From the Principal

Andrew Watt – Principal

An evening to remember!

Despite the disappointment of being cut short by COVID, the long-awaited (originally scheduled for 2020) production of Grease exceeded expectations. Audiences were treated to a high-energy, colourful, and often humorous performance, with outstanding, original choreography and vocals. The more elderly amongst us found ourselves singing along and clapping to once-familiar songs. The performances were both enjoyable and memorable, showcasing the amazing depth of talent that resides within a relatively small High School.

The key roles were performed by Remy Waller (Danny) and Mariah Lewy (Sandy), along with the Pink Ladies (Zoe Nebenzahl, Rebecca Pillemer, Jayda Sacks and Gabrielle Utian) and the T Birds (Eden Glass, Jamie Schneider, Coby New and Myles Cohn). Other key characters were performed by Chloe Biller, Jasmine Barea, Scott Reuveny, Lori Allen, Daniel Langman, Eden Grynberg and Alice Milner. Our outstanding ensemble team, dance company and band (supported by Maayan Granot, our Stage Manager and her team) made a significant contribution to the success of Grease.

Thank you and mazal tov to Director/Producer, Samantha Bauer, Musical Director, Danny Burley and Choreographer, Dean Vince for a wonderful production.

Nitzavim Seminar: Preparing our students for leadership

It was great to see many our Year 11 students opting to take part in a two-day leadership development program this week. The Seminar aimed to foster a strong sense of cohesion and investment in the Year 11 cohort, as they approach their senior year in leadership. In the program, students learned the value of collective responsibility in building a culture of leadership amongst their cohort, and how that filters down to the rest of the School. Our students were encouraged to develop their ability to communicate and collaborate with one another, whilst coming to a shared understanding of Emanuel’s Jewish leadership values. This program lays the groundwork for the Va’adot (committee) system that will enable these students to lead in different aspects of the High School. Many thanks to Adam Ezekiel, Kobi Bloom and Daniel Samowitz, for their leadership of this special event.

Good Design Awards Exhibition

This term, Year 4 has been learning how to think like a designer. The students were inspired by a visit from Dr Brandon Gien, CEO of Good Design Awards Australia, who shared a series of excellent designs and what made them successful. Year 4 was encouraged to think deeply about the initial stages of design; to question how one can collect data and information to help us understand and properly define the issues we notice. The students then considered what it means to truly brainstorm, to ideate! They spent time unpacking a problem they noticed within the community, at school, at home or even in the wider world. From this point, they dived into the world of materials and their specific properties. Being a good designer requires you to select appropriate materials for your prototyped solution. So, after exploring this, building their prototype models began. The students used recycled materials to construct their model but also sketched what a real product would be made from. Students put on their “environmentally conscious” hats and thought deeply about selecting more natural materials where possible. Lots of hard work went into the construction of their designs which were displayed at the exhibition. Our thanks to Lauren Butler, Claudia Sceats and our guest judges.

Art Camp – National Art School

Our Year 9-11 Visual Arts students enjoyed the opportunity to attend Art School. Six workshops on painting, printmaking and ceramics were conducted on Friday and Monday, at the National Art School. It was an impactful experience for students and teachers alike. Our entire Visual Arts Department was involved, and we thank Eytan Messiah, Louise Heilpern, Rebecca Keong and Chrystal Rimmer.

Stay safe and enjoy the break

As we reach the end of another busy and productive term, our students and staff will depart to enjoy a well-earned break, albeit within 25 km of our back yards. Best wishes to all Emanuel School families – stay safe, mask up and have for a relaxing and enjoyable break. To our Year 12 students, we hope that you can maintain a wise balance between your study and time off to relax and rejuvenate.

Mazal tov

To our Year 7A Chess team for winning their Division – The Metropolitan East Region – in the JNSW Inter Schools Chess Competition, comprised of seven rounds of chess. The team will now progress to the next round of the competition.

Quote of the week

“My mama always said, life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Forrest Gump

From the Head of Jewish Life

Rabbi Daniel Siegel – Head of Jewish Life

The Torah of Karma

It might be surprising to learn that the very first communal prayer with which Jews begin their day are the words of a non-Jew who sought to curse Israel. This prayer is found in this week’s Parashah, Balak, which derives its name from the Moavite king who hired Bil’am to issue this curse. Seeking to destroy Israel, whom he fears, Balak says to Bil’am “For I know that whomever you bless will be blessed and whomever you curse will be cursed”.

In Indonesia several years ago, I had occasion to speak with a devotee of Hinduism who shared with me his understanding of Karma. Citing from the Upanishads “as one acts so will he be” and the Mahabarta “as one sows, so shall he reap”, he presented an idea central to Judaism – What we do toward another is what we make of ourselves.

Bil’am does not curse Israel, instead he blesses Israel concluding with the final words: “Those who bless you shall be blessed and those who curse you shall be cursed.” Bil’am does not deny his power to destroy another but understands that in doing so he destroys himself, as well.

As Fiddler on the Roof puts it:

Leibesh: Is there a proper blessing… for the Tsar?
Rabbi: A blessing for the Tsar? Of course! May God bless and keep the Tsar… far away from us!

Significantly, Bil’am’s words regarding Israel, “Those who bless you shall be blessed and those who curse you shall be cursed” echo the words of God to Avra(ha)m: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you”. Immediately preceding these words the Patriarch hears the divine exhortation: “Be a blessing”.

In being a blessing you will bring a blessing upon yourself and, thereby, a blessing upon others. This is expressed in the words immediately following the promise “I will bless those who bless you …”, as Avra(ha)m is told “through you all peoples shall be blessed”.

For Balak, life is a zero-sum game, for his people to be blessed Israel must be cursed. What we learn from the blessing of Bil’am is that the blessed like the cursed can never stand alone. We remind ourselves of this every morning when we intone the words of Bil’am to begin our morning prayer: Mah tovu ohaleikha Ya’akov, Mishkenotekha Yisrael. In seeing the goodness in others, we make for the blessing of self.

Instant Karma’s gonna get you…
Better recognize your brothers
Ev’ryone you meet
Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear
John Lennon

Journeys

This is our second term as the Primary School Informal Jewish Life Team. Over the course of this semester we have been working hard to bring a new, fresh perspective to Jewish learning in the Primary School. As well as assisting with the planning and running of festival celebrations and Shabbat, we have also been creating many in-class programs called Peulot which are run for the Primary School students. The aims of these peulot are to provide a modern, fun and contemporary outlook on traditional Jewish topics and values through informal teaching methods, that allow for more discussion based and experiential learning.

This term, one of the peulot we developed was for Year 4, exploring the concept of journeys. By creating a virtual map and giving students ‘passports’ to complete, we took Year 4 on an adventure through the desert to mimic the Israelite’s journey to the Land of Israel after leaving Egypt. Along this journey, students encountered challenges and complications where they had to choose what they felt was the best way to approach the situation. For example, at one point the students were asked how they would go about building a shelter, either by choosing to delegate roles to their peers or braid palm fronds by themselves for their peers.

At the end of the peulah, it was revealed to the students that every decision they made represented a value or characteristic. The students who chose to delegate roles were given ‘communication skills’ and those who braided palm fronds were given ‘compassion’. After writing these choices into their passports, the students had their own personalised booklet filled with the characteristics that aligned with their decisions. This displayed the importance of journeys by viewing these journeys as more than just a means to an end and rather a process of learning and growth.

We finished the term with a peulah designed for Year 6 that explored different expressions of Judaism that coexist within Israel and around the world. After a ‘rapid fire’ presentation, students recalled this information through a small trivia quiz!

Previous peulot that we have run in class for various year groups include: a Pesach peulah run in Term 1 for Years 5 and 6, where we taught the students about current issues such as refugees and climate change through the lense of the Pesach story. Earlier this term we also ran a Shavuot peulah on the Aseret HaDibrot (The 10 Utterances) for Years 3 and 4, that asked students to question their current understanding of rules and their moral compass by creating a unique class set of commandments.

We have enjoyed working with the incredible and creative Primary Students and have loved seeing their perspectives slowly change and grow as we work with them. We are looking forward to many more successful semesters of Informal Jewish Education to come!

By Mia Shapiro and Joshua New, Informal Jewish Life Leaders

Primary News

Natanya Milner – Head of Primary School

Thank you

As the term draws to a close, I would like to thank everyone for their dedication and support throughout Term 2. It has been wonderful to see so many events proceed and we have been blessed to see the students flourish, work hard and enjoy their time together. I would like to thank the students and teachers for another term of hard work, creativity and passion and the parents for their on-going support and commitment. It is a privilege to be involved in such a special community!

Wonderful news

I would like to share with you all the wonderful news that Meghan Carroll, our Deputy Head of Primary, is pregnant. She will begin maternity leave sometime in Term 4 and I will share further arrangements with you as they unfold. We wish Meghan and Marcus all the very best for the months ahead and for a happy, healthy pregnancy.

Reports

You will shortly receive your child’s Semester 1 report. We hope you find it to be informative and valuable as a way to share your child’s achievement over the past 2 terms. As we are using a new format, we will also be sending out a survey seeking your thoughts and feedback. Please feel free to let us know what you think via this survey. We are very proud of our children’s learning and growth this semester!

Aladdin Director

We recently received news that our Director of Aladdin Jr, Katie Kermond, resigned from her role. We have interviewed for the position and are thrilled to announce the new Director, Peter Mussared. The interview panel were all very impressed with Peter and feel he will do a wonderful job. He is an Australian director and designer who holds a BFA in Theatre Design and Performance. Peter trained at the Australian Opera, NIDA, NSW University, ADASA and the Bodenweiser Dance Centre.

Peter has performed, directed, choreographed, designed costume and sets for a number of Broadway musicals in New York. Shows include A Chorus Line, Broadway Bares, Sweet Charity and Grease. Peter made costumes for shows including, Shrek and Spiderman. He has also directed Primary and High School musicals including Aladdin Jr.

Peter is thrilled to be a part of the Emanuel School Musical Production team and is excited to be a member of our community.

Year 3-6 assembly

We have started a wonderful new initiative at Year 3-6 assembly. The students are introduced to a word in an Aboriginal language for them to practice and use. This fortnight’s word is the Wiradjuri word for the mess one makes when looking for something…Dirranyamgarra. Enjoy this clip.

I also wanted to ensure you all know that unfortunately, parents are asked not to attend our Year 3-6 assemblies. The theatre is full with students and there is no space to invite all the parents. It means that if some arrive at school, the staff are put in an awkward position of turning them away in order to be fair to all. Thank you for your understanding and support with this.

Upcoming information sessions

Camp

The Year 3-5 pre-camp meeting will be held in the Year 3 classrooms on Tuesday 13 July 2021 at 3.45 pm. This is open to all Years 3-4 families and the parents of any new Year 5 students as well. We look forward to seeing you there.

Protective Behaviours

Deborah Blackman will present a parent information session about Child Protection/Protective Behaviours. I recommend that all parents who have not attended before come along. It is an incredibly valuable and informative session.
Please save the date: Tuesday 15 July 2021, 7.30 pm – 8.30 pm.

NAIDOC Week 2021

Gabrielle Wynhausen – Primary Teacher

NAIDOC Week is held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It’s a week celebrated by Australians from all walks of life and cultures, not only Indigenous communities.

This year’s NAIDOC theme, Heal Country, Heal our Nation, is a call to action for all of us and challenges us to work even harder to protect:

“our lands, our waters, our sacred sites and our cultural heritage from exploitation, desecration and destruction”.

By celebrating NAIDOC week this year, we begin to learn that for many Australians, a country is more than a place, and it is central to many people’s identity.

In the Primary School, we will be celebrating NAIDOC Week in our first week back at school. We will be lucky enough to start our term with a Welcome to Country from an Elder from the La Perouse Land Council and students from Year 5 will run sessions for students across the school, as well as hosting a NAIDOC Week Assembly. In the High School, we are excited to launch Putuwa as part of our NAIDOC Week celebration. This project will foreground the role of language in learning about and from First Nations histories and cultures – watch this space!

As NAIDOC Week falls in the holidays this year, we wanted to share some of the exciting events available that allow us all to mark and celebrate NAIDOC week during our break:

Primary Innovation

Carrie-Anne Thomas

Moving into the role of Innovation Leader (K-6) has been a wonderful opportunity to increase my involvement and fully appreciate all the integrated STEM opportunities that we offer here in the Primary School. The level of engagement from staff and students is incredible and I am thrilled to be building on such a strong foundation as we develop our focus on innovation at Emanuel School. In the coming terms, I will be further collaborating with class teachers to develop our transdisciplinary programs and providing greater opportunities for students to develop their knowledge and skills in innovation.

Below is a short summary of just some of the exciting units of work that students have been busy completing this term.

In the Year 6 ‘Beyond Earth’ unit, students investigated the Solar System with a focus on scientific technologies and discoveries. Using critical and creative thinking skills, students followed the engineering design process to develop a solution to address an identified need to sustain life in space. Working in teams, students designed and tested a hypothetical community based on Mars, following a clear set of expectations and budgetary requirements. This unit concluded with students collaboratively creating a 3D digital design using Minecraft. The finished products were quite remarkable, with students enthusiastic to share their reasoning for design specifics and finished designs.

“The Year 6 students demonstrated true collaboration during the mission to Mars Minecraft challenge. Their ability to communicate effectively when working with others has shown significant growth and it was so fantastic to see the mentoring between groups.” Ms Kepitis Year 6 Teacher

In Year 5, students used the GROK coding website, to develop and build on their previous programming knowledge, designing and coding simple programs that included branching, iteration and user input. As students gained confidence in using blocks to code, they were introduced to a general-purpose coding language, to assist their transition from visual drag-and-drop to more advanced coding.

The Good Design project was a great success again this year! Students from Year 4 applied the design thinking process to identify a need or problem, ideate and create prototypes of their proposed solutions. Well done to all students, your prototypes and pitches blew the judges away!

Students from Year 3 used the Dash Bots to code the routes taken by explorers and adventurers alike. Students enjoyed the opportunity to take their learning outdoors and utilise the world map located in the Triguboff play area.

In Kindergarten, students were introduced to the foundational skills of using an iPad in an educational setting and the importance of following the Emanuel ‘Golden Rules’ for safe use of technology. They explored the skills required to take a photograph for use on Seesaw, our online learning platform. Students also began to experiment with annotation and voice over tools, including additional information to their work samples.

Lunchtimes are a busy time at the Imaginarium! I have been so impressed with the level of engagement and support that the Year 6 ICT and Innovation Leaders have offered their peers. They have successfully facilitated Coding and Maker Space clubs for students in Years K-6 and have shone as leaders, sharing their knowledge and encouraging others to follow in their area of passion. They often have upwards of 25 students turning up to join in with their sessions, which they lead with confidence and enthusiasm.

Our new ‘Think Outside the Box’ lunchtime activity has been a huge hit with students! Each week we come together to take the opportunity to look differently at objects and products, developing our creative and critical thinking skills.

Next semester promises to offer more projects from all year groups, with many units of work planned that provide meaningful ways for students to identify problems and generate solutions. There will also be new clubs and activities for students to come to during lunchtimes. Another exciting term of innovation to look forward to!

Primary Music Leaders

Assembly Performance Program For Primary (APPFP)

This term, we, the Primary Music Leaders, have been looking at ways to provide more opportunities for musical performances across the school. Whilst there are many concerts that people already perform in, we have come up with a way to give more performance opportunities for soloists and small groups. We are happy to announce this new plan starting next term.

We call it the APPFP, the Assembly Performance Program For Primary!

Every assembly, we want to hear some great music from the musicians of the Primary School. In Week 7 of this term, we demonstrated some of the different types of performances we are looking for.

To work out who will perform each week, we have come up with the following plan:

STEP 1: By the end of Week 1 of Term 3, students will have to fill out this form telling us that you want to perform. By filling out this form, you are adding yourself to the list of names of people who could be chosen to perform the following week, so be ready!
STEP 2: At each assembly, Mr Owen and the Music Leaders will draw the name of the person performing at the next assembly out of a hat.
STEP 3: The person who is chosen to perform, will be contacted by the Music Leaders about the next steps towards their performance.
STEP 4: Perform.

A note, there is a high chance that there are going to be more students wanting to perform than places at the assembly. This is the fairest way that we can think of to create more opportunities for our musicians. Depending on the success of this program, we will look at how to implement it again in Term 4.

If you have any questions about the APPFP, please contact any of us, and we will be happy to talk about this.

We look forward to hearing some excellent performances!

By Hannah Fekete, Lila Friedman and Isabella Hirst
Year 6 Music Leaders

Year 6 Gratitude Day

Term 2 Gratitude Day

Year 6 had our Gratitude Day on Tuesday of Week 10. The event was filled with fun, leadership and reflection themed activities. Year 6 students were assigned partners from their leadership role groups. Partners had their creativity tested – they had to create a lesson aimed at Kindergarten, Year 1 and 2 that taught the students about the importance of being grateful and being a good leader. Groups came up with great ideas such as puzzles and treasure hunts, posters and flags.

Jordan and I were allocated as partners to teach the Kindergartens the significance of gratitude and why it is so important. We created a puzzle hunt and flag drawings. When the puzzle pieces were connected, the pictures represented gratitude and an explanation of the word. Children then wrote their own response on the card explaining what they are thankful for and why. Finally, we made flags that the Kindergartens drew illustrations on, symbolising what they were grateful for.

On the whole, it was a remarkable experience teaching younger kids as a child myself, and having the opportunity to give back to the hardworking and deserving school community.
By Luis Waldner – Year 6

Year 6 Hebrew Baking Day

Jemma Lopis – Hebrew Teacher

Throughout Term 2, Year 6 has been learning about different forms of cooking and baking – in Hebrew!

Year 6 students have learnt a wide variety of verbs and nouns relating to food preparation. They have created their own fruit salad recipe with individualised videos in which they have described in Hebrew these essential recipe processes: peeling, cutting, pouring, mixing.

Students capably and impressively integrated their sentences with a wide variety of fruits, as well cooking utensils.

More recently, Year 6 students have been learning how to bake in Hebrew. This includes reading and understanding a recipe in Hebrew and… preparing it in our state-of-the-art school kitchen!

Our hard-working Year 6 Hebrew teachers provided a wonderful, hands-on opportunity for students to bake a delicious chocolate cake by deciphering the recipe and following the steps… all in Hebrew! And what talented students we have – who enjoyed every moment of their culinary experience and made delicious chocolate cakes!

Thank you to the Year 6 Hebrew teachers for a program that has been both practical and delectable! (Remember, healthy foods before treats – fruit salad before chocolate cake!)

Music Matters

Diana Springford – Head of Music

Music in Week 1 next term

All ensemble rehearsals will take place in the first week of next term, including the first day back, with Junior Chamber Choir resuming their first rehearsal before School on Monday 12 July 2021. All private music tuition and years K-2 Infant Strings Program will commence from Monday and all Years 3-6 IP classes will also be on in Week 1, so please ensure that students bring their instruments, music and folders.

Private Music Tuition and Infant Strings Program

Thank you to those who have already advised us of changes to private tuition and ISP enrolments for next term. The deadline for new enrolments, notification of changes or intention to discontinue for Term 3, has now passed. All students currently receiving private tuition and members of the K-2 Infant Strings Program will be automatically re-enrolled into tutor schedules for Term 3 ,along with students commencing lessons for the first time, committed to the full term of lessons and liable for fees. Please contact music@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au if you have any questions.

The schedules for Term 3, 2021 will be created at the end of term and emailed by early July.

On the Music Portal Page, you will announcements and information about:

Private Music Tuition (beginning and discontinuing)
Ensemble and Choir membership for K-12 students
Infant Strings Program (ISP) for K-2
Performance opportunities
Borrowing an orchestral instrument

You can also find fun news and updates from us on Instagram.

**Musica Viva Music in my Suitcase Primary School incursion**

‘Celebrate your Cultures’

On Thursday 22 July 2021 (Week 2), Musica Viva will visit us to perform Music in my Suitcase for Years K-6 students. Over the course of an hour, iconic world music group Mara! will inspire students to listen to and understand each other by sharing music from a diverse array of cultures. Australians come from many different countries. Integrating music and dance, Music in my Suitcase gives students the opportunity to explore Australian history and share their own languages in the classroom and during the concert.

Save the Date: Night of Instrumental Music

Wednesday 18 August 2021 at 6.00 pm

Our instrumental ensembles have been working hard to prepare for the annual Night of Instrumental Music (NOIM) in Week 6 next term. This wonderful concert showcases the skills of hundreds of young instrumentalists performing in a range of ensembles, from concert bands to string orchestras and small ensembles. Parents will be receiving a permission note early next term.

It is important that all members of participating ensembles perform in this event. K-2 students in the Infant Strings Program will be performing. NOIM is also a compulsory component of the Primary School Instrumental Program. All students from Year 3 to Year 6 will perform at the concert in their year group ensembles. Please encourage students to practise their parts at home to ensure the event is satisfying and enjoyable for them.

All parents and friends are welcome to attend this free concert.

Mindfulness course

Reflecting on…

… a year of living sustainably

After a year of being in the Sustainability Committee, we wanted to reflect on our experiences and express our gratitude for all the opportunities we’ve had as a result of the enthusiasm of the school community. We joined Sustainability because we wanted to make a change and truly believed that we could make a difference at Emanuel. We are all passionate about the environment and feel that no matter how small the action, there is always an impact.

We wanted to make environmental activism and conservation easier and more accessible for the Emanuel community. We saw and enjoyed the way the previous Sustainability Committee was able to engage all of High School with funny videos and speeches. With this in mind, we aimed to express our ideas in ways that were both interesting and informative.

As part of the committee we ran many events and organised a number of activities for the school and the community:

One of the first large-scale activities we ran as part of the committee was run under covid restrictions. We participated in a virtual protest to protest against the government’s use of coal and gas which are ruining our planet. Everyone in their tutor groups created posters and wore yellow to support the cause. We took photos together and joined with many schools, corporations and other organisations across Australia to protest!

This year, as a committee, we have created an Instagram account – @sustainabilityemanuel – in which we share tips on how to be more environmentally friendly, interesting facts and current environmental news. We believe that having an Instagram account is a great way in which we can spread the sustainability message.

In the confusion and chaos of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us forgot about the devastating bushfires and the monumental impacts it had on the environment. For this reason, we decided to have an animal wildlife week. During the week we used the Sustainability Instagram page to post infographics on seven different Australian animals facing extinction. As well as this there was a Ma Nishma article and speech aiming to spread awareness and encourage action. Finally, there was a plain clothes day in order to raise money for the Australian Wildlife Conservatory.

One of the initiatives we maintained throughout the year was composting. This initiative was introduced last year by the previous sustainability committee and, in order to continue it, we decided to create a fortnightly roster to empty out and maintain the various compost bins dispersed around the school playgrounds. The Emanuel students never fail to fill up the bins every week meaning we produce a lot of compost, which is a great repurposed resource that gives back to the environment and school gardens. Although gross at times, doing compost duty has taught us a lot about hands-on sustainable action.

Earth Hour is a time where for one hour all unnecessary electricity is turned off. This is to display support for the environment and a push towards renewable energy, whilst also showing that if all individuals make a small change we can make a large difference. The Sustainability Committee took part in this initiative, running a program for all of High School. It involved a relaxing meditation that reconnected everyone with nature and doable tips and tricks that all students could partake in during the holidays that would help the environment and make the Emanuel community more sustainable.

Since the beginning of Term 3 last year, we have each published Ma Nishma articles to educate and bring awareness to critical environmental issues that we are passionate about. The articles contained key information regarding the issue and then provided simple opportunities/actions for people to lower their impact on the planet. We hope to have brought awareness to a wide variety of environmental concerns and hope that people have utilised any of the tips we provide to benefit their impact on our planet.

We’ve made four videos about various sustainability issues, including composting, recycling, saving electricity and Randwick Council’s new FOGO initiative. We had a great time creating the videos and were so grateful for all the positive feedback we received and have learned a lot about different ways that we can communicate important information.

One of our favourite events this year was the clothes drive. We weren’t expecting such an incredible result, but were overwhelmed by the response from students, parents and teacher. We had four cars full of bags, and were able to gather around $3000 worth of clothes for Vinnies.

One of our most important changes is making the YearBooks one per family. This decreases the paper waste by so much and is an amazing change!

We think one of the most challenging aspects of activism is identifying what you personally can do to make change, so in everything that we did, we made sure to provide some simple, achievable tips to help people get involved in a way that seemed realistic. Some of our top tips for reducing your impact are:

Jacob: Try not to buy into fast fashion. Go to second-hand stores such as Vinnies or even better raid your sibling’s or parent’s closet. That way you’re helping to save the environment while also saving money!
Georgia: Try to bring your own forks to school rather than getting plastic ones from the canteen.
Ruben: Avoid using single-use plastics by investing in tupperware and beeswax wraps!
Ari: Most soft plastic packaging can be easily recycled at your local supermarket!
Zac: One easy way to cut down on plastic usage is to use a metal water bottle. Not only are these water bottles more durable and longer lasting but they limit your exposure to microplastics and stop these water bottles from ending up in the ocean where they can be dangerous.
Guy: Make sure to use a metal straw or no straw – not plastic!
Lara: Make sure you bring your own reusable bags when you go shopping!
Sophie: Make sure to pick up rubbish everywhere you go, especially on the beaches!!! The turtles will thank you 🙂
Romi: To reduce your meat consumption and your impact on the world, try meat-free Mondays!
Tara: Always turn off the lights when you leave or when it’s light outside!

We are so excited to see how the next Sustainability Committee continues to make positive environmental change at Emanuel and have really appreciated how much the Emanuel community has participated in all our initiatives.

By Guy, Georgia, Jacob, Romi, Ruben, Sophie, Tara, Zac L, Lara and Ari

Year 7 Interfaith

Miri Heitner – Hebrew Teacher

A group of Year 7 students participated in a session of Interfaith that was organised by Together For Humanity on Wednesday.

The students travelled to Grenville Boys High School in Western Sydney and met with a group of boys from Granville Boys High School and a group of girls from Auburn High School.

The day started with a game where a religious item was pulled out of a bag and the students had to guess from which faith it was. Later, students engaged in group activities and got to know each other better by learning about the meaning of their names and later collaborated to create a vehicle from a set of screws and wheels.

After the break, the groups joined forces to sort out symbols and quotes from each faith.

On the day the students were fortunate to have staff from “Together For Humanity” from the three faiths Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The staff shared personal stories about being mistreated due to ignorance and bias.

This was a profound and meaningful experience for our students. They have intelligently represented the school and Judaism and were open to meet new friends from different backgrounds.

We look forward to our next session in Auburn and later to host the schools at Emanuel School.

Art for all

Sonia Newell – Development Officer – Alumni & Community Relations

Thank you

We thank current parent, Natalie Ranki-Goldman, for chairing the Gesher Committee over the past two years, and now welcome Daniela Freed, current parent and Board Member to this role. During Natalie’s time as Chair, Gesher introduced a number of new initiatives to increase community engagement, including our very successful online Speaker Series last year where some of our alumni showcased the amazing work they are doing. As Natalie announced she was stepping down from the committee at our meeting last week, she also welcomed three new committee members she recruited with the view to increase alumni involvement in our extended community – alumnus and current parent Samantha Butt (Class of 1998), Joshua Moses (Class of 2011) and Asha Friedman (Head Madricha, Class of 2020). Following our highly successful Art Gallery Tour last week, we are planning more events for the year, so watch this space. If you have suggestions for future Gesher events, we would love to hear your ideas too.

Art for all

Following on from our very successful private tour last week to The alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection, Salon des Refusés, many of you will have already seen the Archibald Prize exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW or are planning a visit. Today the Archibald Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious arts prizes, and the annual exhibition draws tens of thousands of patrons to the Art Gallery of NSW each year. You may have also been watching the wonderful series on the ABC, Finding the Archibald, with Rachel Griffiths. If you missed the first two episodes of this three-part series, you can watch them on iView, with the final episode to be screened next Tuesday evening.

We always love to know about members of our Emanuel Community who make their mark not only within our own community but also in the wider community and the world at large. One such person is Emanuel parent Dan Goldberg, a multi-award-winning producer and Executive Partner & Head of Factual at Mint Productions, the company that produced Finding the Archibald. Click here to take a first look at Finding The Archibald.

Can you help?

Friendship Circle is urgently seeking an adult to volunteer for the role of Kitchen/Food Manager at their July Day Camp, 5 July 2021 – 9 July 2021, at North Shore Synagogue. If this sounds like you, please call or message Emma Sharp, Program Manager, on 0421 011 606. Many of our students and alumni volunteer with Friendship Circle and find this tremendously rewarding. It would also be great to see more of our students volunteer for their upcoming Day Camp. As we teach our children about giving back, it is wonderful to know they are helping others less fortunate than themselves. How fulfilling it is to help these children and young adults with a disability.

Consent: More than Yes or No

Last minute changes due to the COVID alert at Bondi Junction last week, saw Jewish Care’s event, run by alumnus Matt Friedman (Class of 2015), go from a live presentation to one on Zoom. If you missed this amazing session on consent – watched by an audience of more than 60, here is a recording.

Matt also says Googling ’Talking to children about consent’ will provide a few hundred articles. This one provides a glimpse into talking about consent at different ages, and I’m sure you’ll quickly figure out why I like it.

Play Safe is great general information source for young people around sex (I’m sure there’s plenty for you to learn there as well if you’re wanting to up-skill). As with most government-backed websites it’s mostly about STIs and contraception. Play Safe Pro is a parallel resource for professionals working with young people. Resources like this one are aimed at youth workers but do provide some really great tips for conversation starting that parents/carers can use.

BodyTalk is Family Planning NSW’s website. It’s similar but aimed at a slightly younger audience. They have a page for parents that’s full of good tips.

ReachOut has a dedicate parent resource section as well, including an opportunity to ask questions and have them answered by a professional.

I would certainly invite every parent/carer, even if they have religious/cultural objections or think it’s irrelevant for your child, to spend some time looking at the articles on this Minus18 website. The Gender Centre has a good resource as well specifically for parents/family of trans and gender diverse young people. Surveys are reporting an increasing number of young people identifying as LGBTQIA+, and studies show that they suffer rates of mental ill-health at significantly higher rates. Family support can make a literally life-saving difference”.

WOW – Women of Worth

Members of our School Community have presented at this annual weekend event in the past, as well as been part of the audience. Like most events scheduled for last year, COVID-19 meant the 2020 event was cancelled so the organisers are very excited about this year’s event to be held on Sunday 1 August, 2021 – please save the date.

Emanuel parent, writer and journalist Kerri Sackville, School Nurse, alumna and founder of GennarosityAbroad, Genna Onuchukwu, along with past parent Caroline Lewis, organiser of WOW, are pictured below at the 2018 event, where they all presented a session.

Kerri Sackville, Genna Onuchukwu and Caroline Lewis – WOW 2018

Shabbat Shalom. Stay safe, have a great weekend and enjoy the term break. We look forward to sharing more news with you next term.

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

Primary Extra-Curricular Term 3

Emma Hill – Primary Teacher and Coordinator of Extra-Curricular Programs

The Term 3 Extra-Curricular schedule is now available and Extra-Curricular activities are open for booking. We recommend booking activities early to secure your child’s enrolment as many activities have maximum (and minimum) enrolment numbers.

Sports bookings have now closed.

We are looking forward to continuing all after school Extra-Curricular clubs in Term 3 as well as introducing the following new Extra-Curricular activities:

Gamebots Robotics & Coding (Monday afternoons)
Film Club (Tuesday afternoons)

Please register your expression of interest in the new Gamebots Robotics & Coding club here. Once minimum enrolment numbers are met an enrolment link will be emailed to parents.

Please click on the links listed in the Extra-Curricular Schedule for further information and to enrol your child into our wide range of Extra-Curricular activities.

Extra-Curricular (including music and sport) contact details

Extra-Curricular contacts

Please contact tutors/teachers directly if possible
All other inquiries can be sent to Emma Hill

Sport contacts

Kristy Genc (Director of Sport K-12)
Stuart Taylor (Primary Sport Coordinator)
Emma Hill (Primary Extra-Curricular & EActive Coordinator)

Music contacts

Diana Springford (Head of Music P-12)
Joanne De Araujo (PA to Head of Music)
For information about Infants String Program and Private Tuition

Club information, including enrolment & booking details, are now online on the Primary Extra-Curricular schedule page on the Parent Portal

K-12 Sport

Kristy Genc – Director of Sports K-12

Rugby news

The Emanuel 15 years and Opens Rugby teams played matches against Sydney Grammar School at Weigall playing fields last week. It was great to see the training efforts of the boys come to fruition in what were exciting matches, before heading into the Term 3 season. Well done to all players and special mention to: Koby Michel, Boaz Hadad, Zack Gerber, Oliver Novy, David Winter, Samuel Milner and Ben Torban on their outstanding performance.

Congratulations to Max Kidman who was selected in the AICES Opens Rugby team. As part of the team, Max has played matches against CCC, ISA, CHS and Country NSW in recent weeks and has gained great experience from playing at this high level.

Year 7 Sport reminder

As sport is compulsory for Year 7 students, all Year 7 students should have by now selected and enrolled in their chosen Term 3 sport. If a student is unwell or injured, parents are reminded to email Sports Administrator, Erin Archer prior to the activity, with as much notice as possible. Any student carrying a minor injury, who is part of a team sport, is still required to attend to support their team.

Coach profile – Aidan Zlotnick

Aidan Zlotnick

Aidan has been a basketball coach at Emanuel for the last three years and is a Level 2 qualified basketball coach. His passion for basketball grew whilst a student at Emanuel as a member of the very first team involved in the Emanuel Basketball Program. Aidan is dedicated to his development as a coach and is also coaching the U16s’ Norths Bears team. As a player, Aidan excelled in the school representative pathway, playing in AICES teams and continues to play in the St George Youth League (Division 1) and the Senior Mens Maccabi team.

Upcoming events

Sunday 27 June 2021

Primary Basketball EBL Finals

Monday 5 July 2021

Primary Basketball Camp
18 Years Holiday Futsal Training

Tuesday 6 July 2021

Primary Basketball Camp

Wednesday 7 July 2021

Primary Basketball Camp
18 Years Holiday Futsal Training

Friday 16 July 2021

18 years NSW Schools Futsal Championships

Chess

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

Freddos, permission notes, chess boards, score cards, ‘Home’ games, ‘Away’ games, greeting visitors, losses, wins, hopes, disappointments, triumphant check mates and weary resignations were the order of the day on Friday afternoons, as our eight Chess teams faced their opponents in the Junior New South Wales Interschools Competition.

We had a successful season, with all of our teams finishing up on Friday 18 June 2021.

All teams fared well, according to their ability. Our newest and youngest players are displaying rapid improvement. The Primary School students have the benefit of High School mentors within the Chess club, which is affording them invaluable interactions and coaching opportunities. We are grateful to these older students for sharing their expertise with the younger students.

Our Year 7A team won their division in the JNSW Interschools Competition and will now progress to the next round of the competition. Congratulations to this team; this is well-deserved as all players showed their dedication through hours of practice every week. We wish them the best of luck for the next round.

Year 7A team

Well done to all of our teams on representing Emanuel with pride and sportsmanship and once again upholding our school’s name at such a high level.

Thank you to parents for being our silent supporters in many ways, such as tirelessly whisking our teams off to host schools – not the most glamorous job in Friday afternoon traffic – and remaining with them for the entirety of the event, ensuring that each player gets home safely.

To Nicolle Rubin and Melinda Seeto, who process the paperwork for each match with flexibility and a welcoming, unflappable attitude – thank you – we are ever so grateful for your support.

Students will have further opportunities to be involved in other competitions in Term 3 and 4 and we look forward to these.

Rashi Times

Jasmine Barea

Sierra Afutu

Time flies when you’re having fun! This term certainly passed us by very quickly here in Rashi; with House Music, the Athletics Carnival, Grease, Cut for Cancer, Music Camp, Dancing in the Dark and Pride Month all happening in just three short weeks. It was a term jam packed with loads of fun and successes!

Rashi had an amazing musical night earlier in the term at House Music, despite not winning first place, we made up for it by winning the Athletics Carnival! This day was full of high spirits and super fun events such as the field activities and, of course, the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m races as well as the relay that Rashi managed to place 2nd! The participation throughout the day was phenomenal. It really was a great day and a great win!

We also have so many things still happening so close to the end of term! Music is in the air at Emanuel with Music Camp celebrating amazing performances by many Rashi talents. Grease also finished this week, the awesome singing and dancing from the cast including quite a few of our very own Rashians!

There was no shortage of charity and celebration at our school over the past week! Cut for Cancer had many contributions and donations that were amazing to see.

It’s also June and that means it’s Pride Month! Last week at lunch, students were welcomed to make pride posters in the art rooms that were then put up around the School; the posters are colourful and kind and it’s heartwarming walking through the School and seeing them all! Dancing in the Dark was also an exciting event that raised money for an incredible cause, it really was a fantastic event.

That wraps up a very exciting end to Term 2.

We wish you all so much fun and a well-deserved break over these holidays and look forward to sharing more news next term.

Grease

Samantha Bauer and Daniel Burley

The choice to select and work on GREASE, was an easy one.

Pink Ladies, T-Birds, petticoats, bow ties, fluffy dice, twinkies and great songs!

What’s not to love about Grease?

YES, some of the concepts in the show are dated and reflect an era that is very different to 2021. Fortunately, this proved to be an important conversation starter among the cast about the ideas in the play. As we, at Emanuel School tackle issues of consent, bullying, peer pressure and take pride in encouraging individuality, Grease spoke loudly to the cast and crew.

The maturity and conviction with which the cast navigated the characters and their situations is to be much-admired!

“We take the pressure and we throw away
Conventionality, belongs to yesterday.
There is a chance that we can make it so far,
We start believing now but we can be who we are.
Grease is the word.”

So, together with the cast, we made a few “magic changes”. Working on this production has been an extremely rewarding experience. Each week brought on new challenges and, with them, great rewards. Once we finished the choreography, sorted out the costumes, set up the giant jukebox, introduced the band, tried on costumes and applied make up, it was clear “We go Together.”

The success of this show is in no small part due to our brilliant cast and talented musicians who have worked tirelessly to give you, our audience, “The one that you want!”

We are extremely proud of our Grease team and loved sharing our production with you.

Look out for more Grease photos in Ma Nishma in Week 1 of Term 3

Kornmehl

Terry Aizen – Director of Kornmel

Arava/Australia Partnership

There was great excitement as we received some video, photos as well as a list of questions from the children at Gan Rimon in the Arava in Israel.

They wanted to learn more about us, our Pre-school as well as life in Australia. Each question was spoken in Hebrew. There was also a video of the children opening the presents we sent them.

They sent us a very clever and interactive digital document. They created a game with pictures – each time we clicked on the picture; a question was posed in Hebrew. Luckily, they also sent us a cheat sheet of the questions in English too.

Through this project, we aim to connect with our wider Jewish community, particularly in Israel. This partnership will provide many opportunities for collaboration, networking, sharing of ideas and cultures across our two countries. We are hoping to connect online with the children in the Gan too.

While looking at the photos of their classroom, Arlo commented,” Oh my God! Such similar things!”

Alice: My family continues in Israel.
Penny: They have pomegranates in their garden.
Leah: My dad was born in Israel and my cousin is my dad’s mum.
Oliver: My uncle lived in Israel but then came home.

Here are some of the questions they asked us

What books do you like to read?

Leah: Story books
Mili: A night story
Abby: A bed story
Jaimee: A Dream Time story
Arlo: A wizard story

What sort of craft do you do at your pre-school?

Georgia: Paint at the easel
Josh: Drawing Aboriginal symbols
Finn: Making a robot out of recycled materials
Mili: Painting a ladybird on a rock

Have you ever seen a baby kangaroo?

Evan: One day I drove to a farm and saw a kangaroo.
Elisa: When I was going home from Forster, a baby joey hopped across the road.
Finn: Once I went to a farm and got to feed a baby kangaroo.
Abby: Once I went to the zoo and saw a baby kangaroo.
Jaimee: Once I went to the zoo and saw the fingers of the baby kangaroo in the pocket.

Can you ride a kangaroo?

Abby: No, you can’t ride them.
Maya: No.
Etta: You can’t because they have a pouch, and they can carry a baby in pouch

Can you pat or feed a kangaroo?

Georgia: I have patted a baby and a big kangaroo and the baby licked me on the hand.
Leah: Once I patted them and their fur was so soft.
Kaya: Once I feeded one and it licked me on the face.
Elisa: Once Penny and I went to the zoo and we patted one too.
Abbey: At the easter show.
Jesse: At the zoo.

What kind of games do you like to play?

Lev: Bingo.
Abbey: The shopping game.
Noa: The magnets.
Uriel: Uno.
Ethan: The hammering game.
Etta: Hide and seek.
Maya: Tip.
Luke, Neveau, Finn: Lego
Abby: Build things with the blocks, like a castle.
Bronte: Painting.
Liana: Make puzzles.

What are the books you like to read?

Jesse: Harry Potter
Archie: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Abbey: Princess in Black
Daisy: Upsy Down Town Book
Etta: Giraffe, Peli and Me
Aviv: The love heart book about the Queen.
Maya: Angelina Ballerina
Noa: Giraffes Can’t Dance

What foods do you like to eat?

Archie: Tomato
Jesse: Pomegranate
Uriel: Capsicum
Aviv: Bagels
Ziggy: Bagel sandwiches
Abbey: Yoghurt
Noa: Apples
Etta: Schnitzel and noodles

Do you celebrate both Australian and Jewish holidays?

Abby: Yes
Finn: I also celebrate all of the Jewish ones, and all of the Hebrew ones

Do you do Kabbalat Shabbat?

Penny: We light the candles, drink grape juice, we say the blessings. We sing “Shabbat Shalom, hey!” We dance, we put out our feet like this: one in front and one in the back.
Bronte: We eat challah. We dance, my favourite part is when we drink the wine.
Abby, Daniel, and Leah created a castle with blocks to show the children at Gan Rimon!

Playball

The Seashells had an Open Session of Playball on Monday for parents to come and watch. Our visitors were all amazed at the great skills the Seashells have developed since the start of the year and how good they are at listening to instructions from their coaches.

Police visit

Police officers from Randwick Police Station visited on Wednesday to talk to the children about the work they do in the community. They introduced Charlie the Penguin to the children and spoke about safe people to go to, the different kinds of roles police do, safety rules for the road and they showed the equipment they carry, such as hand cuffs, walkie talkie and a baton. The children were curious about why they had a picture of an eagle on their badge. They shared that part of their job is to catch “baddies” and put them in jail, but they also help to rescue dogs who may have fallen.

They emphasised the message that police are there to help us and keep everyone safe and to look for people in uniforms to help you if you are in trouble.

Happy Birthday

We wish a very happy birthday to Evan Cohen (5), Jordana Friedman (4), Penny Gomer (5), Abby Arnott (5), Bronte Hamor (5), Leah Heyman (5). We hope you all had a wonderful day.

We wish everyone a safe, happy and restful holiday. We look forward to seeing you all back at Pre-school next term.

Theatresports

Holiday hours

Warm Challah

P&F

Ruby Berkovic and Jennifer Opit

Hi Community,

We can’t believe the term is over!

Challah orders for Term 3

You can eliminate the hassle of having to pick up your weekly challah and support the P&F at the same time. We will be distributing freshly baked challah every Friday at the cost of $4.50 and your kids can pick it up outside reception between 3.20 pm – 3.40 pm on a Friday afternoon. (Gluten free challah is available at $10.00 a loaf.)

The challot must be pre-ordered at the beginning of the term. Please register your interest here

Mindfulness for Tough Times

Our Mother’s Day Meditation Session was a huge success and, following on from that, amazing Emanuel parent, Jodie Gien of Mindful Future Project, has kindly offered to bring you eight Mini-Mindfulness Sessions on Zoom (at no cost). The sessions will run after drop-off on Wednesday mornings in Term 3 from 8.30 am – 8.50 am, commencing Wednesday 14 July 2021 and running from Week 1 to Week 8. You can connect via laptop or mobile from anywhere

To register: express interest by emailing rubykb@gmail.com and you will be sent the Zoom links in advance.

Session Topics:

Calm and Focus Amidst the Chaos
Staying Calm When You Feel Like Exploding
Proactively Tackling Worry and Uncertainty
Out of Autopilot to Savour Here and Now
From Reacting Blindly to Responding Wisely
Where the Monkey Dropped the Ball
Self-Compassion & Empathy in Difficult Times
Happiness and Gratitude in a Pandemic

We hope you enjoy this fantastic opportunity.

Entertainment Books

If you are looking for great offers while out and about these holidays, there are plenty to be found in the Entertainment Book. Order Here

P&F meeting

P&F meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month at 7.00 pm in the School Boardroom. Everyone is welcome so please join us as your support and input is valued.

Email rubykb@gmail.com if you would like to attend the next meeting in August.

Camping Trip #2 date change

Please note that the date of the second camping trip for the year has been moved to the weekend of Friday 26 November 2021 – Sunday 28 November 2021.

Weekend brain teaser (from last week) and answer

Question: I have keys, but no locks. I have space, but no room. You can enter, but you can’t go outside. What am I?
Answer: A computer keyboard.

We hope you have a wonderful Term Break,

Jen & Ruby

Community Notices

Recipe of the Week

Each week we’ll bring you a tasty recipe passed down by Emanuel families, from the Emanuel School Community Cookbook, The Family Meal.

From the Kitchen of Ben Opit

Onyu’s Hungarian Nokedli Pea Soup

Ingredients

Freshly group pepper
1/3 tbsp paprika
Parsley, finely chopped
Salt
Packs of peas
1 carrot diced
Vegeta chicken stock

Nokedli
1 egg
Plain flour

Directions

Prepare freshly ground pepper, paprika, parsley and a pinch of salt.
Add 1/3 packet of peas in large saucepan and cover with water and boil with a pinch of salt.
Make a roux in a small saucepot, cover base with oil and add 3 tablespoons of plain flour and cook until light brown colour.
When cooked, add the pepper, paprika, parsley and salt and cold water and stir thoroughly.
When thoroughly stirred, add to boiling peas.
Top up approximately 2/3 of large saucepan with water and let it come to the boil. Then add a pinch of sugar and a teaspoon of Vegeta Stock and more salt if required.
Add the carrot and boil for five minutes.

Making Nokedli

In a small soup bowl add 1 egg, 3 tablespoons of plain flour and a pinch of salt and stir together until smooth and a bit firm.
Use a long handle teaspoon, dip into soup, and start dropping nokedli mixture into the boiling soup. Use a second wet spoon to make the process easier.
Boil for 5 minutes

Serves 5

You can order the Emanuel School Community Cookbook, The Family Meal by contacting rubykb@gmail.com