From the Principal

Andrew Watt – Principal

Responding to worry and anxiety

There are very few students who travel through their childhood without facing times of stress and anxiety, particularly with the spectre of the HSC looming ever closer. Anxiety can be debilitating and may recur in adulthood if left unmanaged. Our School supports many anxious children, through our counselling services and our House Tutor system. Our Wellbeing program has as its core a Mindfulness program, which has both preventive and therapeutic elements. Strategies around nutrition, exercise, goal setting and self-awareness can also be helpful. It is often difficult for parents to know how to respond appropriately, without carrying their burden and becoming anxious themselves! Online courses, such as Parenting Anxious Kids can be a useful support, where parents learn a range of tools to help manage and respond to anxiety, both in the moment and over the long term. Moving away from a mindset of ruminating – going over the same thoughts and worries over and over again – is crucial. Two other programs that may be of interest to parents with anxious children, are Hey Sigmund, which explains to parents the physiology of anxiety and what the experience is like, as well as providing useful tools for supporting your child www.heysigmund.com. Brave is an excellent, well researched online therapy portal, recommended by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg www.brave-online.com

Lion King Jr – a roaring success!

Almost 1 400 seats were allocated for this Primary School spectacular. Every Primary student played an important role in the success of this musical, whether they were in a lead role, part of the chorus, part of the orchestra or part of our wonderful stage crew. Held over three days, Lion King Jr was a lively, colourful and vibrant show, with plenty of action, humour and pathos. Most importantly, every performer was enjoying themselves immensely and lapping up the enthusiastic support from the audience. One grandparent was lavish in her praise after the final show, recommending that we take Lion King Jr to the Opera House! We are thankful to the many contributors to the success of the show, led by Emma Buzo and Stacey Rosenfeld.

Interfaith gathering

Our Year 7 students hosted Granville High and Auburn High Schools for a morning of games and discussion, aimed at developing a better understanding of how each other think and act according to their faith and culture. In my welcome to our visitors, I observed that we fear what we do not know or understand and we often base our judgments on limited facts, rumours and hearsay. We are very blessed to live in Australia, where we enjoy our multiculturalism, without the toxic, deep-seated hatred and clashes we see elsewhere in the world. We are, however, far from a perfect society, and it is conversations at interfaith events that will help us to better understand each other, to enjoy and appreciate each other’s company, and to gain a better appreciation of each other. I pointed out that in 10-15 years’ time, this age group will be our new leaders and their voice will be increasingly powerful. Many thanks to Elena Rosin for organising the event.

Printed programs for our Annual Prize Giving events

Printed programs will not be distributed at the event, rather a link will be provided by email if you wish to print a copy. The program for each event will however be displayed on the screen.

Mazal tov

• Allegra Goldman’s HSC Visual Arts Body of Work has been selected for ARTEXPRESS in 2019. Her photographic body of work titled The Morpholio Project: The Shape of Energy comprises nine separate images and nine accompanying labels. All the selected ARTEXPRESS HSC Bodies of Work will be exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW from 4 February to 25 April 2019.
• The Primary A chess team, Gabriel Pozniak, Daniel Zipser and Joshua Barnett, came second in the Eastern Suburbs Primary Schools Chess Competition on Friday, out of 31 teams. They are only in Year 4 and their opponents in these competitions are Year 6s, making their result all the more remarkable.
• Tobias Topolinsky (Year 7), Jamie Schneider (Year 7) and Noah Dawson-Kelly (Year 8) attended a Junior Leadership Weekend called The Right to Refuge. It was run by UN Youth Australia. There were about 110 children, but just three from Emanuel School.
• Oscar Glikin in Year 1 made a very detailed model and blueprint of the Titanic for his class project. Oscar is pictured below with his classmates, Tabitha Masonic and India Pezaro, in my office with the model. 

Quote of the week

“You are rewarding a teacher poorly if you remain always a pupil.”

Friedrich Nietzshe

From the Primary School

Natanya (Tany) Milner – Head of Primary

Emma Hill

Emma Hill and her husband, Casey, welcomed their first child on Sunday 25 November. Cooper James Morton was born at 9.20 am, weighing 2.9kg. He was a few weeks early and both Emma and Cooper are doing well. We wish the whole family congratulations and look forward to hearing more news in the months to come. Emma will remain on maternity leave until Term 4 of next year.

Anna Economou

Anna Economou has decided to take some time next year to be with her family. She will return to Emanuel in 2020 after a year’s leave. We thank Anna for all her work at Emanuel and wish her and her family all the very best for 2019.

The Lion King Jr

Oh my goodness … where do I begin? It was such a privilege to be involved in this year’s Primary School Musical. Not only was it a thoroughly enjoyable show, but I feel so blessed to work with such a talented team of staff and students who made the performances possible. We are blessed to be able to involve all our students in the show, highlighting the process of learning a piece of the puzzle and then polishing it to make it the highest possible quality to contribute to something even bigger. In true Emanuel style, this process also fosters cross age connections, a love of the creative arts and a sense of community. Whilst there are so many, many people to thank who contributed to the success of the show, I would like to single out some of the outstanding staff who were absolutely central to the success of the final product…

Emma Buzo, our wonderful director

Stacey Rosenfeld, our ever organised producer

Diana Springford, our musical director

Kym Parrish, our vocal coach

Danny Burley, our accompanist

Ben Marshall, our tech crew and lighting

Brooke Oldfield, Danny Burley, Alex Hone, Liz Birrell and Hagit Bar-On, for teaching and coordinating the class items and finale

Meghan Carroll, for helping Stacey with the scheduling and organisation.

My absolute gratitude also goes to the children who contributed so much over the year. The main cast have been rehearsing during lunchtimes, after school and on Sundays for many months. They have been such a wonderful team and have worked so collaboratively. The children who were the stage crew and tech crew were outstanding in their efficiency, effectiveness and sense of responsibility. All the students in K-6 were wonderful on stage and worked hard to create their items.

I would also like to thank the class and specialist teachers, school staff and parent helpers for their assistance with supervision, rehearsals, costumes, ticketing, makeup, photography and a myriad of other bits and pieces. Some parents and staff were involved on Sundays and prior to the shows and we are so grateful for their assistance to make the show possible. THANK YOU ALL!

I loved the words of Emanuel alumni and parent, Sarah Kummerfeld who wrote, “I wanted to let you know how incredibly impressed we were with the Lion King performance today. There is so much to say! From the superb lead singers to the remarkable logistics that seamlessly included every child in primary, the costumes, the kids playing the overture…I’ve never seen a show that so beautifully demonstrated both excellence and inclusiveness.”

Presentation Day and Night

Just a reminder about the Years K-2 Presentation Day and 3-6 Presentation Evening are coming up in a few weeks.

Years K-2 Presentation Day: Wednesday 12 December at 9.00 am

Years 3-6 Presentation Evening: Wednesday 12 December at 6.00 pm (please note that this is a compulsory school event)

Students in Years K-4 are asked to wear full summer uniform

Students in Years 5 and 6 are to wear their full uniform with blazer and tie

Please ensure shoes are shiny, hair is neat and tidy and all boys have a kippah.

News from Jilkminggan

I have received a message from the Principal of Jilkminggan who wanted to let us know that Jilk now has both Facebook and Instagram accounts. He has encouraged us to, “Feel free to take a look and follow all the great things the Jilk students are doing”.

Facebook: Search Jilkminggan School.

Instagram: jilkminggan_School.

Uniform news

I wanted to ensure that all parents are aware of the uniform change for Years 3 and 4 from the beginning of next year. Due to passionate student action and vote, we have agreed to have no longer have ties for Years 3 and 4 in the winter uniform.

From the Head of Jewish Life

Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Teach your children well…

After encountering a series of parshiyot presenting his troubled and troubling life, we come upon this week’s parashah which, by its very name, וישב/Vayeishev, and introductory verse, suggests that Ya’akov may have found peace, at last:

“And, Ya’akov settled (VaYeishev) in the land of his father..the land of Cana’an”.

Having returned to his homeland, with his family intact, we expect and hope we may hear of a blessed life for Ya’akov as he raises his children, providing a promising future for them.

Our Rabbis teach מעשה אבות סימן לבנים –The deeds of parents instruct their children.

As his parents played favourites with him and his brother, Ya’akov now plays favourites with his children. Favouring Yoseph, he causes a division among his sons, leading to Yoseph’s being exiled from his home even as Ya’akov was from his.

After throwing Yoseph into a pit, we read of the brothers:

                          “And, they settled in (VaYeishvu) to eat a meal”.

Echoing the opening words of the parashah, we see that Ya’a’kv cannot settle in as long as the detrimental action of his parents are now being repeated by him in relation to his children.

As his brother’s clothing and goatskin were used by Ya’akov to win, by deception, the favour and blessing of his father, his sons now used their brother’s tunic dipped in goat’s blood to deceive him into believing his favoured Yoseph is dead.

The deeds of parents, however, will not prefigure those of the children, if the deeds of the children do not configure those of the parents. There is no foundation in the absence of a superstructure. It is upon our children, as it is upon us, to determine which deeds of our parents will serve as a blessing in informing our lives

Indeed, the word VaYeishev is related to the Hebrew root letters denoting both ‘settling in’ and ‘repeating’ as well as ‘repelling’ and ‘reversing’. In telling us what has come about, our Torah is teaching us to consider well what we bring about.

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good-bye.

Crosby, Stills and Nash

Devar Torah

Liat Granot – Year 9

Ruby Hurwitz – Year 9

VaYeishev

L: I’m Liat

R: I’m Ruby

Both: And you’re watching Disney channel – Bible edition

R: Previously on IBible we saw Ya’akov meeting Eisav for the first time in 20 years.

L: This episode is called… Broseph, where we meet Yoseph an egotistical, self-righteous boy who has been favorited by his father Ya’akov.

L: You may think that your parents favour your sibling but we can assure you, this was nothing remotely close to what Ya’akov did for Yoseph. And here he is now! Hi Yoseph.

R: Hi I’m Yospeh. But because we’re friends you can call me BROSEPH because I’m such a bro and definitely better than you!

L: As you can see, Yoseph had flaws in his character. The Midrash says: “He was vain about his appearance,” and the Bible tell us he brought his father evil reports about his brothers; his narcissism, the Midrash says: “Led directly to the advances of Potiphar’s wife”. But then why is he the one that our Jewish tradition calls HaTzaddik – the Tzaddik – the righteous one? Well, this is the issue we want to focus on today. How can one apparently so awful change so drastically as to be called for generations hence “the Tzaddik”?

R: Yeah, I was my father’s favourite until my brothers plotted to kill me. But my other brother Re’uven suggested that they throw me into a pit instead. While I was in the pit, Yehudah had me sold to a band of passing Ishmaelites. My brothers dipped the special coat my father made for me in the blood of a goat and showed it to our father, leading him to believe that his most beloved son was devoured by a wild beast.

L: But the story of which Yoseph was a part was not a Greek tragedy. By its end, he had become a different human being entirely, one who forgave his brothers the crime they committed against him, the man who saved an entire region from famine and starvation, the one that Jewish tradition calls the Tzaddik.

R: Don’t think you understand the story of your life at half-time. That is the lesson of Yoseph. At the age of 29 he would have been justified in thinking his life was an abject failure: Hated by his brothers, criticised by his father, sold as a slave, imprisoned on a false charge and with his one chance of freedom gone.

R&L: When you hit rock bottom, the only place you can go is up, unless you are a drill.

L: The second half of the story shows us that Yoseph’s life was not like that at all. His became a tale of unprecedented success, not only politically and materially, but also morally and spiritually. He was among the first in the Torah to forgive. The turning-point in his life was a highly improbable event that could not have been predicted but which changed all else, not just for him but for large numbers of people and for the eventual course of Jewish history (as related by the Bible). HaShem/God was at work, even when Yoseph felt abandoned by every human being he had encountered.

R: There is a fine line between being righteous and being self-righteous. In Hebrew, the distinction is between being a tzaddik, righteous, and being tzadik b’einav, righteous in one’s own eyes. Yoseph, it seems, struggled with his own charm, which was both the source of his brothers’ hatred and jealousy and of his effectiveness as a member of Pharaoh’s court.

L: Yoseph is only accepted as HaTzaddik because it is a righteous person who resists destructive temptations in human relationships. Yoseph is crowned Tzaddik because he ultimately forgave his brothers for selling him into slavery and compassionately helps his family move to Egypt during a time of famine in Canaan. Yoseph succeeds in vanquishing his bitterness and that of his brothers and turns it into love. “What does all this mean?” Elie Wiesel asks. “That one is not born a Tzaddik; one must strive to become one. And having become a Tzaddik, one must strive to remain one.”

Ma Koreh

Adam Carpenter – Head of Jewish Studies Primary

On Thursday, Year 2 students and their families attended a special תפילה / tefillah service to present the Year 2 students with their own סידור / siddur. This סידור / siddur will be used by the students during their weekly prayers at school. In preparation for Pathways, each siddur was personalised and made unique. Parents wrote their own special prayer for their child which has been placed at the front of the סידור / siddur. Students created their own ברכה / bracha or blessing of gratitude that will be included in their סידור / siddur.

Students and their parents participated in singing songs, prayers and in the Torah service. For the Pathways ceremony, Year 2 students sang אנא בכח / Ana Bekoach and recited the שהחינו / Shechiyanu prayer, with representatives from Year 2 sharing their own personal blessings. Before giving their child the siddur, parents were led in the ברכת בנים / birkat banim, the blessing over the children. This beautiful ceremony was followed by hugs, kisses and the singing of siman tov u’ mazal tov.

The pride and delight expressed by the children and their families over the giving of the סידור / siddur was very special. Families shared a quiet moment at the end of the ceremony to read over and share the special blessings they wrote.

Thank you to all the parents and family members who were able to attend the ceremony and for the love and care put into writing the blessing for their child.  Thank you to Ofer Levy for taking photos and to the teachers involving in preparing the students and in the ceremony – Morah Baron, Morah Shirley, Morah Miri and Morah Gaida.

HICES Mathematics

On 13 November, Jesse Gothelf and Jake Sharp from Year 7 and Jesse Herdan and Samuel Moliver from Year 8 went to Blue Mountains Grammar School to compete in the HICES Mathematics day. It is a day to work with other like-minded students and to pit our problems skills against other schools. We won the day and this is the second time Emanuel has won this competition. The winning team is to be congratulated for their excellent problem-solving prowess.

The HICES Mathematics day consisted of 24 different schools who each had a four-person team. There were three rounds that all tested different types of maths and problem-solving ability.

Unexpectedly, we saw ourselves coming second on the leader board after two rounds. After seeing this, we were extremely motivated to do our best in the last round. We ended up doing incredibly in the last round and winning the overall competition! Overall, the day was extremely fun and an amazing experience.

Andrew Watt, Samuel Moliver, Jake Sharp, Jesse Gothelf, Jesse Herdan and Alice Henry

Year 10 Drama Showcase

Samantha Bauer – Head of Drama

Year 10 Drama Showcase

Last week the Year 10 Drama students presented a wonderful array of group pieces and monologues to family and friends at the annual Drama Showcase. Their characters were entertaining, though provoking and at times hilarious. Congratulations to Year 10!

Amber Langman

Madeliene Liger

Mia Gold

Miriam Itzkowitz

Beau Glass

Talia Blackman

Simone Rapport

Jessica Beutum

From the Head of Music

Diana Springford – Head of Music

Thanks to the Music Department for a mammoth effort on the Primary Musical Lion King Jr. For more about this, please see the dedicated page for more wonderful photos from Ofer Levy.

Instrument maintenance check and stocktake – Week 8 (commencing Tuesday 4 December).

All students who currently borrow a School instrument (including a percussion kit) must bring it to the Music Department on Tuesday 4 December for an instrument maintenance check. This includes those on loan to High School students. Instruments should be clean and have a student name tag attached with the instrument barcode on the reverse. If this name tag is missing, please ask Mrs De Araujo in the music staffroom to label it for you. Full details of the instrument drop-off and collection procedure have been emailed to parents.  

For parents of Year 6 students who are coming to the end of their compulsory Instrumental Program, you have been emailed a survey about the return of your School-loaned instrument and your intentions regarding private music tuition in High School. Thank you to all those parents who have responded. If you haven’t yet done so, please complete the survey at this link: https://tinyurl.com/EndY6IP-Intentions

Private music tuition and Infant Strings Program

Please note that from 2019, the cost of individual private music lessons will be charged at a rate of $44.00 per half-hour lesson (plus GST, if the tutor is registered to pay GST). This is the rate advised by the NSW Music Teachers Association. Lessons shared in pairs will cost $23.00 per student per half-hour lesson (plus GST where applicable). The Infant Strings Program (ISP) for students in Years K-2 will be charged at $255 per term on school fees, which includes the loan of an instrument.

Thank you to those who have already advised us of changes to private tuition and Infant Strings Program enrolments for next year.  The deadline for new enrolments, notification of changes or intention to discontinue for Term 1, 2019 was last week. All students currently receiving private music tuition and students in Years K-1 who are currently participating in the Infant Strings Program will be automatically re-enrolled into tutor schedules for 2019 along with students commencing lessons for the first time. Parents should enrol or discontinue using one of the online forms accessed from the links below. If your child intends to discontinue, formal notification in advance must be received by the end of term to avoid being committed to the full term of lessons and liable for fees. Please contact Deborah Beder by email to music@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.auif you have any questions.   

The schedules for Term 1, 2019 will be created at the end of term and emailed in late January.

Links to online forms  

New enrolment requests for private tuition: http://tinyurl.com/NewPrivateTuitionEnrolment

To discontinue private tuition for 2019: http://tinyurl.com/PrivateTuitionDiscontinuation

To enrol into the Infant Strings Program: http://tinyurl.com/InfantStringsEnrolment

To discontinue Infant Strings Program for 2019: http://tinyurl.com/InfantStringsDiscontinuations

Primary Musical

The Pridelands were awash with palpable excitement leading up to the opening of Lion King Jr, and the build-up to this long-awaited production did not disappoint. 

We opened to a ROAResome first night on 25 November, building to wonderful final crescendo of singing and celebration on 27 November. Over 360 students were involved, led by a main cast of 29 dedicated students, assisted by a very capable group of four stage managers and watched by almost 1 400 audience members. The MPH was transformed and everything the light touched was changed into a wonderous land of happiness and delight.

This production of Lion King Jr was organised by the incomparable team consisting of the brilliant Emma Buzo, the director, produced by the remarkable Stacey Rosenfeld, conducted by the superb Diana Springford and with vocal training by the passionate Kym Parrish. The main cast’s gruelling schedules of rehearsals from the start of Term 2, and the class item rehearsals from Term 3, certainly paid off. The cast shone and shimmered on stage bringing the story of the Lion King Jr to life, from Simba and Nala as playful cubs, to meeting and the making of new some friends (Timon and Pumba) to finishing with Simba assuming his rightful position as head and leader of the Pridelands. The students’ acting and singing elicited amazement, laughter and affection from the audience. 

This main cast was well supported by the grade items of Year K baby animals, Year 1 stars, Year 2 jungle people, Year 3 lions, Year 4 hyenas, Year 5 jungle people with Year 6 leading the stampede as wildebeest. All of the singing and dramatics carefully orchestrated by Brooke Oldfield, Alexander Hone and Elizabeth Birrell. 

An undertaking like Lion King Jr could not have happened without the support from far and wide within and outside the Emanuel School community. Thank you to the Class Teachers, the Maintenance Team, Katya Sacks, Lara Kepitis, Renee Segal, Ofer Levy and Jennifer Opit, the School Executive, Administration and Marketing teams, parents and students who without all of their energy, time and saying Hakuna Matata this production would not have been such a success.

So, this brings the story to a close, it’s the circle of life (of a production, after all) and as we pack away the glitter, trees, grassland, scripts, musical scores and animal ears and tails, with one last ROAR we sign off… until next time… 

Years 9 and 10 Visual Arts

Year

Chess

Colleen Elkins – Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator K-6

Our Primary A team played in the Eastern Suburbs Primary Schools Competition last Friday, which consisted of eight rounds of chess each. There were 31 teams and Emanuel A came in second. It was wonderful to watch such a young team participate so confidently and with such focus and drive. Well done to Daniel Zipser, Joshua Barnett and Gabriel Pozniak.

These students have been training hard and even coaching other students, allowing us to enter some students into a competition for the first time ever. Congratulations to the B Team on their efforts in the same competition (Ben Diamond, Max Tsipris and Alex Gellert).

We wish our Years 7-9 team well as they head to Mannix University in Melbourne to play in the National Inter-schools final from Sunday 2 December to Tuesday 4 December.

Rashi Times

Hey Rashi!

There’s no doubt that 2018 has been a jam-packed busy year and the last couple of weeks of the term are no different. With Chanukah coming up, bench ball last week and Rashi still excited about our House Music success (GO RASHI!), Jared and I decided to keep the spirits high by getting each Tutor Group to design a celebratory Rashi cake. They were given cardboard, newspaper, textas, scissors and tape and told that the best cake (judged by the Rashi teachers in the room) would get a REAL chocolate cake, courtesy of the canteen, delivered to them during their Tutor program.

Due to some of the Year 12s sitting an examination at the same time, we had to call on the remaining Year 12s for some extra help. Thanks so much especially to Victoria Kreiman and Michael Khedoori who arrived early to help set up.

We’re all so close guys, two weeks to go! Hoping you all have a fantastic end of term!

See y’all around ☺

Eden Sadra and Jared Elbourne

House Captains

Meir Advocate

Hello fellow Meirians! Week 7 has come to an end… and only two more weeks to go!

Idan Aruch

Meet a Meirian

The Meirian we have chosen this week is Idan Aruch in Year 9

We asked Idan three random questions. Here are his answers:

1. If you could dis-invent something, what would it be?

If I could dis-invent one thing, it would have to be greenhouse gases so that there will be no more global warming.

2. Would you rather be able to copy and paste in real life or undo in real life?

I would 100% rather be able to undo in real life so that I can fix all my mistakes and all the bad things we have done to this earth. Also, I could get rid of Donald Trump and all evil people who live on the earth.

3. What is the main source of your procrastination?

The main source of my procrastination has got to be YouTube. If I’m not doing work, with friends or playing sport, I think you know where you’ll find me.

Writers Awards

Congratulations to all the Meirian students who participated in the Writers’ Awards last week.

Smith’s Family volunteering

The Smith’s Family “student2student” program works by matching students who need to improve their reading with peer buddies who help and encourage them with their reading. Each student and buddy receives an identical book pack and the reading buddy then telephones the student two to three times a week for at least 20 minutes, over an 18 week period. The student reads to the buddy, who uses the skills learnt in their training to assist the student while offering encouragement and praise. We have many Meirians who have been buddies this year and we would like to congratulate Paris Spennato, Angel Mitrani, Alix Cane and Tara Israel.

Well done on helping students with their reading all year… amazing work girls!

‘On The Couch’

Thank you to students that went on the Jilkminggan Trip – Tammy Kurlansky, Mia Jordan Schwartz, Isabel Saraf, Luca Moses, Tal Boskilla, Gabi Amoils, Zach Fidler and Tali Klevinsky –  for being ‘On The Couch’ in House Assembly, informing Meirian’s about their experience on the amazing trip.

Angel MItrani – Year 12 (2019)

Thank you to Angel Mitrani for being ‘On The Couch’ – providing an insight and passion behind the charity event that she ran on Kindness Day.

Shabbat Shalom and have a great weekend everyone!

Love, your Meir Editors, Charlotte and Tara

From the Primary Library

Greetings to all from the Library staff, Fiona Singer, Norman Stein and myself, Ginnette Cameron-Gardner.

I have just watched a promotion for the Artemis Fowl movie and wanted to remind everyone that if you have not read the series yet, now would be a good time to read the books before you see the movie.

The books are really entertaining, and I would seriously suggest you read at least one before you view the trailer, but I know you will find it hard to resist viewing the

ARTEMIS FOWL Official Trailer #1 (2019) Disney Movie HD which now can be viewed online www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PW3-0dGGpU

The American science-fantasy movie is based on the series Artemis Fowl written by Eoin Colfer and is to be released on 9 August 2019, with Kenneth Branagh is Director and Producer.

You will be hooked from the first page of the first in the series Artemis Fowl. Do not let the mention of fairies put you off. These are not pretty little creatures with wings, they are feisty creatures who have hidden away from humanity and developed technology in advance of that which the humans have. They are armed and dangerous and not to be messed with.

Artemis Fowl is the main character. He is a 12-year-old criminal mastermind, son of Artemis Fowl1, who leads the family criminal empire. Artemis Fowl has been researching whether fairies actually exist, and he sets out to capture and ransom one for the fairies famed prized gold stores.

There are eight books in this action-packed adventure series and they need to be read in order. Artemis Fowl. The Arctic Incident. The Eternity Code. The Opal Deception. The Lost Colony. The Time Paradox. The Atlantis Complex. The Last Guardian.

They are held in the Primary Library but also in the local public libraries, so you can continue your holiday reading.

The great escape available to us all is into a world of our own choosing within the pages of a book. I do hope that you enjoy the Artemis Fowl series.

School Photographs

Maxine Chopard – Assistant to the Deputy Principal

Celebrating Emanuel students through photographs

You may wish to place orders for photos including:

• House Captains
• Senior Madrichim
• Primary Madrichim
• Year 12 ‘Muck-up’
• House and Music Captains
• House
• Music
• Extra-Curricular
• Representative Sport.

Order forms are at Reception or go on-line to place your orders.

I hope you gain much enjoyment from perusing the photos of our Emanuel students.

Online order code: TPM ETQ DKZ

Online order link: www.advancedimage.com.au/keycode/keycodefinder.aspx?keycode=TPMETQDKZ

School extra-curricular group photographs were taken recently. These groups may include sports teams/madrichim groups, bands or other extra-curricular groups. These group images are now available for purchase at the advancedlife Emanuel School Community Portal

Simply follow the link above to go directly to your community portal.

Important information:

• Extra-curricular group photos can only be purchased online. DO NOT return payment to school.
• If your child’s group or team has not yet been photographed and is scheduled to be photographed at a later date, you will receive an additional email notification when the images are ready to be ordered.
• Photos will be returned to the School for distribution approximately six weeks after photos are ordered.
• Past years’ photographs including sports, extra-curricular and representative groups are also available at the advancedlife and your advancedyou photo sites (follow the link above).
• advancedlife would like to express their appreciation to Emanuel School for placing your trust in them. Please remember they offer a 100% money back guarantee on their products to ensure peace of mind. They would also love to receive your feedback or resolve any issues you may experience as fast as possible, to ensure your satisfaction. If you have any questions, comments or feedback relating to your advancedlife experience please contact them at enquiries@advancedlife.com.au

Optional Theatresports Dramatic Action for Years 1-8

Kornmehl

Terry Aizen – Director Kornmehl

Bush School Family Picnic

We invite all Kornmehl families to join us down at Centennial Park on Tuesday 11^t December for our final Bush School experience of the year. This will take place from drop off at 8.00 am until about 11.00 am. Please bring some snacks and drinks. Come and experience the wonders of nature with your children.

Kornmehl Art Auction

The foyer of the Pre-school is looking beautiful and has been adorned with all the lovely group art works created by the Kornmehl children.

The art works convey a deep respect and love for the creative arts that we inspire and develop in the children.

Parents will be bidding on their favourite art work during this week and into next week. The winners will be announced at our end of year concerts on 5 and 6 December. Andrew Watt came down on Monday to cast his vote on his Principal’s choice.

Concerts

All three groups have been practicing for their concerts next week. They are all very excited to share this special time with their Mums and Dads.

The Seashells concert is on Wednesday 5 December at 9.30 am in the Pre-school. This is for parents only. Morning tea will be served after the concert and will conclude at 10.30 am.

The Dolphins and Starfish will have their concert and graduation on Thursday 6 December at 6.00 pm in the Lehrer Family Building (MPH). Parents and older siblings are invited to join us to celebrate this special time together.

Dinner will be served for the children after the concert and light snacks for the parents. The evening will conclude at 8.00 pm.

Nahal Oz comments and messages

In January this year, five teachers from our Pre-school were privileged to visit Kibbutz Nahal Oz on a JNF Educators Study tour.  We found the visit to be incredibly inspiring and it gave us an insight into the stressful and trying circumstances that families in the South, near Gaza are living with daily. Coming from Australia, this was confronting and overwhelming but at the same time helped us to understand the conflict and the daily stress that occurs in the life of Israelis living near the Gaza border.

When we visited the Kibbutz, we also spent the morning teaching in the Gan with their lovely educators. It was a memorable and special time for us all. In light of all the trauma happening in Gaza the past few months, we have spent time discussing with the older groups in our Pre-school, what the children in Nahal Oz are experiencing and how they are having to spend so much time in the bomb shelters. We discussed how sad it is for the children of Nahal Oz as they are suffering at the moment with conflict in Gaza. We used role-plays to convey the message of the importance of using words instead of being physical to solve conflict. The children were able to process and internalise what is happening for the children and families living in Gaza, and we share some of their deep and meaningful comments below, which highlights the depth of their understanding as well as them wanting to share messages of hope and love with them all. We sent these messages, as well as a video and some drawings with the help of Michelle Favero to the children on Nahal Oz.

Savannah – I think they should be kind to each other, the people living in Israel and the people living in Gaza. I hope the adults stop fighting soon and you can play outside.

Tali – I feel sad for everyone who is fighting and can’t go outside to play. I hope you can come outside soon.

Dalia – I hope you are safe inside the shelter and I hope you like the shelter very much. The people who are fighting should stop fighting.

Josh – I don’t want them to fight over the other people and I don’t want them to be hurt. 

Ariella – Maybe I can send them the song that I wrote. I think they should talk to one another instead and come up with a plan and work that together. 

Amelie – So they’re fighting together. I don’t know what they are fighting about. I think they want the world. I think they don’t want Israel to have a world. I think that’s what happened in the last Israel’s war. I want to say “have a good time in Israel in that house (shelter)” because I can speak in Hebrew.

Clemmie – I want to ask them ” Why are you fighting? You need to be talking to each other. I hope you can go out to play soon.” I wish you could fly up in the sky, so you could get rescued by a superhero.

Tali – The shelter is very strong. It will be safe to play when they stop fighting.

Zella – I want them to feel very happy and for their heart to feel warm. People should stop fighting. Breathe in and breathe out, use their words and turn their red light on. And then the children in Israel and Gaza could go out to play. I really hope that when they stop fighting you can go outside and forget about all the bad things that happened.

Jemima – The people living in Israel should go on an aeroplane to another country. I hope you can play outside soon.

Harry – Maybe they have to agree to stop fighting and agree with the problem. Maybe they could solve the fight by talking to each other. You can go outside and have peace.

Leah – I hope you feel better soon, and I hope you sort it out soon. They could just try and stop.

Hannah – I hope you feel better when your teachers give you a hug.

Sophie – I hope you can play with us.  Are you ok?  I hope you can play on the equipment soon. We would love to give you a hug.    

Coby – Be happy, be good and don’t fight.

Parent Information Night

Last week Tuesday, we welcomed all our new families for 2019 into the Pre-school. We spent the evening discussing our values, philosophy, what makes Kornmehl special and how we engage and learn together with the children. We discussed a few housekeeping points and how to settle children into their new space. We hope parents enjoyed the evening. We look forward to welcoming all our new little Kornmehl kids on Friday 14 December for an Orientation visit from 9.30 am to 11.00 am.

 Parent/teacher interviews

The Dolphin and Starfish have now completed all their parent/teacher meetings. We hope that the parents found the time productive and meaningful. It is a lovely way to bring closure to a very busy year for your children and we value this important time to reflect and chat to parents.

Holiday care

Holiday Care will take place on Wednesday 19 December and Thursday 20 December from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm.

Happy Birthday

We wish a very happy birthday to Leo Phillips (5). We hope you had a special birthday.

Community Connections – Gesher

Sonia Newell – Development Officer

B’nai B’rith/JNF Changemaker Awards 2019

It is never too early to start promoting the 2019 Changemaker Awards. This annual program recognises the volunteer work of many younger members of our community.  Planning for next year’s event in June (date to be confirmed) started immediately following this year’s Awards Night which was held on 21 June.  We would love you to start thinking about possible nominees for next year in each of the two groups: Youth – High School students and Young Adults, aged 18 to 35. I feel immensely proud to volunteer on the organising committee and also help with nominations of Emanuel past and present students for these prestigious awards. Past winners from our School community include alumnus Jeremy Spinak (Class of 2000) who tragically passed away two weeks ago aged 36, from a rare cancer. Jeremy won the 2015 B’nai B’rith Leadership Award for the vast array of volunteer work he did both within in our community and the wider Australian community, including in his role as President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. In 2016 Emanuel alumnus Nathan Holloway (Class of 2004) was joint winner for his contribution to the Jewish Community. This year’s winners included Matt Friedman (Class of 2015) and current Year 7 student Coby New, with a number of other very worthy nominees from our student and alumni community over the years. 

Jeremy Spinak and Ernie Friedlander OAM

We would love to see nominations come through for next year, so please start thinking about suitable candidates for the various categories which include:

Youth section (High School):

• Contribution to the Jewish Community
• Contribution to the Australian Society.

Young Adults section (18-35 year olds):

• JNF Contribution to the Jewish Community
• Contribution to the Australian Society
• Support for the State of Israel
• B’nai B’rith Award for Leadership.

Volunteers wanted For Friendship Circle Day camp 

New volunteers: http://sydneyfc.org.au/volunteerapplication

Current volunteers: http://sydneyfc.org.au/content/volunteer-day-camp

Sign up for food prep: https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/2590805/false#/invitation

Jene Screen

This is a new free online BRCA genetic testing program offered to adult members of the Jewish community in Sydney: www.jenescreen.com.au

If you have news you would like to share with us, please let me know: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

Emanuel School Uniform Shop Holiday Trading Hours

From the Parents and Friends

Ruby Berkovic and Jennifer Opit

Hi Everyone,

End of term/year is rapidly approaching! We hope you all enjoyed the Lion King as much as we did. What a lovely way to end the year.

Calendar Dates 2019

We have started planning for 2019 and thought you may want to start diarising the dates. We look forward to seeing you at the following events:

Friday 8 March – Sunday 10 March: Camping Trip 

Sunday 24 March: Purim Disco

Friday 10 May: Mothers Day Breakfast and stalls

Friday 30 August: Father’s Day Breakfast and stalls

Friday 1 November – Sunday 3 November: Camping Trip #2

Uniform Shop 

There are plenty of great-quality, second hand uniforms available at the Uniform Shop if you are looking for items! Now is the perfect time to stock up!

Group Together

It is that time of year where we are all organising presents. The Emanuel P&F has entered into a partnership with GroupTogether to use their system at a discounted rate and it is available to all of you.

It’s too easy to use the Emanuel promotional code on GroupTogether.  Once you click the big blue Get Started button, you will be asked a few simple questions (what would you like to call the collection, do you want to include a charity, how much would you like friends to contribute). The next question applies to who pays the fees. Please click the circle by Promo Code and tap in Emanuel2018.  That’s it – the code has been entered for the collection and the reduced fees will be calculated (instead of the usual charges of 4% + $0.25 per collection, the special rate for Emanuel Families is 1.2% + $0.20). If you have any questions or issues, please email Julie at help@grouptogether.com.

Enjoy your weekend,

Jen & Ruby