From the Principal

Andrew Watt

Reflecting on the value of school sport

Many within our Emanuel community enjoy playing and/or watching sport. Part of the fabric of Australia’s national identity, sport has great value in building a strong sense of connection, belonging and shared purpose. It can promote social interactions and develop both leadership skills and the ability to play as part of a team. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of sport is the reinforcement of a common set of values around fair play, the greater good, self-discipline and personal best. Many of the lessons of life can be taught on the sports field, such as learning to win and lose with grace; responding well to setbacks, such as injury; and developing and adjusting goals and strategies. At an individual level, sport can enhance physical fitness, develop skills, positional play and tactics specific to each game.

As a Director of Sport in my distant past, I have observed and enjoyed the wide range of benefits that a sport program provides, across a number of schools. Our students enjoy representing Emanuel in competitions and wear their distinctive uniform with pride. An increasing number of our students now progress along the representative pathway, from CDSSA and IPSHA to AICES and then to Combined Independent Schools (CIS), NSW. Emanuel’s Sport program continues to grow, under the leadership of Kristy Genc and her committed team. At a recent High School sport assembly, a large number of students came across the stage, to receive recognition for representing Emanuel or a higher pathway and for achieving outstanding results. The range and quality of sport competitions continues to improve, as does our collective fitness and performance. This is in part due to a more rigorous training program, conducted by excellent coaches and in part to an increasing confidence in our ability to beat our competitors. Our plan is twofold: for our players to enjoy and improve and, for Emanuel to be feared and respected by our opposition!

Emanuel students shine at the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards Ceremony

Left to right: Ray Francis, Samuel Dawson Kelly, Lara Rutstein, Rachel Jammy, Oliver Evans and Adam Riesel

Samuel Dawson-Kelly, Oliver Evans, Rachel Jammy, Adam Riesel and Lara Rutstein enjoyed the 60^th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Awards evening. The ceremony was very well organised, with Prince Edward circulating the Town Hall, meeting all the students. Our students, with their distinctive Emanuel School colours, starred in the evening news! Each of the 16 student tables had a guest presenter – ours was Kirk Pengilly (from INXS). Congratulations to our Gold Award recipients – and thank you to our Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Co-ordinator, Ray Francis, who attended the event.

Grandparents and Friends Day

The Lehrer Family Building (MPH) was overflowing on Monday morning for our Rosh Hashanah Ceremony. An appreciative audience enjoyed a lively, student-led experience, including communal singing and prayers, the blowing of the shofar, a Junior Choir performance, a VOX POP video and perhaps the highlight, the “Hungry Caterpillar” drama, performed in Hebrew by our talented Year 2 students. The ceremony was followed by a morning tea and then our grandparents and friends participated in interactive workshops, involving apple and honey clay pots, shofar making, 3D card construction, Seder with symbolic foods, Al Kol Eleh Kululam lyrics and Kol HaOt paper Midrash art. A huge thank you to Adam Carpenter, Hagit Bar-On and their teams.

Back to Emanuel event

A large number of past parents, alumni teachers and friends of Emanuel braved the wet weather to visit our campus on Wednesday evening. They were hosted by our VET Hospitality students and entertained by our Green Man Jazz Band, as they enjoyed viewing the 18 School history storyboards and took a tour of our wonderful facilities. I have included a small excerpt of my welcome speech below:

“Whilst our numbers have grown and our facilities have been developed, the ‘essence’ of Emanuel – that which makes it special – has remained unchanged. I have heard students still refer to us as ‘the Emanuel family’! Our commitment to being small enough to know and care for everyone, whilst being large enough to enjoy diversity across year groups and an expansive range of subject offerings, also remains unchanged. We are and always have been, a safe, happy, caring and inclusive community of learners.”

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) – a Federal Government requirement

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with a Disability (NCCD) takes place every year. The information provided below is a reminder about this annual data collection process. The NCCD is a Federal Government initiative to collect data on:

the number of school students receiving an adjustment due to disability*
the level of adjustment they are receiving to access education on the same basis as other students.

Students are counted in the NCCD if they receive on-going adjustments at school due to a disability. The NCCD uses the definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

*The definition of disability for the NCCD is based on the broad definition under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, so includes learning disorders and issues that could be classified via DSM-5 criteria (DSM-5 is a manual of diagnostic criteria covering learning, social-emotional, psychological, medical, physical and sensory disorders). The School is required to report on this basis if students satisfy set criteria, though staff might not use that language in internal discussions or meetings with parents and students.

Annually, all schools in Australia are required by law to collect and submit information on the number of students who have a disability that might affect their capacities at school including:

their year of schooling
the broad type of disability
the level of adjustment received

This process is detailed in the Australian Education Regulation 2013. On the basis of the above, the Australian Government applies a ‘disability loading’ to monies that are allocated to schools. This funding may be used to cover additional professional learning for teachers, re-allocation of school resources and the development of new programs, processes or systems to address the range of students with disabilities within the School.

Protecting the privacy and confidentiality of all students is an essential part of the NCCD. Data is collected within each school. Personal details, such as student names or student identifiers, are not provided to Federal education authorities. Should you have any questions about this, please speak to staff in the Wolanski Family Specialist Learning Centre, the School Counselling Team or the Nurse. Further information can also be found in the 2019 Information notice or by accessing this Fact Sheet for Parents, Guardians and Carers.

Mazal tov

Gabriella Freed and Alyssa Simmons (both Year 7) played in the Maccabi 13 Blue team that won the Randwick Netball Association’s Junior Netball grand final
Jonah Trope has been selected to play in the 15 years NSW All Schools Cricket team.
Congratulations to our Primary A Chess Team who has progressed to the Inter-Schools finals by winning their match against the South-West Region of Sydney. Our team has now reached the Inter-Schools NSW finals. Well done to Joshua Barnett and Oscar Salek for coming 1^st and 2^nd respectively in the East Sydney Junior Spring Tournament and to Joshua Ipp for coming in 5th in the Rookies Competition.

Quote of the week

“Education is the key to success on life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students.”

Solomon Ortiz

Primary News

Sophie Poisel – Innovation Leader K – 6

K-6 Innovation

Innovation has continued to be a focus in learning experiences in the Primary School in 2019. Thank you to those of you who joined us to celebrate the innovative thinking your children have been engaged in through class projects and extra-curricular opportunities. If you were unable to attend, see the 2019 Program here: https://tinyurl.com/2019IFProgram. I had some wonderful feedback from attending parents. One of our speakers, Meg Tonkin, also reflected, “It was truly impressive to see such a high level of innovation and understanding of emerging technologies displayed by the students. It’s going to be an exciting future!”

We have continued to build connections with a range of STEAM Professionals within our school community and at universities. In the past, I have written about the important role adults play as children begin to imagine their futures, the problems they want to solve, and the possible career directions they might take. We have welcomed a range of speakers from various fields over 2019, and students’ have reflected on these visits in past Ma Nishma articles. The purpose of these visits has been to expose our students to the variety of options available to them.

We were fortunate to welcome four award winning STEAM professionals to discuss the problems they solve in their work, what a day in their life looks like and be part of a panel discussion focused on where their passions began and the skills they need in their jobs today. In case you missed it, you can watch part of a recording here: https://tinyurl.com/2019STEAMPanel. We are currently working on a set of Emanuel School posters with Mr Messiah that celebrates the experts that have visited us, and helps us to remember some of their important messages. Some of these include:

Dr Vanessa Pirotta says let your passion lead the way. Find out what you like doing or would like to learn more about. With a little hard work and a positive attitude, you just never know where this may take you!

Associate Professor Ronika Power told us to think wildly and dare greatly – imagination is our super-power, and our greatest discoveries will come from breaking rules, making mistakes and doing things differently.

Dr Katie Sizeland told us that we need to be super curious and resilient and always ask why and never take no for an answer – you need to be able to collaborate and communicate to come up with solutions to problems.

Meg Tonkin, Social Roboticist and PhD candidate, told us that technology is your tool, wield with Empathy and Imagination to make amazing things happen.

As the term break is fast approaching, if you are looking for some great STEM activities to do at home with your daughters or sons, have a look at this resource recently released from UTS researchers. See here: www.thegist.edu.au/. Although the title suggests it is for girls, there are some great STEM home experiences outlined here: www.thegist.edu.au/families/getting-her-interested-in-stem/at-home-activities/

From the Head of Jewish Life

Rabbi Daniel Siegel

לשמוע קול שופר

To hear the call of the shofar

On the last day of Machaneh Ayekah, which was the first day of Elul, our Year 10 students sounded the shofar. At Machaneh Krembo, just last week, our Year 8 students sounded the shofar. During Monday tefillot, after birkat hamazon and during Kabbalat Shabbat, our students from all years, Primary and High School, sounded the shofar. We opened this week with our students sounding the shofar during our Rosh HaShanah Grandparents Day celebration.

The sounding of the shofar, from the start of the month of Elul, calls upon us to engage individually and collectively in reflection and introspection, as we prepare for the most sacred days of our Jewish calendar, Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.

The blessing we recite on sounding the shofar, however, is לשמוע קול שופר “to hear the sound of the shofar”. Accordingly, the mitzvah for us is not to sound the shofar but to hear it.

But what does this mean? Is one who is “deaf” not able to fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the shofar?

Even more, according to Jewish law, if you are unable to fulfill a certain mitzvah you cannot enable others to fulfill this mitzvah through you. A deaf person, then, could neither fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the shofar nor could he sound it for others to fulfill this mitzvah.

Does Judaism then preclude a deaf person from hearing the shofar and fulfilling this mitzvah?

There is only one prayer in Judaism that the Rabbis agree can be read in the language that one best understands (though it not be Hebrew). That prayer is the שמע/Shema. For our Jewish tradition, שמע/Shema “Hear”, does not simply mean in an auditory sense, but it means to understand, in one’s heart and mind.

Solomon was considered the wisest of all people because he possessed a לב שומע/lev shome’a, an understanding heart and mind.

Understandably, then, do our Rabbis say: “If one has mindful intent, he fulfills the mitzvah of hearing the shofar if one does not have mindful intent he does not fulfill this mitzvah.”

If, then, one hears aurally but not mindfully he does not fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the shofar. Conversely, it would seem, one who is aurally deaf but engages mindfully in hearing the shofar, fulfills the mitzvah of hearing the shofar.

Yet we might reasonably ask, together with our tradition, that if we don’t physically experience the shofar being sounded how can we be engaged mindfully, we may not even know it is being sounded?

In many synagogues today, “deaf” congregants embrace the shofar with their hands when it is being sounded. The vibration enters their body, their physical being, while the hearing of mind and heart may then be present, as well.

The “sound” of the shofar calls upon us to consider our past so we can create a better future.

Many of us “hear” the shofar but are deaf to its call.

As we approach Rosh HaShanah, may we work on acquiring a לב שומע\lev shome’a, an understanding heart and mind.

May we be guided by the call of our shofar within even as we hear its voice from without.

Student Devar Torah

Myles Cohn – Year 9

This week’s Parashah is called Ki Tavo, meaning ‘When you come to the Land’. This parashah contains Moshe’s’ final speech to the Israelites, where he speaks to them all before his death. He talks about the fruit offering that God wants to be offered when they are all in the promised land, and the blessings and curses that come with following or not following God’s mitzvot.

Anyway, Moshe says since God gave us the land of milk and honey, we should be offering these fruits to Him. It is important that we are grateful for what we have been given. God gave us the land of Israel and we need to show gratitude for it. He also commands the Israelites to give some food to the less fortunate, “You shall also give portions to the stranger, the orphan, the widow. They shall eat it within your gates and be satisfied.” It is very nice that Moshe’s final speech includes compassion and that everyone should be treated well and given a portion of food. Even today it is something that people should strive to do, to make sure that no one, no matter their worth, should be left with an empty bowl.

So Moshe focuses on observing the mitzvot and how God will bless you for doing so. He says that “On this day God commands you to carry out these laws and social ordinances with all your heart and all your soul”. Interestingly, that last phrase is actually like what we say in VeAhavta, “and you shall love”, using all your heart and soul. Moshe says that if you believe in all of the mitzvot, God will set you above “all the nations of the earth.” He says that everything of yours and everything about you will be blessed.

But this has a question in it. What if you don’t observe every single mitzvah? Well, Moshe says, “Cursed you will be in the city and the field, cursed will be your fruits of your body and soil and livestock. Cursed will you be when you come in and when you go out. God will unleash against you the curse, and you will be restless and feel guilt in everything to which you put your hand, so that you will be destroyed because of your wickedness in forsaking God.”

This is interesting because in the modern day we have a wide spectrum of Jews that makes it impossible to say that all Jews are the same. Some are as observant as the Israelites from the times of Moshe, and there are others, like a lot of you in here today, that don’t follow every mitzvah. You might not keep kosher, or go to shul each Friday, and aren’t that observant.

A recurring statement in the parashah is that the Jews who follow all of the mitzvot belong to God. Does this mean that if not all 613 mitzvot are observed that you don’t belong to God? That you’re excluded from being a proper Jew? This idea is actually still debated today, and everyone has an opinion on what makes you a ‘real’ Jew.

I don’t think there is a correct answer to this. There are people who believe that a Jew must carry out each law, and some that think you only need a kippah and a Jewish family. But I say that all types of Jews should be accepted for what they do. If you don’t fully keep kosher that’s okay. If you don’t go to shul that’s not so bad. It’s just what Moshe was talking about before about the stranger, the orphan and the widow. You should respect all of these people, whether they are fully observant, or don’t believe in doing some of the things God asks for us to do. This parashah asks us to be compassionate to each other, and I think that is the best way to tackle this very complex question.

Ma Koreh

Adam Carpenter – Head of Jewish Life Primary

Grandparents and Friends Day – Rosh HaShanah celebrations

We welcomed hundreds of grandparents and special friends to our Grandparents and Friends Day Rosh HaShanah celebrations on Monday. Our assembly began with a Havdalah ceremony and included shofar blowing, a beautiful performance of ‘Sim Shalom’ by the Junior Choir and a wonderful Year 2 Hebrew play, HaZachal HaRa-ev (The Hungry Caterpillar). Our special guests joined the students and their grandchildren in High Holy Day themed workshops, engaging in Jewish learning and creating together.

Year K: Kindy students and their grandparents painted and personalised their own clay plate and bowl for apples and honey to decorate their family’s Rosh HaShanah table.

Year 1: Students made their own shofar and learnt about the meaning and significance of the shofar.

Year 2: Grandparents and students created unique Rosh HaShanah cards with words of blessing for their family and wishes for a sweet and good new year.

Year 3: Students and their grandparents explored the meaning, symbolism and taste of the symbolic foods of the Rosh HaShanah Seder, presenting their understanding to the rest of the participants and taking home a booklet to run their own Rosh HaShanah seder at home.

Year 4: Students and grandparents came together, forming their own Koolulam inspired choir (www.koolulam.com), to learn and perform the song Al Kol Eleh.

Year 5: Using only coloured paper, grandparents and students created a visual midrash and interpretation of the Book of Jonah, which is read on Yom Kippur.

Year 6: After reflecting on the ‘Ashamnu’ – the confessionary prayer found in the Yom Kippur Machzor, students and grandparents created their own alphabetical acrostic of our communal missteps and provided a positive suggestion for how we can improve our world in the year to come.

We loved sharing our learning and celebrations with our grandparents and special guests. Thank you for being with us and making the day so special. A huge תודה רבה to all the staff and students involved.

שנה טובהומתוקה

Wishing you, your family and the world a new year filled with peace and blessings

Year 8 Hebrew Camp

Machane Krembo

Hebrew camp was a memorable experience! We learnt a lot of Hebrew through fun games, including Delayed Reaction, Charades and ani yoshev al kisse! Three of the Israeli Madrichim, Eli, Amit and Ronni, led us through the camp along with Morah Harvey and Mr Thaler.

תודה רבה מורים ומדריכים We were full of energy at times, but they were patient with us through the whole camp and we had a great time. Whether it was chilling and singing by the camp fire, enjoying free time on the basketball court, doing ruach, having meals together or playing Hebrew games, we really bonded as a group. Morning tfilla was a special experience and we all felt as one. Overall it was an incredible camp.

מחנה קרמבו היה מחנה נהדר

Y8 Hebrew students

Click on this link to watch the highlights video

Year 12 Duke of Edinburgh Award

Ray Francis – Head of PDHPE

Year 12 Duke of Edinburgh’s Award participants strike GOLD!

Congratulations to Samuel, Lara, Rachel, Oliver and Adam who were all presented with their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s (D of E) Awards by HRH Prince Edward last Friday at the Sydney Town Hall.

With recipients travelling from all over Australia to attend the 60^th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award program in Australia, it was a very special ceremony.

Guest presenter Eddie Woo received the biggest cheer of the afternoon from the young audience, so HRH was just the second most famous ‘Eddie’ in the room!

Our Gold students began their D of E journey with the Bronze award in Year 9, with their commitment increasing as they moved through the three levels of the award.

To achieve the Gold award students participated for a minimum of one year for an hour each week in a sport, learning a new skill (not a sport) and volunteering. They also had to complete two 4 day/3 night Adventurous Journeys and a Residential Project.

Congratulations to our 2019 Gold award recipients!

Samuel Dawson Kelly, Adam Riesel, Oliver Evans, Lara Rutstein and Rachel Jammy

Music Matters

Diana Springford – Head of Music

Our students have had another wonderful week of performance opportunities!

Mazal Tov to the students who beautifully sang Shalom Chaverim for Project Heritage last Friday. Other musical highlights were Devan Bloch’s rendition of Blue Danubeon cello and the re-imagining of the Beatles classic Let it Be by Chloe Csavas, Harry Greenberg, Jethro Igra, Chelsea Opit, Georgie Rosen, Max Salamon, Toby Seemann and Avalon van der Starre. Many thanks to Ms Birrell and Mr Hone for preparing the students for their performance of Shalom Chaverim and to Mr Burley for his accompaniment of the pieces.

The Junior Choir delighted an audience of Grandparents and Friends with their performance of Sim Shalom on Monday. Thanks to Ms Birrell and Mr Owen for their dedication.

Year 9 Rock Band performance at Assembly on Tuesday morning

Mazal Tov to the Year 9 Rock Band for their amazing performance of Crazy by Gnarls Barkley at the High School Assembly on Tuesday.

There’s a considerable amount of practice and commitment to rehearsals behind these performances. We thank the organisers of each of these events for creating such opportunities for our musicians.

Private Music Tuition and Infant Strings Program

Thank you to those who have already advised us of changes to private tuition and Infant Strings Program enrolments for next term. The deadline for new enrolments, notification of changes or intention to discontinue for Term 4 has now passed. All students currently receiving private music tuition and ISP will be automatically re-enrolled into tutor schedules for next term along with students commencing lessons for the first time and liable for fees. If you have any questions please contact Matilda Grieve by email to music@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

The schedules for Term 4, 2019 will be created during term break and emailed prior to lessons resuming.

Links to online forms

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

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

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

To discontinue ISP for next term: http://tinyurl.com/InfantStringsDiscontinuations

High School Sport

Kristy Genc – Head of Sport – PDHPE Teacher – Year 11 Tutor

Term 4 High School Sport registrations

Term 3 proved to be a successful term for the ESport and EActive programs, with large numbers of students involved in fantastic programs.

The Term 4 ESport program will offer weekly trainings and competitions in the following:

Weekly girls netball competition – High Performance Competition, Heffron Park
Weekly mixed netball competition – Randwick Netball, Heffron
Weekly girls and boys basketball competition – Easts Basketball League
Weekly boys futsal competition – Maccabi NSW, Rose Bay
Weekly girls and boys touch football competition – Easts Touch Competition

Please note that to participate in any of these competitions, students are required to wear the correct Emanuel School sports uniform for that particular sport. All uniforms can be purchased at the school uniform shop.

Term 4 EActive will offer the following recreational programs:

Girls summer fitness
Boys summer fitness
Swim squad program
Summer tennis program
Gymnastics development squad
Pilates
Indoor rock climbing

Bookings for Term 4 are now open and will close on Thursday 26 September 2019. Places are expected to fill quickly so it is important that registrations are made via the following Trybooking links:

High School ESport: www.trybooking.com/YJFS

High School EActive: www.trybooking.com/FNNJ

Further information on each of these activities is available on the Parent Portal.

If you have any questions please email Kristy Genc (Head of Sport) on: kgenc@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

Representative Sport

Kristy Genc – Head of Sport – PDHPE Teacher – Year 11 Tutor

Netball

Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the Sydney Schools Cup Netball Competition throughout this term. It was fantastic to see this weekly inter-school competition being held at Emanuel School and our teams playing so well. The Emanuel teams trained each Monday morning in preparation for their weekly Tuesday games against the ten teams in the competition.

The Emanuel Maroon team progressed to the grand final which was played this week against Moriah 1. Emanuel started very well, with the scores tied in the second quarter. Unfortunately, Moriah finished too strongly, but overall it was a great game of netball by all. A special mention to Talia Rabin who played an outstanding game, Alyssa Simmons for her versatility and Alexis Demos for an impressive season.

Front row: Gabriella Freed, Alexis Demos, Alyssa Simmons, Kenya Martin. Back Row: Alice Milner, Talia Rabin, Ruby Brody, Mariah Lewy, Alena Lewy

In Term 4 there will be many weekly netball opportunities for Emanuel students, and I encourage players to continue to improve their skills and fitness in the off season by taking part in these summer netball options.

Cricket

Congratulations to Jonah Trope who has been selected in the 15 years NSW All Schools Cricket team. This is a very high level sporting achievement and I wish him the best of luck in his upcoming tour.

Rabin Bugle

From Little Things Big Things Grow! Congratulations Year 12 Rabin!

Graduation is not the end; it’s the beginning. Today we celebrated and farewelled our Year 12 Rabinites. We shared a wonderful moment, with thoughtful speeches, photos and video clips of their time in High School and there was of course some delicious cake!

Our Year 12s generosity in spirit and actions have made our House rich in so many ways over the years and their kindness, humour and sense of joy will be missed. It is hard to believe that time has passed so so quickly and when they set out on their High School journey our House danced to Eiffel 65’s I’m Blue at Inter-House Music and PSY’s Gangnam Style dominated the charts.

The Rabinities of 2019 have come a long way from those first initial High School steps and Camp Somerset with its Wombat Hole, trekking and kayaking. It has been a journey with much laughter, some adversities and many valuable life and academic lessons. The group has grown, each individual has found his and her individual path and it is a tribute to your character how you all have managed these steps. A wise person once said that it is not so important what people think of you when you start a journey or job, as it is when you finish. The contributions, acts of character and heart that you have shown during your time at Emanuel School have endeared you all to our House, School and Community.

We will miss you and hope to hear from you all from time to time. Each of you will go far and your kind and thoughtful nature will no doubt continue to inspire and make a difference in the world.

Week 8 – Year 10 rocks Rabin House Assembly

House Music is coming and it will hopefully have a happier ending than Game of Thrones! Rabin House commend our Year 10 Rabin Tutor Group and Lachlan Corne and Talia Sinani in Year 11 Rabin, on ensuring our House Assembly rocked and we all enjoyed the House Music Jeopardy. There were many great performances in different categories from Ariella Tracton’s performance of Adele’s Hello, Guy Rein’s version of Billy Joel’s Piano Manto, Ari Merten playing Stevie Wonders Superstition and many more. Rabin House especially commend the following students on giving up their time to prepare and give fine performances:

Jade Berson and Lachlan Corne on being great Assembly hosts
Ari Merten – performed Your Song by Elton John and Superstition by Stevie Wonder
Ezra Hersch – performed Fur Elize by Beethoven
Talia Sinani – performed Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran and Khalid
Ariella Tracton – performed Brittney Spears’ Hit me baby one more time and Adele’s Hello
Ruben Mihalovich – performed Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
Guy Rein – performed Piano Manby Billy Joel

It was a top House Assembly with some outstanding performances!

National Literacy and Numeracy Week

Katie Narunsky – Primary Maths Support

Last week we celebrated Numeracy Week 2019. The students took part in activities that included ‘Catch-an-Idea’ moments, Suduko puzzles with a sweet twist, Ken-Kens, brainteasers, riddles and classroom cooking.

Competition

Thank you to everybody who took part in the Catch-an-Idea’ competition. It was wonderful to see so many amazing mathematical ideas captured around us.

The winners of the competition are: Boaz Simhi (Year 5) and Toni Sher (Year 5)

“This is a mathematical moment because it is a shape as a shadow.” Toni Sher

Below is Boaz Simhi’s winning entry.

Answers to maths brainteasers in Ma Nishma Week 6

What three numbers have the same answer when added together and multiplied together? 3, 2 and 1

What has to be broken before you can use it? An egg

From Year 4 reporters

Mission to Mars

As it is the 50^th anniversary since the landing on the moon and there is lots of talk about NASA’s planned Mission to Mars, we decided to interview people on their feelings about travel to Mars.

We asked: Do you think we should be spending money trying to send people to Mars?

Do you think we should be looking at Mars for human habitation?

Should money be spent on space travel or would it be better used on Earth?

Click on this link to watch our interviews.

What is your opinion on the topic?

If you would like to add your opinions to the survey, click on the link below. (Emanuel email sign in.)

https://forms.gle/e8b6Wddp4jsxCNyQA

Leah Joshua, Sofia Berkovic, Sanne Nathan and Rebecca Salamon

CIS Athletics Carnival

Stuart Taylor – PDHPE Teacher | Acting Co-ordinator Extra-Curricular Program

The CIS Athletics Carnival was held at Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre on Thursday 12 September 2019 with 10 Emanuel School students participating against students from all of the Independent School’s Sporting Associations in NSW. The students were selected to participate via their performances at the ASISSA Carnival. Our students competed with determination and enthusiasm in a competition just below state level and achieved fantastic results.

Avalon Gold – 11 years girls high jump – 1.25m (15^th overall and Personal Best height)

Jonathan Levy – Senior boys discus – 23.72m (6^th overall)

Jonah Broughton-Oshlack – Senior boys high jump – 1.35m (9^th overall and equal Personal Best height)

Jonathan Levy, Oliver Novy, Hayden Rosen, Rohan Britton – Senior boys relay – 59.45 seconds (20^th overall)

Ashleigh Gold, Leah Grunseit, Amelie Mueller, Jemma Adler – Senior girls relay – 1.02.66 minutes (23rd overall)

Year 3 Market Day

Careers

Claire Pech – Careers Advisor

This week was our last Careers session in Year 12. I always find it a mixture of emotions as I farewell another Year 12 group. I am delighted for them that they are coming to the end of their schooling experience, I am also excited that they are about to embark on the many directions, roads, paths (and dead-ends) that lie ahead, and that is all part of the process. I wish them all of the luck in the world, and I have really enjoyed being part of this process with them. Good luck!

What is news at UNSW?

Faculty of Engineering Admission Scheme (FEAS)

If students are applying to UNSW and are not sure if they will get the guaranteed atar of 93 (a creep up from last year), then this scheme is for you, as they will take in students up to 10 points below as long as they have applied, with a video submission. They are looking for students who do well in Science and Maths, but whose ATAR is lower due to their other grades pulling it down. Click here for more information.

Bachelor of Information Systems Admissions Scheme (BISAS)

BISAS offers an alternative pathway into UNSW’s Bachelor of Information Systems program. Applications for Term 1 2020 are now open. First round applications close on Sunday 17 November 2019. Apply online

Art & Design Portfolio Entry

Portfolio Entry is an opportunity for students to boost their chances of admission in to Australia’s of Art & Design Faculty. On-time submissions for Term 1, 2020 close on Monday 30 September 2019. Read more.

UNSW Scholarships

New Goldman Sachs Women in Business Scholarship
Valued at $6,000 per annum, this scholarship is available to female students who are commencing full-time study in an undergraduate degree program offered by the UNSW Business School.

Pamela JA Wallis Women in Business Scholarship
Valued at $5,000 per annum, this scholarship is available to female students who are commencing full-time study in either the Bachelor of Information Systems or Bachelor of Actuarial Studies program offered by the UNSW Business School.

(Source: UNSW Educators Monthly September 2019)

Kornmehl

Terry Aizen – Director Kornmehl

Rosh HaShanah explorations

We have been learning about the joyous festival of Rosh HaShanah over the past week. We have focused particularly on drawing and learning about bees and where honey comes from. We realise that young children learn best through interactive and hands-on experiences, where they can use all their senses and a variety of mediums. With this in mind we expose the children to learning in many different ways. A number of experiences were provided enabling the children to use different languages to represent their knowledge and understanding about bees.

A still life experience was set up which included different apples and honey. The children were invited to look closely at the apples and draw their observations. There was also some honey tasting.

The overhead projector was an invitation to explore BIG bees. Transparency paper was provided for the children to draw on. This was placed on the overhead projector which then projected the image onto the wall. Coloured transparent shapes were provided along with other loose parts to add colour to their drawings.

We explored making a huge beehive using recycled materials and paper mache. This is a sensory delight for pre-schoolers, giving them the opportunity to squish, mix, squeeze and feel the wet paper mache in their hands – using all their senses.

Pine cones collected at Bush School, were used to make cute bees with wings and feelers. The children created a beehive for the pinecone bees to live in.

A sorting, counting and fine-motor experience was set up in the shape of a beehive. The children used tweezers to place balls of nectar in the hive.

At another table an assortment of materials was provided to make bee puppets……cellophane, sticks, paper, pipe cleaners etc.

Later in the day the puppets were used to sing a little rhyme……

Here is the beehive, but where are the bees, hiding away where nobody sees

Watch them come creeping, out of the hive, one, two, three, four and five

At our morning meeting, we learnt the Sing-along Song for Rosh HaShanah.

We thought about one of the verses and what it means to act in the best way:

Rosh HaShanah starts the year

We hear the shofar blow

Telling us that we should act

In the best way that we know.

Levi: Making new friends

Sierra: Share your toys with other friends

Ben: Be kind to people

Levi: When teachers tell you to pack away, you listen.

Another verse went like this and we wondered about the world’s birthday.

Rosh HaShanah celebrates the birthday of the world

Apples dipped in honey to sweeten the year

For all the boys and girls.

Kobe: When you see plants and the earth has lots of water. The plants were all babies.

Stevie: When we’re thinking of the birthday of the world, we’re thinking of when the world was a tiny baby…just like us!

Ben: The world gets bigger and bigger.

Stevie: The people who made the world, so the world could survive other people to live on the world.

Tom: It starts off little and little and then growed and growed and growed.

Leo: People helped with making the earth.

At rest time the children did a mindfulness experience using apples and honey. The children were given the time to engage their senses of touch, smell, taste, feel etc to enable them to slow down and be present in the moment. It was a challenge at times not to bite straight into the apple, but they all rose to it. There were also other learning opportunities along the way, for example maths concepts such as fractions were being explored as the whole apple was cut in half. How many halves make a whole? Cut again and you have quarters. It was a magic moment to discover the star shape inside the apple. How did this happen? Was it the way the apple was cut? Overall this was a very tasty, mindful and festive experience…..Apples dipped in honey for Rosh HaShanah…..A sweet new year, a good new year….Apples dipped in honey for Rosh HaShanah.

Beekeeper visit

Extending on our learning for Rosh Hashanah, we invited a beekeeper to come to Kornmehl last week Thursday. Gavin Smith is clearly passionate about bees but more than that he was able to share his passion and knowledge with us in a way that was fun and interactive.

Gavin came in his beekeeper suit and explained to us the differences between European bees and native bees. Gavin taught us so much about how bees operate: the way that they gather the nectar, how they make wax and form it into cells into which they lay their eggs. We learnt about how he uses a smoker to distract the bees when he gathers the honey from the hive. He explained how you can tell the difference between a male and female bee; the male has huge eyes which he uses to search for the queen bee.

We learnt about the medicinal properties of propolis for healing the stings and some other ailments too. We also learnt that bees hate the smell of bananas and that the best way to remove a sting is to scratch it off with your nails. He spoke about putting ice, vinegar, garlic, onion, orange, lemons on the sting to neutralise the poison as well. Gavin shared the way that bees gather nectar, how they make wax and form it into cells where they lay their eggs.

The information was diverse and interesting, and each segment was interspersed with an activity for the children to engage in; smelling the wax, handling the smoker, dancing a bee dance and finally tasting some of the delicious honey and honey comb.

Kirra: I liked the honey

Allegra: I liked it when we smelled the honey.

Cian: I didn’t know that there was a bee called a zebra bee.

Rafi: I heard that bees can sting and that you need to put honey on the bee sting. I loved when he told us about the honey.

Finn: I know that bees can sting, and they will really hurt you. You need to go to the hospital.

Talia: I liked the bee dancing.

Oliver: I liked the honey.

Neveau: The bee stings the people, you say ouch!

Mikki: I learnt about the antennae, they use it to hear the flowers and then they eat the flowers.

Dolphin questions for the Bee Keeper:

Leo: How do they get the bees out of the hive to get the honey?

Ben: When will the bees be born?

Zach: Do they wear a special suit to get the honey out?

Levi: How do the men get into the hive coz it’s tiny?

Kobe: Is the bee born in another bee?

Post box visits

This week, Seashell, Starfish and Dolphin groups walked to the post box on Clovelly Road to post their special Rosh HaShanah cards to their families to wish them a Shanah Tovah. The children were very excited to pop their cards in the post box.

We discussed what we put on the envelope, and how the post person knows which house to deliver the card to. We also had a look at a You Tube clip which explained the journey of our mail and how it gets from one place to another. On the clip we saw all the different machines that are used to sort through the mail. The children all put their address label and stamp on their cards. They are very excited to see when it gets to their homes.

Our stick insects

Nature is wonderful… how lucky are we to share our world with so many other creatures.

We have been so privileged to closely take part and observe the LIFE CYLCE of our stick insect. We got her when she was only three months old and got to see her eat, sleep, drink, explore, dance and grow. She then began to get a really large abdomen and we realised her belly was full of eggs. She slowly laid these two or three each day and then she began to slow down, as her eating and movements became slower and we arrived at Pre-school one day at the beginning of this year to find she had died.

We buried her in the garden alongside the car park and we continued to research and treasure the eggs and look after them by keeping them moist and ensuring no fungus or mould grew on them.

During the July holidays, the eggs burst, and we were lucky enough to notice these and begin to feed our new baby stick insects, as they were being born.

These have been incredible to watch and tend to each day as we ensure their leaves are fresh and that they are moist to allow for the insects to drink and hydrate themselves.

The Shilbury family very kindly offered to buy the stick insects a larger and more visible enclosure. They bought it and put it together for us. We thoughtfully created a new living and much larger habitat for the stick insects and then moved them into their new home. Some of the babies have already shed their skin a few times and are growing really fast.
If you look closely with a magnifying glass, you can see their prehistoric looking faces and really interesting features. We are loving looking after our growing family of stick insects. To date we have 20 babies!

Community Connections – Gesher

Sonia Newell – Development Officer

Where there’s a will there’s a way

There was such excitement around the campus on Monday morning as Grandparents and Special Friends started arriving for our wonderful 2019 Primary Grandparents Day. As we all know, our campus is not designed for the less mobile members of our community but with planning and determination, even those less mobile find a way to visit us and that is exactly how one of our grandparents was able to spend the morning here with his granddaughter. Soloman Marczak, known as Sam to all his friends and family, is grandfather of Year 1 student Eden Marczak. Chatting with Sam, who is ninety-six and a half years old – he told me the “half” is very important, is not very mobile but can get out and about in a wheelchair with assistance. He was over the moon to have this opportunity to spend precious time with Eden during the morning, something they will both lovingly cherish for a long time. Sam has other family members here at school too – Jemma Lopis, one of our Hebrew teachers (currently on maternity leave) is also one of Sam’s 9 grandchildren and her daughters, Jessica in Year 2 and Dalia in Year K are two of Sam’s eleven great grandchildren. Sam, a Holocaust survivor, was born into a large Jewish family in Poland from a long and distinguished line of Rabbis and Cantors on his mother’s side. Just like so many European Jews endured terrible times during WW2, many of Sam’s family were amongst the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis in the various concentration camps. Sam survived time in Buchenwald and Thereisenstadt where, at the age of 20, he was eventually liberated. His story is one so familiar to many of us, whose families thank God found their way to Australia after the War, to a new life and family along with wonderful opportunities allowing them to continue a “free” life as practicing Jews in this democratic country of ours.

Eden Marczak and grandfather Sam

Michael Kitchener, now a current parent and Leon Goltsman, one of the first students in 1983 – both are members of the Class of 1990

Back to Emanuel School

Close to 100 alumni, past parents and staff joined us on Wednesday evening despite the inclement weather, for our Back to Emanuel School event – an opportunity to reconnect. The ground floor of our Innovation Building was transformed into an inviting open space to showcase class photographs from the start of the School in 1983 to 2018. Our Year 11 Hospitality students, together with their teacher Ms Lara Ephron, prepared and served an amazing light supper whilst our impressive Green Man Band, one of our senior jazz bands, entertained us all. Six of our High School Madrichim led campus tours with our guests in awe of how the School has changed since they were here – for some it was 20 plus years ago! More details and photos next week.

Remember September 2019

There is still time for our community to help alumnus Ben Wilheim (Class of 2008) who, together with family and friends, is raising awareness and funds for the fight to cure pancreatic cancer: https://rememberseptember.gofundraise.com.au/

Food Glorious Food – “Friday Night” and “The Family Meal”

As Rosh HaShanah fast approaches, recipes circulate around our extended community as we seek out the ‘best’ honey cake recipes and other Yom Tov favourites. One of our parents, Susie Rosen, started a Facebook Group some time ago, called Friday Night which now has over 6000 members – not only here in Sydney but all around the world, sharing their favourite recipes as everyone does Friday Night a little differently. The recipes and photos shared on this closed page are so inspiring – perhaps you are already a member but, if not, request to join if food is important in your life! It is an amazing resource – a great way to share your own favourite recipes and/or find some new ones, including vegetarian and vegan dishes.

Our wonderful P&F will be launching a very special Cook Book, titled “The Family Meal” as part of their 2019 fundraising efforts to help support Emanuel School. It is a collaboration of Emanuel community members, culminating in around 200 recipes and a selection of beautiful photographs by our photographer extraordinaire, Ofer Levy. Stay tuned as pre-orders for this amazing book will be available soon.

If you have photos and/or news to share, please send to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

Parent Safety Group

Thank you to our volunteers last week:

Larry Simon, Elan Miller, Anita Weinberger, Ian Doust, David Lavecky, Mia Kalinko, Claire Gil-Munoz, Alisa Siale, Jeff Abrahams, Sol Caganoff, Jeffrey Akres, Brett Adler, Wilfred Lax, Andrew Nabarro, Dmitry Gorelik, Jonathan Armstrong, Anton Goldman, Daniel Grynberg, Jerome Abrahams, Kenneth Phillips and Darryl Sacks