From the Principal

Andrew Watt – Principal

Welcome to Term 2

Welcome back to our e-Manuel virtual world! Our hope is that you will be reconnecting strongly to our online learning program, after enjoying a restful and relaxing home break. A small group of students have returned, to work online in the Lehrer Family Building (MPH), and I confess that it has been lovely to hear the voices and laughter of children on our campus. I am very much looking forward to the day when I can stand at the gates and greet the entire student body! My ‘welcome to students’ video clip can be accessed from this link .

Preparing for a staged return to school

The NSW Premier announced on Tuesday that the phased return to classroom teaching for Public Schools, due to commence on 11 May, would result in a move to full-time attendance “more quickly than anticipated”. Whilst no clear timeline has emerged as yet, each Independent School has also commenced their planning. Whilst we have developed a range of potential models for our transition pathway towards full-time school attendance, the survey feedback from our staff and our parents will assist us to develop the model that aligns best with the wishes of our School community. We plan to continue our e-Manuel learning program until the conclusion of Week 3, at which time we will commence our transition back to school model. The details of our transition pathway will be communicated to parents early next week.

In the meantime, we have prepared for the staged transition back to school by implementing the following safety measures:

Eight new hand-wash stations have been installed across the campus, with hand sanitiser also available in classrooms. Appropriate physical hygiene measures will continue to be reinforced on a daily basis;
Temperature checks will take place on a daily basis at each entry gate. Any staff member or student with a temperature or displaying any symptoms of a cold or flu’ will return home until symptoms have cleared;
Comprehensive, daily cleaning and disinfecting of our campus will be maintained, with enhanced and regular cleaning of high-touch surfaces. Bins will be provided in every classroom for used tissues and emptied regularly throughout the day;
Whilst the 1.5m distance is no longer a requirement, students will be spaced wide apart in classrooms, maintaining an appropriate physical distance from their teacher. Windows will be open to allow air flow, where appropriate;
Staff or students who are vulnerable to COVID-19 (e.g. chronic respiratory, immune-suppressed) will remain at home and access learning remotely.

Kindergarten to Year 8 resource packages for 536 families

Filling resource packages for distribution across 38 suburbs was a significant logistical exercise, involving a team of 15 staff members over the break. At one stage, our MPH was filled with rows of desks, lined with packages waiting to be filled with resources for work across nine subjects – and Maltesers from the Principal! It is hoped that these packages, requiring delivery from last Friday to Wednesday, will enhance the learning of our students, particularly those involved in practical subjects. A huge thank you to the team of teachers and administration staff who led this project.

Yom HaAtzma’ut celebrations

Emanuel students celebrated the Israel’s independence online, producing wonderful Israeli-inspired videos and works of art. Thank you to the Jewish Life team for their work in creating engaging programs to mark this important day in the calendar. If you haven’t yet seen Isaac’s (Year 1) video on how to make Shakshuka, head to the Emanuel School Community Facebook page.

Mother’s Day

Our P&F Committee work so hard every year to create a delicious and welcoming Mother’s Day breakfast for Emanuel mothers, grandmothers and special friends. Like so many other events and activities, this year we’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day in a different way. Please take a photo of your and your family enjoying Mother’s Day together and email these to p&f@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au. We’ll be creating a video collection of these photos – marking this special day together, but apart.

Keeping connected with Emanuel School grandparents

Sadly, for the first time in Emanuel history, we were unable to welcome grandparents to our Pesach sederim due to the restrictions on social gatherings. I have reached out to Emanuel grandparents with a bi-monthly newsletter, designed to keep them connected to the School and provide information to help ease the stress of isolation. If your parents have not received these newsletters, please send their contact details to Michelle Favero at mfavero@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au.

Staff departures

Martin Rembson (HSIE) and Mark Dunn (SLC) departed our School at the conclusion of Term 1 with our sincere best wishes. Martin Rembson has returned to Sweden to be with his family and Mark Dunn has taken on an English teaching role at another school. We are very grateful to Craig Moss, our Co-ordinator of Gifted and Talented (High School), for picking up Mr Rembson’s Year 12 Business Studies class. Heath Morley has been appointed as Acting Head of Rabin House for Term 2. Sarah De Wilt will re-join our staff and teach within our SLC.

Midford uniform store now open in Avoca Street

If you go down to Avoca Street today, you’re in for a big surprise. Midford has opened its doors at its premises at Shop 3,
155 Avoca Street, Randwick. The site is larger, air conditioned and close to our campus, with parking available at the nearby Royal Randwick Shopping Centre.

The shop’s opening hours have temporarily changed to:

Monday: 9.00 am – 12.00 pm
Thursday: 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm

Considering the current social distancing requirements, you may wish to:

order online at www.midford.com.au (password: ES1983)
email emanuel@midford.com.au

You can also call ahead to make an appointment for Winter uniform fittings on 9326 5445.

For security and hygiene purposes, the uniform shop is now cashless, so please be prepared when planning your shopping trip.

Mazal tov

Isaac Grove, Year 12, is a finalist of the Head On Student Photography Award. His image will appear in the online exhibition from 2 May 2020. There is an interesting line up of photography workshops and interviews for the Head On Photo Festival at https://www.headon.com.au/whatson/pinboard/2020-05
A group of Year 6 girls ran fun Zoom sessions in the school holidays for other girls in Primary. Activities included book club, five sessions of baking, soccer skills, dance lessons, serviette folding, Minecraft club, and more. What a wonderful way to stay connected.

Quote of the day

“Innovation is a state of mind.”

James O’Loghlin

Primary School

Natanya Milner – Head of Primary School

Welcome to Term 2

Term 2 has begun with e-Manuel continuing for the time being. We are currently discussing the best plans for a return to some on-campus learning and hope to communicate these to you in the near future. At this stage, no quote seems truer than:

In such a short time, our community has embraced the ‘storm’ and is truly learning to ‘dance’. I cannot adequately express how grateful I am to all the members of our team who are contributing to the success of the current situation. Whilst we all realise it isn’t ideal, I continue to see wonderful things:

Teachers who are constantly looking for ways to improve the quality of the education they deliver and the ways they can connect with their students. They have bravely tried new tools and embraced the situation with positivity and grace.
Children who have shown adaptability and are managing to learn an amazing array of new skills as scenarios have been thrown at them. They have shown patience, resilience and good spirit and I am so proud of them.
Parents who are supporting their children’s education in ways they had never imagined whilst also trying to manage houses and jobs. We truly couldn’t do it without you!

This truly is a combined effort. I would like to reiterate that we understand that everyone – students, teachers and parents – are all doing the best that they can. There will be easier and harder days but here are some tips we thought may be helpful to share:

Be kind to yourself and do what you can:

No-one appreciates more than we do the work that you are doing at home. We are grateful to you for any support that you are able to offer and we also understand that there are many competing priorities in our families at the moment.

Feel free to look for the fun:

Feel free to take part when appropriate. Participate in active/fitness sessions with your children and enjoy some of the fun videos that are being posted by teachers.

Let your child lead:

As your children become more familiar with the routines, try to give them the opportunity to explain their understanding to you before stepping in to help or correct. If your child can read/listen to the instructions, then encourage them to use these prompts (even twice) – do not answer your child’s query about what to do if the answers are there. Guide your child to use the chat and interactive features appropriately.

Set up and maintain expectations and boundaries:

Come up with some rules collaboratively with your child that consider your needs and tasks for the day as well. If you are working, a visual symbol of when your child can/cannot interrupt you may help them to know. Feel free to remind the children of the posters that we have sent home.

Ensure your child takes regular breaks and keeps moving:

Each 40 minute lesson should have 30 minutes of learning and 10 minutes to move and take a break. Some ideas for this time include getting a drink or snack, going to the bathroom, stretching and doing some exercise. If you are unable to prompt these breaks because you are working too, setting alarms that match the timetable can help children to know when they need to return for the next lesson.
We are conscious to include screen and non-screen activities throughout the day. Having a list of non-screen activities that children can do in breaks or outside school time can help to keep screens limited in leisure time.

Yom Ha’atzmaut

A huge thank you to the Hebrew and Jewish Studies team for planning an engaging and fun array of activities for Yom Ha’atzmaut. From cooking and craft through to Eurovision, there was something for everyone! A special thanks to Adam Carpenter and Hagit Bar-On for working with their team to create such wonderful ideas in our current situation. I have seen some photos and videos of children from the day and I hope you all had some fun (again – despite the technical glitches!).

Book donations

Last term, an initiative led by Tracy Kluck, Fiona Singer and the Primary Library led to a huge number of books being donated to Books in Homes, Australia by the Emanuel community. Here is a message and some photos from them:

“Thank you to Emanuel School, Randwick, who recently donated twelve boxes of children’s library books to be distributed to students and schools in socio-educationally disadvantaged areas, and Indigenous and remote communities around the country. Books in Homes’ vision is to create an Australia where every child and family has access to books in the home.”

For more information on Books in Homes click here

From the Head of Jewish Life

Rabbi Daniel Siegel – Head of Jewish Life

Kodesh – encountering the Divine

When Moshe first encounters God at the Burning Bush, he is warned: “Do not come near (אל תקרב – al tikrav)” for this is “holy ground (אדמת קודש – admat kodesh)”.

This week’s parashah begins with God speaking to Moshe “after the death of the two sons of Aharon, when they drew near (בקרבתם -bekorvatam) to the presence of God”. He tells Moshe to warn Aharon “not to come at will into the Holy Place (הקודש – HaKodesh), behind the curtain…lest he die”. Indeed, the “Holy of Holies” (קודש הקודשים – Kodesh HaKodashim), separated by a veil, could be entered only once a year, on Yom Kippur, by the High Priest, after the prescribed preparations.

The word Kadosh (קדוש), usually translated as holy, more accurately means set apart. The Torah’s proscription here is reflective of Ancient Near Eastern practice wherein the precincts of the God are not to be trespassed and the priestly sacrificial rite (קרבן-korban, meaning to draw near) is to be delimited with all due propriety. This renders the second parashah of this week’s Torah reading, Kedoshim, all the more radical: “Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: ‘You shall be holy (קדושים-kedoshim), for I, the Lord your God, am holy’.”

Holiness (קדושה – Kedushah) here is given an aspirational connotation and a way of being, commanded of the entire community. Moreover, after these introductory words, parashat kedoshim (קדושים – kedoshim), and the Holiness Code of which it is a part, repeatedly commands us to be empathic and to champion the rights of the vulnerable and marginal of our society. That is, we are being told to be set apart (קדוש – kadosh) by living an exemplary life requiring us to be connected to all living beings. God’s sancta, we learn, is beyond space, infusing all dimensions of life.

It is upon “holy ground (אדמת קודש – admat kodesh)”, at the Burning Bush, that Moshe hears the divine call to liberate the oppressed: “And, the Lord said: ‘I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry, I know their suffering’.” The holiness of God is realised in our honouring the holiness of all living beings. It is then that we most closely encounter the Divine.

בקרובי אקדש/Bikrovai Ekadesh
Through those near to Me, will I be sanctified

From the Deputy Principal

Margaret Lowe – Deputy Principal

Words of wisdom

In my recent letter to High School parents I invited comment. I tend to live dangerously. I received a relatively small number of emails from parents with genuine concerns about their family circumstances that needed to be expressed. One email I received was particularly moving, insightful and provides us with a message of hope. I asked permission to print a portion of it here:

My parents were evacuated away from their homes during their vital Primary School years because of WWII. My father has a cousin, now living in California, who was a teenager hiding out in an attic in Amsterdam during the Holocaust. She was 15 when Holland was liberated. Her entire family was murdered.

This is how I see things. We are living at an incredible time when we are able to communicate with each other, face to face, without even being in the same room, thanks to advanced technology never before seen in human history. I get to actually see and talk with my 85 year old father every day, uninterrupted, even though he is in isolation in his London flat. My father’s generation had an extremely disrupted education. My mother’s 11+ exam results went missing because WWII ended as they were being posted out. Despite this (the results were never found), she excelled in High School. Neither of my parents seemed to have lacked educationally by the disruption to their lives between the ages of 5-11 years. Their peers became doctors, lawyers, teachers etc. The cousin who survived hiding in the attic in Amsterdam, learned to speak English and went on to have a university education in South Africa and became a civil rights lawyer and writer. The world did not have a fixed mindset back then. People learned to roll with the punches so to speak. The economy has struggled many times in the history of humanity, we have experienced wars and pandemics. The human race has somehow survived. My great grandparents lived in terrible poverty in the East End of London when they migrated to England in the 19th century. Their children, my grandparents, then endured the great depression of the 1930’s – but they worked hard to overcome adversity to live out their very long lives in relative comfort. Surely our children should learn to survive through adversity too, instead of this mad panic about 5 year olds missing out on a year of school education.

I am extremely grateful to the parents who have emailed at various times over the couple of months to express their belief in our team. Our teachers, our leaders, our support staff and our families have made a formidable team in support of our students and their learning and development over this time.

Emanuel is a community that comes together in good times and in bad. Let us continue to support each other and to make our way through these constantly changing times. Let us take inspiration from the elders in our community who have, during times of great adversity, shown incredible strength and character. They have:

resilience,
problem solving or ‘can-do’ attitudes,
an ability to accept how things are and work from there,
gratitude for what they have despite adversity,
a strong work ethic.

My best wishes to all for a positive and growth-filled Term 2, whatever that might mean. For those with families overseas in difficult situations like our 85 year old grandfather, you are in our thoughts.

Yom HaZikaron

Ruth Harvey – Head of Hebrew

Yom HaZikaron – יום הזיכרון

While adjusting to the reality of physical distancing, we remain socially connected. The following video clip from Israel depicts the nation’s utter commitment to the memory of its fallen, and how despite isolation Israelis literally stand united in paying the ultimate respect to their loved ones. View video here

As Yom HaZikaron this year could not be held in the traditional manner at Emanuel, it was still upheld in a shared experience by the School community.

Students and staff of Emanuel engaged in a Yom HaZikaron program, which consisted of personal stories of Israelis who lost loved ones, a Yizkor prayer, a memorial candle lighting and a message of hope and call for peace. Participants were given the opportunity to reflect and share their feelings and thoughts following the presentation. They were invited to join together in lighting the Yizkor candle, each in their own home, but together, as reflected in the photos. The film can be viewed here

The program evoked a variety of feelings and realisations for our students and affected each in different ways. Many mentioned being moved and inspired and expressed gratitude for the life that they have.

We thank the overwhelming number of students and staff who shared their reflections so respectfully and thoughtfully. We would have liked to include all 263 of them. The ones included here have been selected as representatives of the collection of responses.

When asked: Why is it important to dedicate a special day every year for Yom HaZikaron? participants responded:

I think it is important to dedicate a day every year to commemorating fallen soldiers because they lost their lives to ensure that regular civilians have a safe place to live.
It is important for us to commemorate their passing, celebrate their lives and come together to provide support for one another.
It is also to continue the hope that one day, there will be no more additions to the lists of people, no more war, only Ahava and Shalom.
We are a community, and function to support each other.
Similar to ANZAC Day in Australia we must remember people who risked their lives for us or their countries.
It is important that we pay respect to people who lost their lives for the state of Israel. By doing this together we get closer as a nation.
It forces us to stop and think about the losses to our society, and enables us to humanise a death count.
It’s important to remember the fallen – people die twice, once when the soul leaves their body, and twice when people stop remembering them.
It’s important to ensure that we don’t just celebrate Israel’s independence, but the people who risked and lost their lives fighting for this cause.
It is so important to acknowledge the many lives lost for the freedoms and liberties we have today.
Yom HaZikaron is about reflecting on Israel’s past and remembering those who not only died protecting it, but also those affected by the deaths of their loved ones. Remembering is an important part of healing, and with remembering we hope that one day we won’t need to have any more wars.

When asked to share their thoughts feelings about the film, participants responded:

The material was very thoughtful and touching, it encapsulated the entirety of what Yom HaZikaron is about.
Thought it was quite sad, seeing the effect that the war had had on a family and how it had killed a member of it, but at the same time I thought it was inspiring how they continued their lives and managed to keep living.
I thought the El Malei Rahamim prayer was very reflective and I managed to think about a lot of things to do with my family’s past with my late grandfather being a part of the Yom Kippur war in 1973 and my great grandfather fighting with Poland against Nazi Germany.
I felt connected to the three children that lost their father in war as I lost one of my cousins from Israel in war.
Thought this was a nice way to do the ceremony even if we cannot all be together.
It was very sad to see the kids talk about their fathers. It made me really feel as if I was so lucky and was taking a lot of aspects in my day to day experience for granted.
Emotional, devastating, sad, inspiring.
It was a very sad film, but the message behind it is very important and everyone should have the opportunity to reflect on the freedoms that they take for granted today. It also serves as a message to avoid conflict at all costs, because the consequences of armed conflicts between countries are great, causing much sadness and loss.
I found very moving the singing of El Malei Rahamim at the Western Wall as it showed how everyone in attendance came together as a community to commemorate the lives lost and how a lot of those people in the crowd were personally affected by this.
Whilst watching the film, it shocked me that being in the army and risking your life has become so normalised in Israel, but still remains so impactful on the families of soldiers. It saddens me that people must lose their loves ones in order to fight for peace.
I felt very connected to the community when I lit my candle alongside others.
I think that the film was very moving, and it informed me a lot about Yom HaZikaron.
My thoughts of the film are what would life be like without my dad?
I thought the film was overall an excellent way to honour Yom HaZikaron. It was insightful and moving.
I think the video reminded me that all these people that passed had people who loved them.
It showed that we must remember the person’s life not their death.
Proud to be Jewish, a sense of belonging, sad, grateful for being alive and for my family.
I found the film quite intense and had a strong emotional reaction, but I soon realised that I could move on from this experience and return to my daily life, but the lives of the people in the film are forever changed.
The experience felt by a family that lost their father and husband resounded deeply in me, as it showed the emotions felt in the aftermath of military tragedy. often, it is easy to ignore a casualty in another country.

Yom HaAtsma’ut

Daniel Samowitz – Jewish Life Teacher

A tribe of brothers and sisters

This past Tuesday, our High School came together to celebrate Yom HaAtsma’ut/Israel’s Independence Day. Like most of our learning, now, we engaged on E-Manuel online to celebrate Israel’s 72^nd year birthday.

This year we watched an Emanuel made news report in which we spoke to Israelis, made hummus with Shmulli (Yotam Otelengis distant relative) and connected with our Emanuel alumni on their Israel gap year program. We had fun celebrating and remembering all the aspects that we love about the Jewish homeland.

We then crossed over to a live news feed from our Informal Jewish Life team, through which we followed the journey from the prophet Isaiah to Herzel to David Ben Gurion and then to Golda Meir. We then put our Emanuel students and ourselves at the centre of this historical narrative and asked questions such as: Why is Israel important to us? What are the values that should underpin the nation-state of the Jewish people? How can or should we be an ‘Or La-Goyim’/A light unto the nations?

This Yom HaAtsma’ut we celebrated like no other in the history of the modern state of Israel, we celebrated united … apart. We finished with promising to be a part of shaping the future of the Jewish state and the Jewish people to help forge a homeland that would be exemplary for all of humanity. In our video celebrating Israel, we shared this beautiful song released last year for Israel Independence Day by famous Israeli artists. It is a celebration of Israel and we invite you to join as we celebrate another birthday and the promise of a Jewish state. To view the video click here

יום העצמאות שמח/YOM HAATSMA’UT SAMEACH

Wellbeing Wednesday

Kim Slender – School Counsellor

Wellbeing insights and information

As promised at the end of last term, we will be sharing some wellbeing insights and information via the Emanuel School FaceBook page on Wednesdays. We will follow up with additional links or reminders in Ma Nishma on Fridays. We are continuing to work directly with students, but in the meantime here are some of our highlighted resources for families for this week:

Karen Young from heysigmund.com is one of our favourite psychologists. She specialises in dealing with anxiety in young children. Click here to access a free webinar that she is hosting tonight.
The BlackDog Institute is offering a range of webinars relating to wellbeing and mental health. The BlackDog Institute is a trusted and well respected source that we highly recommend. To register your interest for the webinars click here

Take care

Kim, Belinda and Rachelle

Music

Diana Springford – Head of Music

Welcome back to Term 2

All music tuition and ensemble rehearsals have resumed this week, albeit in a different, online form. Schedules for Private Music Tuition and Infant Strings Program were emailed to parents. We use the same link for these schedules each term, so you should all be able to access them and bookmark your schedules on your device.

Instrument sundries: For those who need to stock up on replacement reeds, cleaning gear, strings, rosin and other bits and pieces, below are the website details for our local suppliers:

- Sydney Band Instruments here
- Irwin Violins here
- Sax and Woodwind here
- Prestige Musical Instruments here

For Emanuel instruments needing repair, please email jdearaujo@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au with detailed information about the fault.

A note about new enrolments to ISP: In the case of the K-2 Infant Strings Program, we are regrettably unable to add new enrolments into the program during this period of online learning. As soon as the situation changes, we will let you know.

A note about new enrolments to Private Music Tuition: We will need to review on a case-by-case basis new requests to enrol into private instrumental or voice lessons. For example, it is necessary in the current online environment for the enrolling student to have access to the instrument which they wish to use for private tuition and new ventures in online private music tuition are more likely to succeed where the student has a pre-existing experience of learning with a tutor (e.g. the student has been learning the instrument in IP, or is resuming private lessons after a break). However, we are open minded, so please ask.

New enrolment requests for private tuition can be made here.

Please contact Matilda Grieve by email to music@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au if you have any questions.

Careers

Claire Pech – Careers Advisor

Wow, a lot has happened in the world of careers, courses, education and the tertiary landscape since my last article in Ma Nishma, last term. I could write for days about this, but I will try and be as concise as possible. My top 10 that I would like students and parents to be aware of:

Macquarie University to base early entry for 2021 on Year 11 grades. Find out more here.
ANU have done the same and announced they will give their early offers in August and base these on either Year 11 grades (providing students complete Year 12) or students’ ATARs. Find out more here
In the weekend papers, there was talk about the changing landscape of tertiary institutions in relation to what courses will be offered for 2021 and beyond, the funding for staff at universities and changes being made. More information here.
I have been keeping Year 12s up to date with changes that came out during the school holidays via our new Emanuel School Careers Facebook Group. If you are in Year 10, 11 or 12 please join this group here.
UAC sent out a media release this week to all Year 12s from UAC (and all of the other state University admission centres) here. It is both reassuring but also a commitment to the ATAR as their main admission tool.
I have been creating research screencast videos for Year 12s, to combat being unable to meet as a group, Zoom works only up to a point with this. These videos can be found in a folder already emailed to the year group. My latest one was a video screen cast on early offers, there is also one on Medicine courses and Business. They can be found here.
Sydney University is putting on some great events and Q&A sessions during the next few weeks, students can log in to. To view click here.
AUNSW is sharing some interesting virtual sessions for all senior Year Groups. To find out more information please click here.
UAC has just released (this week) new presentations and videos on the UAC process, the SRS Process (Schools Recommended Scheme – Early Offers) and the EAS Process (Educational Access Scheme). Click here for more:
Finally, please stay up to date with everything to do with the HSC, school assessments and anything to do with NESA here updated daily.

Any questions or comments, please email me at cpech@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au.

HS Sport

Kristy Genc – Head of Sport – PDHPE Teacher – Year 12 Tutor

High School Sport – Term 2 update

As we start this term continuing our learning remotely, Emanuel Sport will also continue to be delivered online.

All High School students are able to access the Emanuel Sport online platform via the Reshet Student Cafe. This platform has a wide variety of programs for students to follow at home, for a variety of sports and fitness activities.

So that we can best accommodate students, Term 2 sport registrations will open on Monday. These registrations will allow coaching staff to design programs specific to each group and to communicate with those students who have registered for teams. Registrations for teams/groups now, will also assist with the transition to regular sport, when this is possible.

More information regarding Term 2 sport registrations is available on the Parent Portal.

High School Library

Karen McAndrew – Teacher Librarian

Research and support

The library is, as always, here to support your child’s learning. The Maria Tirabosco Library website offers access to digital databases, encyclopedias, newspapers and magazines, reading suggestions for Years 7 – 12, research tips and more.

All students have been sent emails containing links to reliable, age-appropriate resources in Term 1 and again earlier this week. Please remind your child that further assistance, support and advice is just an email away at kmcandrew@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

Library loans

As Margaret Lowe wrote on 21 April 2020 (27 Nisan 5780):

We will be able to allow students to borrow from the Library remotely this term. Students can access the catalogue via the student portal and select and reserve up to six books. Students will receive an email letting them know the books are ready for collection from the gate on the corner of Stanley and Avoca Streets. Return will also be at the gate. Book covers will be disinfected on return and books will be left for a week before being borrowed by another student. It will be important for students to understand that the books will not be available for a full week once returned. A set of instructions for borrowing appear at the end of this letter.

CBCA Book Week challenge

As part of the Wide Reading Program, all Year 7 – 10 students are invited to participate in the following Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week challenge and competition. Since 1945, the CBCA has fostered and promoted quality Australian literature to young audiences aged 0 – 16 years. The students’ challenge is to read, critique and advocate for one of the 2020 CBCA listed novels. Details of this years listed books and a writing scaffold can be found on each Year group’s LibGuides iRead page.

Cely Malki Program

Dr Lynn Joffee – Director Specialist Learning Centre

Cely Malki Program – up and running in a new format

The Cely Malki Program will be welcoming students between Years 5 – 12 back from Monday 4 May 2020. As with everything else at the moment, it will run in a modified format online.

Everyone should log into the joint Zoom session and, when you need individual assistance, ask Dr Joffe who will ‘send’ you to a breakout room with a teacher or one of the alumni tutors for a limited time.

The Zoom Meeting Link here is to all sessions so please ensure that you save it. It will be active for sessions on Mondays and Thursdays.

Please let Dr Joffe know if you will be attending and on which day/s.

Another option while online

If you, or a small group of students in the same grade, need assistance outside of these times, there are a limited number of sessions available in which we might be able to schedule a session with a teacher or tutor, as long as a third person is available to sit in on the session; no 1:1 session is possible without this. Please email Dr Joffe to let her know if you would like to take advantage of this offer (ljoffe@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au).

Remember to have work ready for each session you attend and bring your A game!

The Cely Malki Team

Kol Szenes

Miriam Itzkowitz, Year 12

Welcome back!

Welcome back to school everyone! Obviously, we’re not physically at school yet, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be working hard. We hope you had a great break – our Year 12s certainly did! Here are some photos from their holidays. Maybe you can do this with your Tutor Group.

Announcements

Whilst school is still open until further notice, most of us have chosen to remain at home and ‘E-Learn’. Make sure you are engaged with the work during ‘class’ and complete the assigned class work. It is important to communicate with teachers regularly and submit the set work.
Take a short brain break between your classes. The brain breaks are located in Reshet High School Cafe under the Wellbeing icon. To view click here.
Shabbat will be on Zoom this afternoon at 5.00 pm – Rabbi Siegel will send the link. Please join in with your friends and family!
Exercising regularly and eating a balanced diet is really important right now. While we aren’t at school, we are going to be using our computers heavily so it’s vital that we take breaks to ensure we are being healthy.
Follow @szeneshouse on Instagram for some wellbeing and study tips, memes and just general Szenesian spirit.
Are you e- smart? Find out here to stay safe online.

Quote of the week

“Perfection itself is imperfection.”

Vladimir Horowitz

Shabbat Shalom and have a fantastic weekend!

Szenes House

Fun activities and reminders for COVID-19 from Year 5

As we all know COVID-19 has been impacting us and all our lives. We hope that among these difficult times that you have been coping and doing your best to keep safe. We just wanted to give you some fun activities and reminders during this time.

Here are some cool activities to keep you occupied during these unusual times. How about completing a puzzle or starting a journal or a blog? Go outside and exercise, do some yoga or even create an obstacle course and to cool down try meditating. Start a veggie patch, take up knitting, learn how to sing a new song or if you are in an artsy mood draw a picture of your pet. Lastly watch some movies you have avoided until now… you never know they could be amazing and then finally SLEEP IN!

Here are some reminders that are important to follow during this time:

Wash your hands for twenty seconds with soap and water.
Always remember when going out, to social distance which means staying 1.5 meters away from people who are not in your family.
Always remember not to touch your face.
Lastly it is very important to stay home if you’re not feeling well and make sure not to visit elderly people if you have any flu-like symptoms or have travelled overseas.

We also have some ideas that are important to do during this time. One important thing to remember is to maintain good mental health, as we are not able to visit family and friends. One way we can do this is by contacting family and friends often, via phone or video calls. Another good thing to keep in mind is that you need to exercise often as we are stuck inside most of the time. One more thing that you can do is keep a structured daily routine.

We hope that these reminders, ideas and activities helped you. If we work together to fulfil these reminders, we can stop the spread of COVID-19. We wish you a great Term 2 ahead and hope to see you back at school soon.

By Elise Goldberg (5N), Sanne Nathan (5N), Noah Revelman (5Y)

Community Connections – Gesher

Sonia Newell – Development Officer – Alumni and Community Connections

We hope you had a good break, celebrating Pesach as we have never celebrated it before. Zoom certainly proved to be a popular way for many families and friends to share their Seder tables and read the Haggadah together, even when we could not do so in person this year. For those members of our community who celebrated Easter, we hope you too were able to share this important time with family and friends via virtual connections.

COVID-19 has provided us with time to ponder about life, family and the world at large, and to appreciate all the wonderful people in our lives, even when we can only do things such as give grandparents and friends and other loved ones a virtual hug and kiss for now. As of today, 1 May 2020, NSW residents can spend some time with two other adults not from their own household – this is a wonderful move but as we all know, for grandparents and other vulnerable adults and children, it is not a time to forget the profound enormity and implications of this current pandemic, whilst social distancing rules continue.

What a time we have had over the past couple of weeks. 21 April 2020 was Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day, where we remember the 6 million Jews who were murdered by Hitler and his collaborators, just because they were Jews. Instead of thousands of members of our community gathering at a Sydney venue to commemorate this sombre occasion, as we usually do, we had the opportunity to join the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies virtually to do so. Yehi Zikhronom LeVirachah – may the memory of all holocaust victims be for a blessing. We must never forget. Last Saturday, the 25 April 2020, we commemorated Anzac Day 2020 – that was certainly different this year. It is the day all Australians come together in remembrance to honour our veterans and service members, but this year Australians paid their respects from home amid coronavirus lockdown. The national Anzac Day ceremony was broadcast from the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and watched by thousands on TV. Some people stood in their own driveways to pay their respects at dawn, and the Last Post was played all around the country including at the Sydney Opera House.

Earlier this week we welcomed back our students and staff to the start of Term 2. Yes, the majority of our students will continue their studies online for now, and most of our staff will be working from home, as our teachers and other support staff have been busy preparing for another exciting school term. On Tuesday, we commemorated Yom HaZikaron, when we commemorated all those soldiers fallen for the State of Israel, and victims of terror, and then on Wednesday we celebrated Yom Ha’Atsma’ut, Israeli Independence Day, this year celebrating 72 years of the State of Israel – Happy Birthday Israel! For something fun, for anyone interested in numbers, Yom Ha’Atsma’ut actually started on Tuesday evening, 28 April 2020, and this adds up to 72!

Don’t forget about our Emanuel Shuk Facebook page that parents (current and past), alumni and grandparents can use to buy, to sell or request information. Join it here.

I am currently preparing the next edition of our bi-annual newsletters, so if you have some news to share in these publications, please let me know as soon as possible. For those interested in reading past issues, click here to see all our alumni and grandparents & friends newsletters.

We love sharing our School-related news not only with you our parents, but also with grandparents, so please make sure we have correct grandparent contact details and then they too can receive relevant School updates including our bi-annual Grandparents & Friends newsletters and Ma Nishma if they would like to read that as well. I know we also have some very keen great-grandparents who wish to stay connected with us too, so their details would be great to have as well. Please send these updates to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

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

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom and have a great weekend. Stay well and stay safe.

Virtual Mother’s Day

Parents and Friends

Ruby Berkovic and Jen Opi

Hello everyone

We hope you are all staying safe, healthy and happy and managed to make the most of the term break with some quality family time. We spent countless hours going on walks with our dogs, baking, doing puzzles, playing games and watching movies.

We will be in touch over the upcoming weeks as we navigate this unfamiliar climate and try to find ways to stay connected while apart.

We look forward to seeing your Mother’s Day photos – check the advert in this edition of Ma Nishma

Until then, take care of yourselves,

Jen and Ruby