.” Don’t cut down that tree, build up the kid.
Build family bonding: How to connect more deeply with your children, teenagers, grandparents, spouse and friends through the power of the natural world. Learn how to join with other families to create a family nature club for safety and family connection.
Boost creativity: Playing and learning outdoors, building forts and tree houses, turning on all the newly discovered human senses (as many as 30 of them) helps children develop their problem-solving skills and creative thinking.
Balance the virtual with the real: Children who spend more time outside use more of their senses and develop “hybrid minds” – maximising the skills that come from both the virtual and the natural world.

Movie night

Movie night was a great success and we had a wonderful turnout of Kornmehl families.

The children arrived very excited and so happy to be attending what they see as the highlight of the year.

Toby: I liked watching the movie and coming to school in my pyjamas. I loved playing with the glow sticks.

Jordan: I liked watching the movie and seeing my friends.

Eden: I liked watching the birds in the movie. I ate all of my popcorn and all of my hotdog. It was yummy. I liked the way the glow sticks glowed in the dark.

Zella: I liked the lights on our hands. I watched the movie. I liked the blue bird.

Aria: I liked the bird movie. I ate sausage, popcorn and juice.

Micah: I liked the food and the movie. My favourite part was when the boy rode the motorbike.

Jessie: I liked the raffle present. The movie was good.

Ellie: I liked the popcorn and the apple juice.

Maddy: I liked the pictures for sale. My favourite was the Dolphin one with dots all around.

Sam: I liked the show and I had one glow stick. It shined in the stormy night.

Aya: I liked the show too. I just ate my sausage and popcorn.

Nadav: There were glowing up things. I watched the movie.

A big thank you must go to all our wonderful Parent Club organisers without whom the evening would not have been possible.

To Gail Stein, Sharon Miller and Lissa Prosser – Kol Hakavod. You all put in many hours to organise the event, and we appreciate all the effort that went into ensuring it was such a success. 

Many thanks to Geoff Golovsky, our resident auctioneer.

Thank you to all the parents who helped on the night in so many different ways. We really appreciate your support and your help was invaluable.

This was our best movie night ever. We raised an amazing $2900!

Happy Birthday

We wish a very happy birthday to Ryan Miller (5). We hope you had a special day.

Emanuel Uniform Shop

Comedy for a Cause

Ruby Berkovic and Jennifer Opit

Hi everyone

 

Booking has now opened for this year’s main event: our Comedy Night which is on Saturday 19 August in the MPH. We hope you will join us for an evening of good company and laughs. The Canteen will be open for you to purchase a light supper and there will be fantastic auction prizes.

 

comedyforacause.net/ES

It’s not too late to place your Term 3 challah orders. For more information, click on the Challah for Sale page in this week’s edition of Ma Nishma.

 

Have a lovely weekend,

Jen and Ruby

 

 

Challah for sale