From the Head of Jewish Life

Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Being a Blessing

Our Jewish tradition abounds in ברכות/blessings (the root letters for the word blessing is ברכ).

Upon waking up in the morning a Jew is to say /ברכות השחרthe morning blessings. The official call for communal prayer is ברכו/Barkhu.

From birth to death, our life cycle events and our holidays, with their attendant rituals and practices, incorporate and are highlighted by diverse celebratory ברכות/blessings. Indeed, everyday, our Rabbinic tradition tells us, we are to recite 100 blessings. In the middle of every school day, we gather for ברכת המזון/Birkat HaMazon, in fulfillment of the biblical command ואכלת ושׂבעת וברכת/ “You shall eat, and, upon being satisfied, you shall bless”.

ברכות/Blessings direct and empower us to engage in the celebration and appreciation of life, through mindfulness, intent and sanctification.

The very first parashah of the Torah, Bereishit, which we recently read, is replete with ברכות/blessings; all the animals, including humans, are blessed and the seventh day, Shabbat, is blessed.

Our Torah concludes with the parashah of וזאת הברכה/“This is the blessing”, in which all of Israel is blessed in a fashion similar to Jacob’s blessings for each of his twelve sons at the end of Bereishit: ויברך אותם איש אשר כברכתו ברך אותם /“And he blessed them, each according to his particular blessing, did he bless them”.

Only in our parashah, lekh lekha (literally – Go to Yourself), however, do we find, in God’s words to Avraham, the unique exhortation: והיה ברכה/“Be a Blessing”.

When I asked our students how they might understand “Be a Blessing”, I received a variety of responses: Giving of myself, helping others be better people, living better lives or making for a better world. The Book of Proverbs offers a similar understanding נפש ברכה תדשן ומרווה גם הוא יורא 

“The benefacting soul (literally, a person serving as a blessing) shall flourish, and he that waters shall himself be watered”. The image here links the word ברכה to בריכה (an overflowing pool of water) to be a ברכה/is to extend one’s goodness unto others.

As parents and teachers, however, there is another understanding of how we should hope and encourage our children and students to “become blessings”. When blessing his children, Jacob, who stole his brother’s blessing, now himself understood that he should bless his children “each according to his particular blessing”. Like God’s blessing to Avraham, the first Jew, and in blessing our children and students we should ask that they become a blessing through developing their unique selves and strengths.

God says to Avraham ואברכך והיה ברכה/“And I shall bless you…and you be that blessing”. We each are uniquely blessed and we each are to be a blessing in realising our blessing in service to others. ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה-“And through you”, God tells Abraham and us, “all peoples of the earth shall be blessed”.

Well beings

From the Principal

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!

Diveri Torah

Ruby Hurwitz – Year 8

Lekh Lekha

In parashat Lekh Lekha some crazy things “go down”. It is centred around Avram, whose name is later changed to Avraham. If you don’t know who he is, he can be referred to as ‘the insane idol smashing ninja’ who went around doing guess what? Smashing idols. Although this is not at all mentioned in the Torah but is a Rabbinic midrash, teaching us that Avraham Rejected the “idols” of his time. He married Sarai, whose name was later changed to Sarah. They decided to go on a road trip to Canaan. Actually, Avram heard a divine voice asking him to set out for Canaan (The Jewish promised land). Tell me, what is great about road trips and holidays in general?

No homework

No school

But most importantly, we can stuff our faces with LOTS of food!

If that is what a holiday is rated on, then this “road trip” was terrible because there was a famine. Talk about a holiday ruiner! Am I right?

Anyway, this ‘road trip’ went further down hill. What’s worse than a famine when on a holiday? When someone tries to steal your significant other! Avram was not having much luck with his road trip because when he got to Egypt the pharaoh started “hitting on Sarai” and tried to add her to his harem. His flirting skills must have been appalling because not only was he sorely rejected but God spread plagues throughout the land for this act (though Pharoah did not know that Sarai was Avram’s wife – he had said she was his sister)

Pharaoh was then so desperate for Abram and Sarai to leave that he paid them to leave.

They clearly must have been pretty annoying. It was either that or the plagues or both.

So they travelled back to Canaan loaded with cash and cattle. Their nephew Lot decided to part ways with them, however, this was short-lived because Lot was abducted by four kings and the “idol smashing ninja” had to come to the rescue. He defeated the four kings and their armies with his idol smashing ninja skills.

Later on God sealed a pact with Avram and told him that Canaan belonged to him and his descendants. This would be amazing news, except for the fact that Avram and Sarai could not have a child. So, to solve this problem their only solution was obviously for Avram to marry his maid Hagar and have a baby with her. Guess what? A baby was born and they named him Yishmael!

But the story does not end here! God sealed another covenant with Avram and his descendants, and introduced circumcision for all males when they were eight days old.

Abraham, as part of the covenant, was also promised that he would father a son from Sarah! Remarkably, Abraham was circumcised at the tender age of 99 years old!

So, although my retelling of this story was a little bit silly and maybe a tiny bit inaccurate there is still a moral. The moral is that you have to work hard for a reward, family comes first, bad events can turn good if you choose to change them,  and there is most likely a price to pay for a great reward.   

Eve Lemberg – Year 10

Lekh Lekha

In this week’s parashah, called lekh lekha, God makes a covenant with Avram promising to make his descendants a great nation. God changes Avram’s name to Avraham. He does this to symbolise a new beginning for Avraham which means “father of multitude”, the hope his children will constitute a great nation.  He has this child with their servent Hagar, as Sarah was not able to have a child.

How can this relate to our life? We are all creatures of habit. Almost by definition, we feel comfortable with the familiar. Change is often scary and stressful. Many of us would rather stick to a painful situation than risk the change. You know what it’s like—moving to a new home or switching to a new school can be quite frightening.

Now consider this: One fine day, God appears to our forefather Avram, and with absolutely no warning, tells him to pack up and move. . . forever.

But the terrifying part of this was: not only was he told to pick up and leave his home, he was not even told where he was supposed to go. And guess what? He was “cool as a cucumber”.

How did he do it? It’s quite simple. Avram knew that the reason he was moving to a new place was for a higher purpose, to better the world. He may not have had a directional compass, but he certainly did have a moral compass. So the geography and topography didn’t matter one bit. When we enter the unknown, empowered with a strong sense of mission and goal, the fears simply fade away.

Our forefather Avraham beat this path for us. Ever since he left the comforts of his home with fearless determination, our people, his children, have inherited his courage and fearlessness.

Think about it like a GPS: you’re about to take a long road trip to a place you’ve never been before. You don’t know the roads, highways, speed limits, etc. So you pull out your phone or GPS and enter your destination. Your nerves are relatively calmer, and you begin your journey with ease. You know that something is guiding you, and will be helping you throughout this unknown expedition.

How much more so can we put our trust in God. Avram knew God was asking him to face change only for a purpose, so why worry?! Leaving childhood and entering adulthood can be scary. But no reason to fear: our over-five-thousand-year-old GPS is working perfectly.

Ma Koreh

Adam Carpenter – Head of Jewish Studies Primary

Weekly Torah Portion:

Parashat Lekh Lekha Breishet 12:1 – 17:27.

In this week’s parashah, God calls Avram to leave his homeland of and the city of Ur and travel to the land of Canaan, to establish a great nation and to enter into the  ברית / brit covenant with God. At the age of 75, Avram leaves with his wife Sarai and nephew Lot. Avram and Sarai experience difficulty creating their family, so with the aid of their maidservant Hagar, Avram has a son Ishmael, followed by Sarai’s son Isaac. To symbolise the change in their relationship with God, Avram and Sarai’s names change to Avraham and Sarah.

Family Discussion: לך לך – Lech Lecha – Journeys

• This parashah begins with an epic journey and the words –  לך לך lekh lekha, which can mean a journey ‘to oneself’ as well as ‘for oneself’. What is the different between a ‘journey to oneself’ and a ‘journey for oneself’
• What important journey have you experienced in your life? What made it significant?
• Do you have to go someplace to experience a journey?
• Do all journeys need a destination?

Herzl A Dream That Came True: Play @ Emanuel School

This week students in Years 5 and 6 were treated to a dramatic performance of the life and work of Theadore Hertzl. The play is generously supported by the World Zionist Organisation, the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) and is produced by the Orna Porat Theatre for Children and Youth. Actor Amichai Pardo gave an energetic and interactive performance that engaged the audience and brought students to the stage to take part in the show. The play followed Herzl through his early life in Vienna, his experiences of the Dreyfus Affair in France which shaped vision and determination to build a homeland and country for the Jewish people. This dream, summarised by his famous saying ‘אם תרצו אין זו אגדה‘ – ‘if you will it, it is not dream’ drove Herzl to meet world leaders and engage Jewish communities and the World Zionist Congress to work towards the building of a Jewish national homeland. Herzl was a both a dreamer and builder who died before he was able to see his dream come to life. The play concluded by addressing the students as ‘little Herzls’ and to be both dreamers and builders shaping the State of Israel into the future.

Give your Rosh a Workout: Online Jewish Quizzes

 In honour of the Shabbat Project give your Shabbat knowledge a restful workout with these quizzes:

www.myjewishlearning.com/quiz/shabbat-quiz-2/

www.myjewishlearning.com/quiz/shabbat-food-quiz/

An Evening of Refugee Voices

From the Primary School

Natanya Milner – Head of Primary

Northern Territory

On Monday night, we returned from a wonderful Year 6 trip to the Northern Territory.  We were thrilled to be able to explore with 18 of our Year 6 families. We visited Wangi and Edith Falls as well as learning about Aboriginal art, music and culture. We were fortunate to spend 3 fantastic days at Jilkminggan School where the Emanuel and Jilkminggan children learnt and played together. We experienced beautiful Shabbat and Havdallah services under the stars. Our final sites included jumping crocodiles on the Adelaide River and sunset at Mindil Markets. I am always relieved when we land safely and happily back in Sydney. Thank you to Terry Aizen and Adam Ezekiel for their wonderful efforts to assist with the smooth running of the trip. Thanks also to the families who attended for embracing all the experiences with open minds and hearts. Finally, I thank Holly Dillon for her outstanding efforts to organise so many of the logistics for the trip. Holly – we are so grateful for all that you do!

Mazal tov, Jesse

Jesse Gothelf represented NSW in the Bruce Cup tennis competition in Victoria last week. We are so excited for Jesse that NSW won the competition. Jesse won 18 out of his 19 matches (winning all five singles games, seven out of seven mixed doubles games and six out of seven doubles matches). This is an outstanding achievement! I have asked Jesse to write us a report for a future Ma Nishma but until then, enjoy these photos!

 Mazal tov, Coby

On Monday, Coby New attended the Fred Hollows Humanitarian Awards and received a Highly Commended Award for his work with collecting footy boots for Aboriginal communities through the Boots for All program. There were 116 children who received recognition in NSW with Coby being one of only 8 children who received highly commended. We are so proud of Coby and his energy, compassion and thoughtfulness. What a mensch!

Welcome back, Emma!

We are delighted to welcome Emma Buzo back to our teaching team, from the beginning of 2018. Emma has worked at Emanuel previously as both a drama teacher and a classroom teacher. We are thrilled that she has agreed to join us again from the beginning of next year as a Primary School classroom teacher.

BBQ Day

Thank you to the Charity Committee, Mrs Rom, Mrs Clennar and Holly for their work to organise this week’s fundraising BBQ for WIZO. Thanks also to the P&F for assisting us by cooking the sausages and preparing our delicious lunch.

Parent Conferences

We have enjoyed both Curriculum and Wellbeing Conferences for parents over recent weeks. Last week’s Parent Wellbeing Conference was a wonderful success and I know Emma Clemens wrote about the sessions in last week’s Ma Nishma. I take this opportunity to thank Emma for her work in co-ordinating this event.

Parent Curriculum Conference – Giftedness and Prevention of Underachievement

Ruth Phillips presented at last term’s Parent Curriculum Conference. She spoke about gifted children and ways to prevent underachievement. I thought it may be helpful to share some brief notes from her presentation.

There are a variety of factors that can impact on the success of a person. These include: perfectionism, expectations, reliance on parents/others, resilience, optimism, grit and persistence, self-regulation and self-knowledge.

Ruth stated that gifted children:

–       Crave complexity and abstraction

–       Love engaging in critical and creative thinking

–       Make spontaneous connections

Reasons for Underachievement:

–       They want to blend in socially

–       Lack of challenge or engagement

–       Low self-efficacy and self-concept (how children feel about completing tasks)

Underachievers can have:

–       Low self-regulation – struggle to organise, prioritise and manage self

–       Low motivation – struggle to engage

–       Low goal valuation at school – can’t connect school to their lives

–       Low self-efficacy – don’t believe they can be successful with the task

–       Negative attitudes to school and teachers – blame context or others

Perfectionism

Dysfunctional perfectionists are afraid to make mistakes. They are anxious about schoolwork, overly precise, approval seeking and excessively self-critical. Perfectionists can avoid work, become frozen and become workaholics.

Things to consider (Silverman 1986):

–       Are you modelling this at home?

–       Talk about mistakes and the ones you make

–       See failures as opportunities to learn

–       Show students eminent people who made mistakes

–       Set realistic goals

Protective Factors (Reis, Colbert and Herbert 2005)

–       Supportive adults and families

–       Friends who achieve well

–       Opportunity to take part in advanced curriculum

–       Participation in extra-curricular activities and support of passions

–       Strong self-belief

–       Strategies to cope with their environment

Parents should consider:

–       Consistency – give the same message on school and importance of effort and expectations

–       Being good role models – for appropriate behaviour

–       Being careful about their conversations – don’t have conversations in front of children that criticise or undermine others

–       Reactions – don’t overreact about failures

–       Responsibility – increasing power in increments as maturity grows

Ruth suggests the following questions to ask at the end of a day at school:

–       What did you try hard at today?

–       What did you do well at today?

–       What are you most proud of today?

–       What did you learn?

–       What mistake did you make that taught you something?

Praise:

–       Ensure it is specific, relevant and focuses on effort (rather than ability).

Suggested Readings:

Books

‘Reforming Gifted Education’ by Karen Rogers

‘Why Bright Kids Don’t Get Good Grades’ by Sylvia Rimm

‘Grit’ by Angela Duckworth

Websites

The Davidson Institute

Hoagies Gifted Education Page

YK-2 Presentation Day and Y3-6 Presentation

Refer to the invitation and details in this week’s edition of Ma Nishma.

Calendar Links

Next Week’s Calendar Link

2017 Calendar Link

 Term 3-4 K-2 Assembly Items

• 3 November (Week 4): 1T Mrs Silver’s class
• 17 November (Week 6): KE Ms Grieve’s class
• 1 December (Week 8): Year 1 Hebrew

Primary Extra-curricular

Bricks for Kids is now open for Kindergarten – Year 6.

Term 4 enrolments are open on the Parent Portal.

Primary Mentoring

Colleen Elkins – Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator

 Mentoring

“If we want them to achieve, we must link them with achievers. One plus one – Pass it on.” (H. Weinberg, The Public Television Outreach Alliance).

We are so proud of and grateful to our Emanuel students who are serving as mentors to some of our highly capable Primary School students. The mentors’ efforts are invaluable in successfully supporting these students who may be in need of role models, social/emotional support or a person to share and develop their passion with.

We have a number of individual Primary School students connected with a High School mentor to fulfil this particular need. The selflessness of these mentors is inspirational as is their passion for getting the best out of their mentees.

Our most recent addition to this program (during Term 3) is the Year 4 Writing Club that is run by a Year 6 student, Alix Cane. This club meets once a week to share writing techniques and how to draft and craft satisfying pieces of writing. At present, students are working on poems following a particular theme. The excitement, passion and fervour about finding just the right word or description is a joy to see. Most inspiring of all is that the activity is completely student-run and that the enthusiasm shown by all is palpable.

We also have a few Year 7 Mathematics students who are working with Year 3 (in Mrs Pardy’s class) to explain challenging problems. These students are setting a challenge each fortnight for the group to solve and then are present to discuss best ways to go about solving problems.

Below is a ‘hot off the press’ poem by Ashley Cohn (Year 4)

Ashley Cohn – Year 4

My poem – Writing club

Surrounded and Alone

I wasn’t just on a stage about to face millions of people, I was about to dive into waters among thousands of bloodthirsty sharks. 

It was such a simple process, grab the microphone, nod to the musician and sing.

But I had so many questions.

What if I forgot the words? What if I was out of tune? What if I got freaked out? What if… What if… What if I couldn’t do it?

I tried to escape to the wings but it was too late. Too late for regrets. I had to finish what I started years ago.

From the Head of Music

David William – Head of Music

The past fortnight has been characteristically busy for the Music Department with three separate events providing outstanding opportunities for our young musicians.

Year 12 2018 Elective Music students attended the Meet the Music concert at the Sydney Opera House to hear the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Artist in Residence, Brett Dean, conduct his own Fire Music – an emotional response to the Black Saturday bushfires of 2008 – in addition to a virtuosic performance by Piers Lane of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto.  

Meanwhile, on the same evening we hosted a rehearsal workshop for members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra with a group of talented and hard-working strings students from Emanuel School and Moriah College.  

The concert itself was held on Thursday evening at Emanuel Synagogue – a fantastic venue for classical music – the full sound of the ensemble can be heard right at the back of the hall, even during the most intimate quiet passages of the piece.  

Congratulations to the following students who were very excited to once again have the wonderful opportunity of working with musicians from the Australian Chamber Orchestra:  Shane Doust, Rebekah Goldsworthy, Esther Reznikov, Sarah Sharwood and Nathaniel Spielman, from Years 8-12.  

Ezmi Pepper said the following: “it is an honour and a privilege to share the stage with such prestigious musicians and I was very proud to see the students taking on-board all their great advice.  They presented an impressive performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 (First Movement) which was very well received. Bravo to everyone involved!”

Thank you to Ezmi for rehearsing and supervising our musicians.

EMANUEL SCHOOL / KING DAVID SCHOOL MUSIC EXCHANGE 2017

On Sunday 22 October, a group of 12 student musicians from King David School in Melbourne joined with 30 of our Emanuel students from Years 7-12 for our annual Music Exchange. This is an intensive music rehearsal and performance experience which we hope saw the beginning of a few new friendships and culminated in a wonderful concert on Monday afternoon featuring an eclectic mix of orchestral and choral works.

We are extremely grateful to our host families for their hospitality in billeting our Melbourne visitors. Without your generosity and support, this event would not be viable.  Thanks also to all the staff involved from both Schools, especially Joanne De Araujo for her organisational efforts.

Photos below courtesy Mrs Sue Rappoport.

Susan Longney – Maternity Leave

In the midst of so many events, we also found time to farewell Susan Longney, who is going on Maternity Leave.  We wish Susan and her husband Nick all the very best as they embark on this exciting new chapter of parenthood.

High School Sporting Events Next Week

Kristy Reed Sports Co-ordinator and PDHPE Teacher

Monday

Morning

14s boys basketball training

Years 7/8 basketball development squad

Years 7-12 girls touch football training

Afternoon

Beach Volleyball

Pilates

Tuesday

Morning

Years 7-9 boys touch football training

Afternoon

Sydney Schools Cup interschool girls futsal competition

Sydney Schools Cup interschool boys cricket competition

Years 7-12 boys and girls Easts touch football competition

Wednesday

All Day

AICES 15 years basketball championships

Morning

Boys fitness

14s boys basketball training

Gymnastics

Netball training

Lunch

Junior girls oztag trials

Junior boys oztag trials

Afternoon

Cricket training

Thursday

All Day

Wiburd Cricket Shield Competition

Morning

Girls fitness

Years 10-12 boys touch football training

Lunch

Opens firsts basketball boys trials

Afternoon

Rock climbing

Years 7-9 girls netball competition

Friday

Morning

16s boys basketball training

Surfing

Lunch

Years 7/8 Sydney Schools Cup futsal training

Sunday

14s boys basketball competition

16s boys basketball competition

Year 9 Archaeology Excursion

Daphna Levin-Kahn – Co-ordinator Jewish Studies High School

Year 9 Archaeology Students Meet 19^th Century Convict

Last Friday, our adventurous Year 9 students in the “Israel through Archaeology” Elective braved the rain to explore some of Sydney’s early colonial history at the Big Dig Archaeological Education Centre in the Rocks.

The excursion to The Rocks was a very interesting and enlightening experience that opened my eyes to the history of the city I live in. I had no idea that Sydney had archaeological sites that could be explored and so this excursion really showed me how Sydney developed and allowed me to delve into the culture that Sydney in 19^th century experienced. I was most interested in the site at Dawes Point, as I had seen these cannons before, but had never known the story behind them. It also amazed me to explore the underground military area that was still intact from when it was built 170 years prior. I enjoyed the site tour because it transformed a pile of rocks and made them alive again. It allowed me to truly understand how people lived at this time and enabled me to picture this 19^th century neighbourhood in an area full of high-rise buildings and hotels, and especially the life of George Cribb, a man that I did not know existed.

Jonathan Sebban

I enjoyed going to an Archaeological dig and seeing all the ruins and remains that these people left behind, as well as learning about their wealth status. I learned about George Cribb and his job and family through the historical and archaeological evidence. To me the gunpowder chambers were most interesting (archaeological site), as we found out what they did with the gunpowder and how they had to build the chambers to suit the gunpowder’s needs. I learned that not all the archaeologists get the same results and they sometimes don’t agree on what happened.

Rachel Zwarenstein

I enjoyed going underground into the tunnel and exploring an archaeological site underground. I never would have thought there was something like that under our feet, so it added to my interest… Going down to the gunpowder storage room really gave me a good idea of what it was like to work there.

Elia Berelekhis and Lachlan Corne

I found it interesting to learn that even wealthy people, such as George Cribb, lived in tiny cramped houses, as everyone lived and slept the same way at that time.

Marc Kanevsky

We most enjoyed sorting the artefacts by material because we got to see all of the different materials they owned at the time, and looking at and imagining how certain artefacts were made and used over a hundred years ago.

Danielle Rutstein and Maia Perl

From the Careers Advisor

Claire Pech – Careers Advisor

It is great to see the Year 12 class of 2018 now fully ensconced into their new roles as leaders within the school. For those of you who are looking for careers appointments please email me any time with three study times for the following week and I can book you in on a Monday-Wednesday. I am aware that the new Year 12 students have assessment tasks in a few weeks, but it’s a great idea to chat this term to start any career conversations, so the process is less daunting in 2018.

Ireland Job Market

I was overseas during the holidays in Ireland, and I was able to see so many career stories at play. As this is something that fascinates me, I find individual career stories of real interest and I was able to reflect on some interesting stories that came up whilst travelling.

The short term, or “gig” economy is alive and well in Ireland. Short term contracts seem to be much more normal, contractual work now seems to be the norm and individual friends of mine are now marketing themselves effectively, using their own personal brands, and this is having success for them. LinkedIn is still a primary self-marketing tool and recruitment tool, as across the rest of the world, and Ireland is now (and has been for a few decades) a technological hub for the tech industry. Many tech giants are using Dublin as their European headquarters for technology such as AirBnB and Facebook. Google graduates are snapped up quickly from tertiary institutions. Like Australia, graduates have a much lower rate of unemployment compared to their associates who left school in Year 12, and the professional sector for 2017 now has a 3.3% unemployment rate.

Due to the recession over the last decade in Ireland, school-based careers advisors were halved (time allocation) to reduce costs, and so students missed key advice for tertiary choices. The “Irish Mum” has been cited as having key significance in 25% of students’ choices and the “Irish Dad” cited in 12% of cases. Independent schools and higher socio-economic private schools are reported to have smoother career trajectories for their students, due to the fact that they have role models in more senior career positions. They also have very strong networks, which is invaluable for the pursuit of employment.

Ireland has a thriving, but small Jewish population. Historically the Jewish people arrived in Ireland back in 1079 and by the early 1900’s the Jewish population was up to 5,000 people (for a small country of three million people). The Jewish population is now thought to be around 2,000 people, with two Jewish Day Schools in Dublin and the Headquarters of Jewish Ireland in Dublin also.

Notices

Anyone interested in working overseas in the US next year on a GAP year, this may interest you. It is a camp specifically for Jewish students and so they are solely looking for Australian students from a Jewish background.

www.ccusa.com.au/PROGRAMS/Camp-Counselors-USA/Jewish-Camp

UNSW Info Day (mainly for Year 12 2017 but Year 12 2018 can attend)

Date:16 December 9.00am to 4.00pm, UNSW Kensington Campus

With new UAC round dates for 2018 entry, get all your questions answered in time for the December Round.

www.futurestudents.unsw.edu.au/unsw-info-day

National Skills Week Videos

These shine the spotlight on Australia’s Vocational Education. They are for students interested in vocational training (e.g trades, skills based jobs etc)

http://www.nationalskillsweek.com.au/media/video-gallery/

Want to See What a Surgeon Does?

Students interested in medicine may be interested by this video on what surgeons actually do.

https://studentedge.org/career-life/find-a-career/surgeons

Parent Wellbeing evening

Ashne Amoils – Wellbeing Madrica

One of the long-standing goals of Emanuel School has been to support not only their students’ academic journey, but to ensure that each student attains their maximum level of wellbeing, so that each may become their best selves and unlock their full potential. To achieve this, a variety of outstanding presenters – each experts in their field – are invited annually to present to the students and educate them on some of the tougher topics out there. On Monday 30 October, Emanuel Parents with students in Years 5-12 are invited to what will be an incredible evening, where you get to hear from these experts first hand and get a glimpse into the various Wellbeing programs experienced by your children at school and ask the questions that perhaps your sons and daughters wish you wouldn’t.

Please note:

This is not an event for students; we know you love them (sometimes), but please… leave your offspring at home!

Connecting our Community – Gesher

Sonia Newell – Development Officer

CONNECTING OUR COMMUNITY IN SO MANY WAYS

 When alumni come back to School

We have over the years, had a number of alumni come back to School for their teaching practicums as part of their various teacher-training degrees, but this is the first time an alum has come here to be in a class supervised by an alum staff member!

Talia Hynek and Elona Sofer with Yr1 students

Elona Sofer (Class of 2013, Jewish Life Madricha) is here for four weeks on one of her student prac placements as part of her degree in Primary Education at Sydney University.  She has been assigned to Year 1 teacher Talia Hynek, herself an Emanuel graduate from the Class of 2008.  Elona and Talia are pictured here with some Year 1 students.

Things some people do:

Marc Radomsky

Catalyst – ABC TV

Past parent and award-winning filmmaker Marc Radomsky, is the producer, director and writer of GUT REVOLUTION.  If you missed the first episodes of this latest series, they can be seen on:  www.iview.abc.net.au/

Want to be a writer?

Joanne Fedler

Parent and internationally bestselling author Joanne Fedler (www.joannefedler.com) has been mentoring writers for a few years and in her Author Liftoff program, she has been working closely for the past 18 months with a group of writers who are now pitching their books to a top Australian publisher. 

One of these writers is past parent Xanti Bootcov, whose book is titled “But They Look So Happy” (memoir).  We wish Xanti all the best for her publishing pursuits and can’t wait to read her first book! 

Xanti Bootcov

Grandparents of the Year 2017 competition 

Everyone’s grandparent is special – let’s see if someone from our amazing Emanuel Grandparent community might be the winner of this competition. The nominated grandparents will be judged and the winner will receive up to $5000 so, in 250 words or less say why you or your nominee(s) deserve to be a winner. Please note this competition ends on Wednesday 8 November at 11.59pm, so get your nominations in NOW! Nominations to: www.nowtolove.com.au/GPOTY   Find out more about the competition by clicking here.

Friendship Circle Toy Drive

A reminder now about this great event to benefit children with disabilities in local schools. 

To make a donation or choose a toy: www.sydneyfriendshipcircle.org.au/toydrive

To participate in the Wrapping Party on 5 November, please RSVP to: hello@sydneyfc.org.au

We wish the whole Emanuel Community a happy and thoughtful Shabbat Project weekend: www.shabbatproject.org.au

If you have news to share with our Community, please send to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

Kornmehl

Terry Aizen – Director Kornmehl

Transition to school

Starting school is a significant event in the life of children and their families. We know that strong relationships and information sharing between families, early childhood settings and schools help support a child’s successful transition to school. It is a period of change that can be both challenging and exciting.

At this time of the year we focus on the children’s transition to school. We believe the more we discuss ‘going to school’ and the feelings and emotions associated with starting school, the better prepared and equipped the children are. For this reason, a lot of focus is being given to the children’s transition to school this term. We spend time talking about what to expect, how we are feeling, as well as going on walks with the children through the campus.

The transition from Pre-school to school offer opportunities and challenges. We acknowledge that different places and spaces have their own purposes, expectations and ways of doing things. For this reason, we aim to build on the children’s prior and current experiences to help them feel secure, confident and connected to familiar people, places, events and understandings. We are all important contributors (the children, families and early childhood educators) to a successful transition to school (EYLF, 2009). 

We need to think about giving children a positive understanding and experience of school as a safe, enjoyable place. We need to acknowledge that children have individual needs, interests and skills and allow and encourage positive communication between children, families, child care professionals and school educators.  We need to also to make time for the children to visit their new school environment before starting. The children enjoyed their first orientation visit up to Emanuel School on Thursday of this week.

We asked the children how they are feeling about starting school?

Nathan P – I think quite happy. I’m feeling nervous because I want to have more friends and not less friends.

Eden – Very, very happy. 

Maddy – I’m feeling nervous because it’s a new school for me. And I’m feeling a tiny bit excited, but it’s just that when I’m at a different school I feel a bit nervous.

Ryan – I’m feeling very happy cause I like going to a new school.

Jory – I’m feeling happy cause there is a big playground and because they have two classrooms that connect to each other.

Jordan – I’m feeling happy and tall. Because when I’m at school I feel like all grown up.

Ruby – I’m feeling happy cause my cousins and sister and brother will be there.

Eli – I’m feeling happy because I think my brother and sister will pick me up from school.

Sienna – I’m feeling a bit nervous ’cause I don’t know who’s going to be my new teacher.

Miri – I’m feeling happy and grateful because I’ll get to see my brother. And a bit worried because I might not know other people.

Toby – I’m feeling happy. And I’m feeling nervous because I don’t know what they’ll do there.

Tyler – I’m feeling happy because I like learning.

MUD DAY

Think back to your own childhood. Do you have happy memories of playing outside in the mud and the dirt?  After all, making mud pies is one of the iconic images of childhood. We are creating the experiences, the memories and the childhoods of today’s children. What do we want them to remember?

On Wednesday we celebrated Mud day, which normally occurs in June when it is cold and wintery. This year we decided to change our Kornmehl Mud day to Term 4, when the weather is much warmer and the children can experience the joy of engaging in mud play.

Mud play has many benefits for young children:

• Mud Play encourages creativity in children. It can also be soothing and relaxing, providing an outlet for children to express their feelings through their senses and exploration.
• It is important that children have uninterrupted time to play with mud imaginatively outdoors and experience nature. This facilitates opportunities for them to problem solve, come up with and explore ideas and exercise their minds!
• Mud Play is important for children to develop and practise their fine and gross motor skills, increase awareness of their senses (particularly touch), improve hand/eye co-ordination and develop their social and emotional skills, including taking turns and leading/following directions.
• Through Mud Play, children develop a sense of self and belonging in relation to their place in the world around them. Being in and around nature provides children with opportunities to explore nature, ground themselves and learn to care for the environment and the world around them.
• Mud Play is not focused on making or producing something with instruction and rules. It is about the process, not the product. This is what makes Mud Play so enjoyable for children, they are free from pressures of ‘getting it right’ or risking it not being ‘perfect’, it is learning to play and playing to learn free from restrictions with maximum benefit.
• Mud is an open-ended material that meets the different needs and interests of different children. With mud, there is something for everyone.

Below are some of the children’s comments:

Savannah: I just got so muddy. It was so sticky.

Aviv: It was fun. I liked playing in the mud. It felt chocolaty! I actually ate a bit! I jumped and was stuck in the deep mud.

Tomer: It was fun because I played in the mud.

Simon: I jumped in the mud and it splashed on the rocks. It felt soft and cold. It was fun.

Joshua M: I went in the deep end of the mud. First it felt so high and then it went right down. We were playing mud statues. When the music stops we fall down on our bottoms into the mud!

Courtney: It was so deep on the side of the rocks and I went there. It was so guey! The mud was all over me. It was cold. I like mud day because it is fun.

Tyler: It was good because we had so much fun. We were jumping in the mud and it splashed all over me. I had mud everywhere. It was soft and nice.

Noam: I got really muddy because I was jumping in the mud. It was in my ear and it felt soft.

Toby: I was playing in the mud and making mud cakes and jumping in the mud patch. It flicked up onto the bark chips and all over me. It felt cold. I liked playing in the mud.

Eden: I liked to sit in the mud and it was cool. It went all over me.  It was my first time in the mud. My Mum will freak out if she saw me.

Ethan: We were playing in the mud and we didn’t want to stop. When the mud dried on me it felt rocky.  I might turn into a rock. I want to do it again.

Miri: It was fun. I was running away from the mud monsters. I played with the clay and drew in it with a stick.

The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful. – E. E. Cummings

 Farewell to Mrs Longney

Sadly, we had to bid farewell to our wonderful music teacher Mrs Longney this week, who is leaving to have a baby. We have thoroughly enjoyed your interactive, fun, rhythmical and creative lessons these past few years. We will miss your energy, enthusiasm and love of music that you have so capably imparted to the children. We look forward to hearing about the birth of your baby and wish you much happiness on this new venture in your life. Please come and visit us when you can.

National Bandanna Day

On Friday, we raised money for Canteen to support children and teenagers suffering from cancer. We all purchased colourful bandannas and wore them to Shabbat. We are proud to be able to support others in our community and to instil compassion and caring in the children from this very young age.

Shabbat Project

This weekend thousands of people around the world will be celebrating Shabbat from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. There are amazing community events happening all around Sydney that we encourage families to take part in. The children all received a special Shabbat project apron and baked delicious challot on Friday at Pre-school wearing their aprons. They also all received a box containing a Kiddush cup for them to decorate at home. We wish you all a wonderful Shabbat.

 Happy Birthday

We wish a very happy birthday to Tali Golovsky (4), Jordan Hill (6), Eden Marczak (5), Poppy Berkovic (5) and Amy Speiser (5). We hope you all had a wonderful birthday. We also wish our Special educators Renee Schneider and Lindi Bloch a very Happy Birthday.

Parent Safety Group

Thank you to our Volunteers

Thank you to the following Parent Safety Group volunteers for completing a shift over the last week:

Parent Safety Group

From the Parents and Friends

Ruby Berkovic and Jennifer Opit

We hope you have had a good week!

Auction 

Camping Trip 3-5 November