From the Principal

Andrew Watt – Principal

Welcome to Adina Roth, our Head of Jewish life 

I was delighted to welcome Adina and introduce her in-person to our staff and students this week. Adina has arrived from Johannesburg, South Africa and will later be joined by her husband Farryl, a musician and physiotherapist.

Adina Roth

Adina and Farryl have two children: Maya, who will be commencing in Year 8, and Adam, who will be commencing in Year 4 next year. We look forward to welcoming them into our Emanuel family. As Adina shared in a previous communication, she will be partnering with us to ‘raise the sparks’ of Jewish life, of meaning-making, Jewish learning and ritual, spirit, and soul for the students of Emanuel and our wider community. 

Adina has been working in the field of Jewish education in South Africa for over seventeen years. She has designed and delivered an independent Bar and Bat Mitzvah Program, which is about making the years in the build-up to this coming of age as rich and meaningful as possible. Adina is also a Clinical Psychologist. She seeks to bring psychological insight into her teaching of children, pre-teens, and teens at these incredibly impressionable times in their lives. Adina’s first great loves were literature and poetry. Thus, she incorporates stories and poetry as she teaches the profound stories and teachings of our heritage, seeking to make them relatable. Where appropriate, Adina encourages the use of art, music and dance in Torah learning and at times, she likes to take her students out to nature to learn in earthy settings.

Adina has taught courses for Melton and her own Torah classes to adults for many years, drawing on insights from traditional midrash, psychology, and literature.  She is currently a rabbinical student at Yeshivat Maharat, the groundbreaking modern-orthodox institution in New York, currently ordaining women!

Adina hopes to bring her wide experience and love for this work to our community. She loves to jog, spend time in nature and listen to podcasts and she is so excited to be joining our school community. We hope that Adina’s time at Emanuel is rich, rewarding, and fruitful.

Our growing dependence on social media

Some parents may have watched Todd Sampson’s expose, Mirror Mirror, in which he highlighted both the danger of unsupervised use of social media and the growing dependence of young adults on their devices. It is clear that social media has become a dominant force in our world, for better or worse. On waking up each morning, the first thing over 55% of us do, is to check our phones for posts, likes, news, or WhatsApp messages left overnight. Apparently, the average Australian looks at their phone screen 221 times per day, or once every 4 minutes. Social media is now an unstoppable global phenomenon and is accessed 24/7 by the 98% of Australians who own a device. In the last two decades, young adults have moved from an average of 10 minutes each day, to nearly 3 hours per day. That is 20% of our waking hours – and this must have an impact. Research shows that TikTok, Instagram and Snapshot are the current favourites, but a wide range of new social media sites are emerging. Some online chat sites, like OMEGLE are all about talking to strangers, and these can pose a real danger, due to online predators. The impacts of the overuse of social media are both profound and disturbing. It has been closely linked to sleep deprivation, social anxiety, loneliness, bullying and depression. The more time we spend on social media, the less time we have to actually interact face-to-face and develop new relationships. This can impact academic performance and our physical health

In assembly this week, our students were challenged to reflect on their use of social media, to determine whether they were showing signs of dependence. If your child can stay off social media for a week without anxiety, or feeling that they are missing out, and if they can resist urges to look at their screens over this period, they are in the minority! Most people can shift over to socialising, exercising, and studying, but a growing number of young people are struggling to switch their devices off.

Why is it so difficult to cut down usage or to switch off our devices?

The science of neurology explains that posting on social media or receiving ‘likes’ on a post releases a rush of dopamine, which triggers a reaction of pleasure. Scientists have likened getting likes on social media to winning money or eating chocolates. We do it once and we want to do it again and again. The brain can gradually re-wire, to seek the reward or pleasure pathway, creating a dependence on our social media experience.

Parents are encouraged to monitor their child’s social media use – the websites that they visit and the amount of time that they spend online.

The following simple measures can have a significant impact:

• Turn off notifications, as they prompt us to look at our screens
• Do not allow mobile phones to be charged/remain in bedrooms
• Set and commit to time limits for gaming and online activity
• Maintain a fixed routine for social media use in the evenings
• Cease activity on devices at least one hour prior to bedtime

The school will continue to work in close partnership with parents, to raise awareness of the dangers associated with the misuse of and dependence on social media.

Mitzvah Meals 

Please join me in thanking parents, Carli Rothman, Anna-Lisa Palmer, Ilana Weschler, Naomi Raiz, Lisa Strous, Louise Romer, Rebecca Pal, Sarah Joseph, Deb Kaplan and Elly Berger, our parent Mitzvah Meals chefs. The group, under Carli’s guidance, volunteered their time to cook comforting meals for Emanuel families or staff who have been affected by serious illness, a death in the family or other hardship.

Our Mitzvah Meals program could not run without your time and energy and we are most grateful!

Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen

This week, the Emanuel School Foundation sponsored an exclusive screening of this film for the Emanuel community, as a prelude to the JIFF festival starting soon at Randwick Ritz. It was a wonderful event to attend, along with many of our staff members, parents and broader community. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and learnt many wonderful facts I did not know about the making of this famous production!

Thank you to the Emanuel Foundation Board for hosting an educational and entertaining evening out.

With Natanya Milner and Marla Bozic

 Mazal Tov

• To the Year 10 History debating team, who was successful in defeating Roseville College in the Quarter Final of the J.A. Thompson History Debating competition. The team now sees them move into the semi finals of the competition and also means that Emanuel now has 2 teams (Year 10 and Year 11). They are one win away from the Grand Final. The students involved include: Yael Rembach, Tamarah Aaron, Bella Freed, Ella Sherman and Alice Milner. The topic was “that Modern Australia was founded on the notion of a fair go” Emanuel was the affirmative team.The team argued that the 70s under Gough Whitlam’s government ushered in modern Australia and that his revolutionary policies prompted a modern ideological shift around the notion of a fair go.  

Tamarah Aaron, Yael Rembach,, Bella Freed, Ella Sherman and Alice Milner

• To Ella Millner, Year 4, for her award winning photograph of a peacock at the zoo. She has been selected as one of the winning entries in the 2022 Ripple Effects Australia Photo Contest
• 

  Ella’s photograph

Quote of the week

“Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.”  Steve Jobs

From the Head of Jewish Life

Adina Roth – Head of Jewish Life

Hello to all the parents and wider community of Emanuel,

As I took up my position as Head of Jewish Life at Emanuel school this past week,  I was struck by the prescience of a story that takes place in this week’s Parsha; one that talks to us about  themes of pluralism and difference.

At the end of Parshat Noach, we are living in a post-flood world and humanity is rebuilding itself. We read, ‘Everyone had the same language and oneness of words (d’varim achadim)….’They said, “come let us build a city with a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves, else we shall be scattered all over the world”.’ (Bereshit, Chapter 11)

God comes down to look on these builders and has some concerns. To paraphrase slightly, God muses that if as one people with one language, the people have dreamed up this plan, there is nothing they will not be able to achieve.

As the story goes, God thwarts the builder’s ambitions by creating many languages among them so that they are no longer speaking ‘oneness of words.’ Unable to communicate, the building project fails and the people are scattered across the earth.

We may want to ask, what is going on here?!  Are we to presume that God dislikes human striving? Do architectural  ambitions towards skyscrapers threaten God’s power?  Put differently, what’s ‘so wrong’  about the builders’ project?

Rashi, the Jewish commentator from the 11^th century weighs in on some of what made these people’s ambitions so problematic. When the Torah writes that the people were of ‘one words’, ‘dvarim achadim’, Rashi explains that these people came with a singular idea. They said God rules the sky and we rule the earth, let us conquer the sky and take it away from him. Rashi offers a second explanation around oneness or singularity. He says the people came with words about ‘the One (Hashem).’ They claimed to know God and, as it were, to label God, to reduce God to a particular identity.

Rashi’s explanations uncover the deeper ambitions of these builders: they were too singular; intent on the utter conquest of God and focused on singular labels or ideas about God that reduced God’s infinity. 

Sometimes to get something done, it helps if everyone ‘speaks the same language’ or is ‘on the same page.’ Uniformity can greatly assist in efficiency and goal- attainment. And uniformity is effective precisely because no one is challenging or arguing back. But it seems as if God doesn’t want a world that is predicated on this kind of singular mindset – even if it leads to the greatest skyscraper ever!

And so God brings to this people who have singular ideas, speech babble, language confusion. This is why the story becomes famously known as The tower of Babel! Rashi again opens up for us how this looked for the builders.  

‘One would ask for a brick and the other would bring him lime: the former therefore attacked him and split open his brains.’ In the story of Babel, we see how misunderstanding was deeply fatal.

But what if God’s introduction of multiple languages was not so much a punishment as a declaration of values around diversity – to the builders and to humanity. The French philosopher Emanuel Levinas, who was witness to the rise of totalitarianism and Nazism in Europe writes that when we claim that we ‘know’ a person or a people, we are in danger of committing a form of violence to that person. And, if we can release the need to know, label or pin a person down to ONE particular identity, we enter into what he calls ‘ethical relationship’ to the Other.  This is how we discover  the infinite possibilities inherent in humanity.  

The Babel builders sought to build through singular, totalitarian oneness. God invited the people to engage with each other’s difference and multiplicity… and build from there!  

In Mary Oliver’s poem Song of the Builders, she writes an ode to all the builders of our world, she writes:

Let us hope
it will always be like this,
each of us going on
in our inexplicable ways
building the universe.

Oliver clearly thinks that to build our world, we need individuality. Like Levinas she references human mystery, our ‘inexplicable ways.’

Like the Babel builders we might think that singularity of purpose can support achievement and greatness. But this story invites us to consider that perhaps there is a deeper power in learning to communicate and build from our differences. In bringing our differences, respecting each others’ differences and showing curiosity about them, we might still build skyscrapers, or better yet we may continue to build…a school and a community known as Emanuel!

Shabbat Shalom

Primary News

Samantha Rogut Head of Library and Information Services K-6

A quiet place?

The Primary Library is not always a quiet place. Nor should it be. Often it is filled with the sounds of students engaging in lively discussion, communicating with each other face to face, recommending texts to one another and discussing all manner of interesting and relevant topics. It is the perfect place to interact with peers and teachers and it is an environment that encourages and promotes human connection. The connections that students and staff make with one another, the Emanuel community and the world that makes this an exceptional place to be.

The discussions are wide and varied and provide insight into the minds of Emanuel students. Here just a few to give you an idea of the richness of discussion:

• I was recently asked what book I would recommend for a Year 9 student to read.
•  A student explained that she could see her family’s heritage reflected in a book we had.
• I was reminded by a student that the next book in the series she was reading comes out in November. She will continue to remind me weekly until I’ve added it to my Booktopia order.
• A student explained that they didn’t want to borrow a book because they would just lose it and be sent an overdue notice. I’m working on finding a way to change this student’s mind.
• A Year 5 student sounded elated when telling her friend that she had seen a younger student reading a Wings of Fire graphic novel. “Yes!”, replied her friend on hearing the news, simultaneously fist pumping the air. They were both big fans of the novel series.
• I heard that Kornmehl and Year 2 Buddy reading was the best part of a student’s week.

These discussions are mere snapshots of how the students feel about the library space, but they provide important information about what is important to the students who are the library’s biggest users. They help inform the development of our collection and the way in which library services should be crafted to support them as users. 

Emanuel Book Bingo

Primary School students are being encouraged to participate in the Emanuel Book Bingo during Term 4. 

The competition involves reading 5 books from the bingo board by the end of Week 8. During Week 8 all entries will be entered into the prize draw. There will be a book prize for each year group, perfect for reading over the summer holidays. 

Entry forms are available from the Primary Library during Library lessons, at recess and lunch times. The Emanuel Book Bingo card may be completed by students at all reading levels.

Out and About

There are currently some fantastic exhibitions for children and families taking place across Sydney. They make a great day out in the city as the weather warms up.

The State Library of NSW

Imagine…the Wonder of Picture Books

‘The best stories never end … They keep going on inside you.’ Ursula Dubosarsky, March of the Ants . Stories and characters from much-loved Australian picture books come to life in this celebration of children’s literature. Come and see some of the most beautiful picture books and artworks in the State Library’s collection and beyond. 

Australian Museum

Sharks

Submerge yourself in Sydney’s newest hands-on family exhibition.

Australian National Maritime Museum

Brickwrecks – Sunken Ships in LEGO Bricks

This exhibition is a unique combination of Ryan ‘The Brickman’ McNaught’s stunning LEGO® models, plus real shipwreck objects, hands-on interactives and audio visual experiences that bring to life astonishing shipwreck stories.

Fun Day

The Year 6 Fun Day will be held on Friday 4 November 2022 this year. Additional information will be emailed to parents in the coming weeks.

Ma Koreh

Adam Carpenter – Head of Jewish Life Primary

Our Year 1 and Year 3 students received their beautiful fired clay mezuzot and Rosh Hashanah plates, created during last term’s Grandparents and Friend Day workshops. The students were excited to receive back their creations and are looking forward to putting them to use. A klaf or Mezuzah scroll can be purchased online or at Gold’s Judaica, prior to affixing the mezuzah to a doorpost.

A big thank you to ceramicist and former Emanuel parent ,Lia Klugman, for assisting us in glazing and firing for this project.

Our Year 5 students have been learning about the Friday evening Shabbat rituals and blessings, working in groups to lead other students in a Shabbat celebration. Working with our informal Jewish Life Leaders Joshua New and Mia Shapiro, we had 2 groups of Year 5 students lead Shabbat for the Year 3 students in their classrooms this morning. Over the coming weeks the remainder of the groups will have the opportunity to put their knowledge and leadership skills to use to lead Year 3 and Year 4 students in their Friday morning Shabbat celebrations.  

I

From the Library Leaders

Being a Library Leader is amazing!

As a Library Leader, you get to help people pick out the right books that suit them best. You also get to greet famous authors like Belinda Murrell, who visited Emanuel this year! We also get to create the displays in the library.

The responsibilities of a Library Leader can be challenging at times, but you get better when you have our amazing mentors by our side; Mrs Rogut and Miss Condon. We could not have done all we have done this year without the guidance and support of these fantastic teachers. 

By Ariel Nurick, Alicia Randall and Allana Vitek

Book Now for Aladdin Jnr!

Primary Presentation Evening – Prizes

Natanya Milner – Head of Primary School

Prizes Request

The awarding of prizes to students at the Presentation Evening is a highlight of our calendar. As has been the custom at Emanuel, we invite parents and community members to contribute to the life of Emanuel School by donating prizes.

The prizes are awarded to children across Years 3 – 6. If you would like to be involved, you are welcome to specify an area of endeavour to endow with your prize and where possible, we will accommodate this. You may wish to dedicate the prize in memory of someone.

You may choose to donate a one-off prize ($70.00), an on-going prize for five years ($350.00) or an on-going prize for ten years ($700.00). All donations are tax deductible.

If you are the donor of a current ongoing five or ten year prize, this will be awarded again this year.

If you have a family member or friend who may be interested in contributing, we would be grateful if you could forward this information onto them.

Please complete the donation form and payment via this link by Monday 7 November 2022.

I would like to thank you for your consideration of this opportunity and I look forward to welcoming you to the 2022 Presentation Evening on Wednesday 7 December 2022 at 6.00 pm.

Kornmehl

Terry Aizen – Director of Kornmehl

Seven Ways to Encourage your Child to Try New Things

Fear is a typical response to new challenges or experiences. These situations make children feel uncertain, vulnerable, powerless and anxious. They strip away a child’s sense of security and control. As a result, many children avoid the unfamiliar. They prefer NOT to risk attempting something new, leading to missed opportunities, and setting a negative pattern that can persist into adult life.

Here are seven strategies and activities we can use to raise children who aren’t afraid to tackle new situations, skills, or obstacles with confidence:

Be Supportive of Effort, Progress and the Process

Kids may fear trying new things for several reasons, including environment, upbringing, past experiences and temperament. It is important to praise effort, progress and the process rather than only praising successful outcomes. The praising process is also important because it shows your child there’s more than one way to do something. Show your child that “success” isn’t necessarily dependant on outcomes. Success can mean a willingness to try, put forth your best effort and show gradual improvement.

Make an “I can” Can

Print out strips of paper with the sentence starter “I can,” written on them. Then, allow your child to fill in the blanks. Help them brainstorm, while enabling them to come up with suggestions of their own as well. Put the strips in a can and have your child add more strips whenever they learn a new skill or conquer a new challenge.

Keep an “Adventure Diary”

If your child can view new challenges as exciting rather than intimidating, they’ll have the courage to pursue their full potential.Help them shift their perspective by keeping an adventure diary. In the diary, you’ll detail all the adventures you’ve had as a result of trying new things. Write about all the times your child was brave and attempted something new and update the diary regularly. If possible, you can add pictures, drawings or small mementoes for decoration. Also include details about how well your child did or how much fun you and your child had when he/she tried this new activity.
The next time your child is afraid to try something new, take out the adventure diary, and talk about the great times you had because your child was brave enough to try.

Ask the Right Questions

You can ask your child questions like, “Is there anything that used to be difficult or a little scary for you that’s now much easier?” Remind your child that all the abilities they have now were new at one point. They weren’t born with them; they had to learn, practise and persist. To put your child’s fears in perspective, ask questions like: What’s the worst thing that could happen? What makes you say that?, What is more likely to happen?, What would you tell a friend who felt this way?

When you talk to your child about trying new things, make it a discussion rather than a lecture. Listen to your child’s worries and help them talk through and confront these fears.

Incorporate Brain Breaks

While you should encourage your child to take risks, you should avoid pushing too hard. You want your child’s experiences with trying something new to be positive so that they won’t become even more risk averse.

Incorporate short activities that disrupt the monotony of a child’s current task. You can suggest a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, challenge your child to ‘reinvent’ a random object for other uses or provide a story starter for your child to complete.

Because these brain breaks are a bit silly, they’ll brighten your child’s mood, take their mind off their fears and help them face the task at hand with renewed energy. Plus, the fun memories you create will show your child that trying new things isn’t so bad after all.

Conduct Dress Rehearsals

If your child is nervous about meeting their teacher for the first time, you can pretend to be the teacher and let your child practice how they will greet her. Practise conversations, greetings and other interactions that make your child feel nervous.

These dress rehearsals will familiarise your child with new situations, making them feel less unfamiliar and scary. You can even practice how to handle these situations if the “worst-case scenario” were to occur. As your child begins to feel confident and prepared, their worries about new social situations will dissipate.

Make a “Bravery Ladder”

To create a bravery ladder, help your child identify steps that will help them gradually achieve a new skill or conquer fear. Think of it like learning to ride a bike starting with training wheels.

Source:
Big Life Journal (2022). 7 Ways to Encourage Your Child to Try New Things. Retrieved from   https://biglifejournal.com/blogs/blog/encourage-child-to-try-new-things. To read the article in its entirety click here.

Excursions

The Seashells visited Calmsley Farm this week. The build up to the excursion consisted of discussions, sharing of ideas and thoughts about what we might see and do as well as involvement in imaginative farm play and creative art works. 

The children and teachers travelled on the Emanuel School bus an exciting part of the trip.

Our excursion to the farm began with a tour of the farm nursery, where the children got to pat and look at lots of different baby farm animals. Afterwards we all had a go at milking a cow. We learnt about different kinds of cows, such as Brahman, Jersey and Highland. We visited the sleepy pigs and went on a very bumpy tractor ride around the farm. Other animals we saw were a camel, donkey, lamas, koalas, wallaby, wombat, turkeys, ducks, and chickens. After lunch, we had a stockwhip demonstration, followed by a working dog show, that herded all the sheep into an area and a sheep shearing show. Wow – so much in one day! It was a beautiful day and the Seashell children were engaged, enthusiastic and involved.

Thank you to all our fabulous parent helpers who accompanied us on the excursion.

Next week – on Tuesday and Thursday – the Starfish and Dolphins will visit Calmsley Farm.

Happy Birthday

We wish a very special and happy birthday to Aimee Schnapp (4), Joe Kummerfeld (4), Raphael Lopis (4), James Samway (4), Noah Eisman (5) and Joshua Goldstein (5). We also wish a very happy birthday to our two educators Lindi Bloch and Amanda Fraser. We hope you all had a very special birthday.

Reunion Time

Sonia Newell – Development Officer – Alumni & Community Relations

Who doesn’t love a reunion

We are pleased that our alumni are able to celebrate milestone reunions again. Last Saturday evening, the Class of 1990 finally held their 30 year reunion after a few false starts (thanks to Covid-19). They were the second group of Year 12 graduates at the School, with just 26 students in their final year. Some of these alumni at the event went on to become parents at Emanuel, including Nadine Ben Mayor, Daniella Israel, Greg Dobrin, Michael Kitchener, Mikaela Bennett and Phillip Hakim. One of their teachers, Jane Morrison, made the trip up to Sydney for the reunion from Melbourne.

Class of 1990 30-year reunion

Alumna AJ America (Head Madricha Class of 2012) 
Artistic Director, Luminescence Chamber Singers

Luminescence, a vocal ensemble based on Ngunnawal country in Canberra, performed last Sunday evening at Glebe Town Hall. Garry Case, now Director of Digital Learning Technologies K-12, was AJ’s Science teacher when she was in Year 7, and he attended this performance as did some of AJ’s classmates, all pictured here. Garry says that they are sensational!. The ensemble is comprised of five professional singers whose experience encompasses chamber music, choral music, consort singing as well as folk song, art song and contemporary music.

Read more about this ensemble or watch this YouTube link from a previous performance.

Garry Case, Donny Janks, AJ America and Hannah Beder

The Ballad of Mauthausen 
Sunday 30 October 2022

It is not too late to book tickets for what will be an amazing performance this Sunday evening, featuring members of our School community.

Tickets: $60.00 Concession: $50.00.
Book here.

Sydney Jewish Museum Bar and Bat Mitzvah Program
Sunday 6 November 2022

One last reminder for parents of children approaching the ages of 12 or 13 – you may be interested to join the last SJM Bar and Bat Mitzvah Program session for 2022, to be held on Sunday 6 November 2022 at 2.30 pm.

Sculpture by the Sea 
On until Monday 7 November 2022

“Lens”, the sculpture created by alumnus Joel Adler (Class of 2011), has featured in the media including this Sydney Morning Herald article.

If Joel’s sculpture is your favourite, please vote it for the EY People’s Choice Award or on the Sculpture by The Sea App.

Kristallnacht Commemoration 2022
Wednesday 9 November 2022

Kristallnacht – The Night of Broken Glass – marked the onset of the Holocaust. On 9 November 1938 – 10 November 1938, Nazi forces set fire to or destroyed over two hundred synagogues, damaged 7,000 Jewish owned business arrested 30,000 Jews, and murdered 91 Jews in Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland.

The Sydney Jewish community’s annual ceremony commemorating Kristallnacht will be held on Wednesday 9 November at 6.45 pm for a 7.00 pm start (in person only). The theme for the event is Nazis Uncovered, and the keynote speaker will be Nick McKenzie, award-winning investigative journalist who uncovered the inner workings of Australia’s biggest neo-Nazi cells. McKenzie’s investigation was featured on 60 Minutes and the Stan documentary Revealed: Among Us – Neo Nazi Australia. The commemoration will also honour Michael Samaras – the former Wollongong councillor – who uncovered Wollongong’s major art donor as a Nazi collaborator.

Eden Shifroni will sing Es Brent (“It Burns”) accompanied by Emanuel past student Ben Adler and Paul Khodor from Chutney Unplugged, and memorial prayers and anthems will be led by Joel Nothman, whose daughter starts at Emanuel School next year. Memorial candles will be lit by Kristallnacht survivors Ruth Rack, Peter Nash and Rita Newell (who is my mother and a past Emanuel grandmother).

Book your seats.
Enquiries

You will receive confirmation of the venue closer to the event. 

We look forward to sharing our news and yours, so if you have photos and/or news you would like to share with us, please send to Sonia Newell.    

Shabbat shalom, stay safe and have a great weekend.

Careers

Claire Pech – Careers Advisor

We are back with a bang, and even though we have had a staggered start to the term, Emanuel School Careers is alive and kicking!

Below are some pictures of my travels to ANU during the holidays – not as glamorous as Mr Watt’s Euro-snaps, but fun nonetheless. ANU has come a long way in the last decade with amazing new refurbished student accommodation, new student restaurants and cafe’s everywhere… There is a thriving student scene.

FennerHall

ANU-Me

I gave a presentation to the Year 12 parents and students last week, along with Mr Bell and Mr Ezekiel about the year ahead.

All Year 12’s will now have a shared file called “My Tertiary Action Plan” to house all information, plans, ideas and links for the year ahead. I am very much looking forward to watching these plans grow and unfold throughout the next few years.

As always I share the searching, researching sites as a new group comes in for parents and students to search and discover together. 

This is my top list:

ADHD Awareness Month

October is ADHD Awareness month, and you may see a lot of events on LinkedIn, social media and other forums discussing all things to do with Neuro-Diversity, especially in terms of education and employment. I am doing some studies with Kings College London in this area, and the new figures are that 20% of society have some kind of neurodivergent way of thinking (either being on the Autism Spectrum, having ADHD, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and many more fabulous varieties in the way our brains all function).

All companies, industries and working pathways thrive by embracing all of the differences in the ways that we work, think, create and thrive. This week I have been part of some changes that the big corporates are making in how to recruit and interview their neurodivergent potential employees.

I have written some publications in this area recently, on career planning whilst also having an ADHD diagnosis and how best to work in this area, and how we can learn from each other.

Here are some samples:

• The Role ADHD can play in Career Planning and Progression in Study Work Grow.
• Practical Tips to Support Teens with ADHD, Embarking on their Careers in ADHD Support Australia.

Notices, Events, Dates and Articles

• ATAR facts – some lovely, interesting facts in this infographic such as 77.5 is the average ATAR for an offer made in 2021.
• Top Tips To Remember on ATAR Release Date – some great tips on not freaking out, staying true to your original plans and keeping your eye on the bigger picture.
• 7 Entrepreneurs you Need to Know About
• Pathways to Studying Law at Sydney University –16 November 2022 at 4.00 pm webinar. This is always popular for Sydney University but incredibly competitive so always worth knowing what are the other entry points. 
• Good Universities Guide – Rankings for 2023 – I am not a huge fan of rankings but they can provide pivotal information to add in with other types of information to help in course-choosing.

Sydney University Webinars

Bachelor of Engineering: Electrical & Information Engineering
Wednesday 2 November 2022 4.00 pm – 4.30 pm

Road to Architecture: Design in Architecture
Wednesday 9 November 2022 4.00 pm – 4.30 pm

Pathways to Studying Law
Wednesday 16 November 2022 4.00 pm – 4.30 pm

Bachelor of Engineering: Biomedical Engineering
Wednesday 23 November 2022 4.00 pm – 4.30 pm

Science at Sydney: Agriculture, Food & Animal Biosciences
Wednesday 30 November 2022 4.00 pm – 4.30 pm

Sources:
www.jobjump.com.au
www.studyworkgrow.com.au October 2022

Gifted and Talented

Craig Moss – Co-ordinator of Gifted & Talented 7-12

Future Problem Solvers finalists!

Two groups from Emanuel School qualified for the National Final and finished second overall in the Future Problem Solving Program. This is an outstanding achievement.

Congratulations to the students involved!

Here are some project details and links to their promotional videos:

• In the Community Problem Solving Competition (senior group division) our team, Elise Kitchener, Jesse Barel, Arella Codorean and Noa Wajsman, finished second for their project Breaking Chains.

In tackling the problem of low reporting rates by victims of domestic abuse they came up with an ingenious idea and created a website to allow victims of domestic violence safely report abuse. Their website, Venus, is disguised as a store for women’s sanitary products, allowing them to report abuse subtly and non-verbally without worsening their situation. They should be commended for the amount of hard work and effort that went into this project and the evaluators were extremely impressed with their creation. 

Noa Wajsman, Arella Codorean, Elise Kitchener and Jesse Barel

• In the Community Problem Solving Competition (senior Individual division) Willow Gelin finished second with her project Sunlight Education. Willow aimed to reduce the frequency of homophobia in schools and as a result created 3 sessions to be delivered during tutor periods to help raise awareness of LGBTQIA+ identities and issues. This project has the potential of having a long lasting impact, well done Willow. 

Willow Gelin

Additional extracurricular activities on offer in Term 4

Debating Skills Workshop

This is a great opportunity to develop your debating skills, either as preparation for the HICES Debating competition starting in Term 1 next year or to improve your ability to arrange arguments in a coherent fashion, which is crucial in essay writing and is an important life skill.

The Debating Skills Workshop will take place on Monday 31 October 2022 from 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm. It is delivered by professional educators from Masters Academy, who specialise in debating.

Please complete this form by Wednesday 26 October 2022 so we can confirm numbers with Masters Academy. If you have any questions please contact myself or our Debating Coordinator, Ms Tritsch. 

The Quest – Academic Team Challenge Competition 

BRAINways Education, in conjunction with Australian Catholic University, have launched a team challenge academic competition called the Quest.

The Quest is one of the most anticipated academic competitions and provides opportunities for creativity, problem solving and team work, offering the level of challenge that foster outstanding achievement. With this year’s overarching theme, The Patterns of the Infinite, the Quest incorporates the main disciplines of Mathematics, Sciences and Humanities in a journey of discovery. The Quest Preliminary Challenge is offered over two days. The first day of the Preliminary Quest will prepare the teams for the challenge, rotating through the three learning areas as they are introduced to their focus topics. On the second day, in a similar rotation system, the challenge itself is provided. The Quest participants will have the opportunity to challenge boundaries, expand their insight and enthusiasm for learning and gain confidence in their outstanding potential.

The state preliminary round will take place on Wednesday 23 November 2022 and Thursday 24 November2022. 

If you are interested in taking part, please complete this form.

Night of Song

Brave Talks

“Brave Talks – stop the stigma”
17 November 2022

JewishCare and JCA, together with The Choice Foundation, present this inaugural event on our campus this year, which features the stories of 6 extra-ordinary human beings, including Emanuel alumnus Jake Biggs (Class of 2012) who was diagnosed with severe anorexia nervosa at the age of 15. Over the course of 10 years, he required 20 hospital admissions (also nearly dying through starvation). He once had a heart rate of 25 beats per minute, after not eating for one week and doctors feared he wouldn’t wake up the next day.

You can hear his remarkable story of recovery and resilience at Brave Talks, as well as the stories of others.

Fifty tickets have been made available to the Emanuel community ( the event is otherwise sold out). First come, first served!

Book now for the opportunity to join this amazing evening. Use this code to buy tickets: Emanuel

Almost in France!

Hilary de Joux – Coordinator of French

The exciting world of Virtual Reality breaks down our classroom walls and takes Emanuel students to French speaking countries all over the world!

At first glance you may not think that Lotus, Mischa, Noa or Elke are in France in the images, but in fact they are! Lotus is negotiating the price and flavour of her crêpe and watching it being prepared in front of her, Mischa is shopping and having a look around a traditional French Pâtisserie, Noa and Elke are learning bakery vocabulary from the shopkeeper and buying a croissant. ImmerseMe is about virtually stepping into an authentic location to learn and practise French, so that when students travel to all the wonderful French speaking countries all over the world themselves, or meet French people here in Australia, they will be prepared!

ImmerseMe allows me to set tasks that consist of real-life scenarios filmed in an authentic setting (for example, a café, restaurant, classroom). The student interacts with the French speaker according to a script and can choose various options of how to reply. The voice recognition software within the program then allows the student to continue to interact in a guided way to complete a task, gradually moving away from the script to become more spontaneous and independent on their journey towards fluency. There are also follow up reading and writing activities within the software to ensure all essential skills are developed, which allows me to track their progress through the teacher dashboard and ensure I am creating an individualised program of learning for each student.

These scenarios begin with essential everyday environments such as in a bakery, shopping for clothes, ordering and paying at a restaurant or checking in to a hotel, gradually progressing to more complex language skills in Year 11 and Year 12 such having a formal job interview in a French company, the world of finance and business, discussing and debating current issues with other young people, introducing a new work colleague at the office, clearing immigration at the airport.

Students become more motivated to practise and work on improving pronunciation and fluency and they are proud of overcoming initial frustrations to enjoy their success.

The French Department now has two sets of MetaQuest 2 VR headsets to more easily use this exciting new technology in our lessons and we can’t wait to see where it takes us!.

HSC 2023 applications for Disability Provisions

Eliah Dean – Coordinator – Disability Provisions

HSC 2023 applications for Disability Provisions (DPs)

A small number of students in each year group in the School have a disability that is part of their learning profile and impacts their performance in assessments; Year 12 is no exception. A disability in this context is an incursion on performance that is based on evidence provided by medical and/or allied health specialists and/or educators.

The purpose of Disability Provisions is to ensure that, as far as is possible, all students have an equal chance of accessing the HSC examinations. The level playing field that NESA supports does not consider students in relation to their own underlying abilities but compared to the capabilities of an average student in NSW.

If you believe that your child, or you as a student, might be eligible to apply for Disability Provisions, please contact Mr Dean or Dr Joffe in the Wolanski Family Specialist Learning Centre (SLC) no later than Monday 31 October 2022.

Friday Chills

Justine Hofman – Head of P&F

It’s been an amazingly fast beginning to Term 4 and it’s hard to believe we are already three weeks into the term!. With the warmer (read: wetter) weather, we have a few opportunities to get together in coming weeks.

P&F Spring Family Camping 
Last call for bookings

There are still some spots available for our Spring Family Camping weekend on Friday 4 November 2022 – Sunday 6 November 2022. The weekend will be held at Glenworth Valley camping ground (approximately a 90-minute drive from school). We have a dedicated area for our school group and will be camping within 200-acre creek side grounds with stunning natural bush and scenery. If you’d like to join us, please make a booking before 9.00 pm on Monday 31 November 2022.

Friday Chills – every Friday after school this term

Don’t forget Friday Chills is happening every Friday after school this term (except Friday 4 November 2022 and Friday 2 December 2022). It’s a great way to end the week, connecting with other parents and kids on the basketball court with a $1.00 icy-pole in hand. We hope to see you today after school. We also need a few extra hands helping to sell icy poles from 3.20 pm – 4.00 pm so please volunteer here.

P&F Term 4 Meeting
Monday 7 November 2022 at 7.00 pm 

Our Term 4 P&F General Meeting is to be held on Zoom at 7.00 pm on Monday 7 November 2022. We will cover brief updates from various P&F committee heads and look ahead to discuss upcoming initiatives. Everyone is welcome to join. Please email Justine Hofman and we will share the agenda and link ahead of the meeting.

PSG

Thank you to our volunteers for last week
(Wednesday 19 October 2022 – Friday 21 October 2022)

Daniel Butt, Brad Allen, Brett Churnin, Ian Kessell, Steven Durbach, Candy Mervis, Elan Miller, Bradley Drutman, Yaron Allul, Bob Kummerfled, Ron Efrat, Paul Filipczk, Brett Adler, David Camiller, Jackie Elias, Craig Forman and Shirley Goldrei.

Help keep our kids and community safe: sign up to PSG here

Important Dates

What’s happening next week

High School

Monday 31 October 2022

• Year 12 HSC Examinations
• Year 10 Peer Support Training

Tuesday 1 November 2022

• Year 12 HSC Examinations
• Year 9 French to Alliance Francaise de Sydney
• Year 10 Chavayah Student Preparation 

Wednesday 2 November 2022

• Year 12 Examinations 
• Night of Song

Thursday 3 November 2022

• Year 12 HSC Examinations 
• Year 10-11 Drama to Looking for Alibrandi

Friday 4 November 2022

• Year 12 HSC Examinations

Primary School

Tuesday 1 November 2022

• Kindergarten (2023) Parent Information Night 

Thursday 3 November 2022

• Kindergarten Orientation 

Friday 4 November 2022 – Sunday 6 November 2022

• P&F Camping Weekend

Save the Date

High School

Monday 7 November 2022

• Year 9 HSIE Field Trip to Botany Bay

Tuesday 8 November 2022

• Year 9 Examinations

Wednesday 9 November 2022

• Year 9 Examinations

Thursday 10 November 2022

• Year 9 Examinations
• Year 7 UTS STEM-X Day

Friday 11 November 2022

• Years 7-10 Project Based Learning Day
• Remembrance Day
• Volunteers Thank You Event

Monday 14 November 2022

• BBQ and non-uniform Charity Day
• School Canteen closed 

Wednesday 16 November 2022

• Twilight Concert
• Year 7-12 Writers’ Awards

Tuesday 29 November 2022

• Sport and Extra-curricular Photo Day

Wednesday 30 November 2022 – Tuesday 6 December 2022

• Project Based Learning Days

Thursday 8 December 2022

• High School Speech Day
• Last Day of Term 4

Primary School

Friday 11 November 2022

• Volunteers Thank You Event 

Monday 14 November 2022

• BBQ Day
• School Canteen closed 

Sunday 20 November 2022

• Aladdin Jnr Show 1

Monday 21 November 2022

• Aladdin Jnr Show 2

Tuesday 22 November 2022

• Aladdin Jnr Show 3

Friday 2 December 2022

• Year 6 Pathways and Graduation

Tuesday 6 December 2022

• Year 6 Gratitude Day – Sydney Aquatic Centre

Wednesday 7 December 2022

• Years K-2 Presentation Day
• Years 3-6 Presentation Evening

Thursday 8 December 2022

• Last Day of Term 4 

Kornmehl

Thursday 10 November 2022

• Parent/Teacher Meetings 

Friday 11 November 2022

• Volunteers Thank You Event

Monday 14 November 2022

• Playball – Starfish Open Session for Parents 

Thursday 17 November 2022

• 2023 New Parents Orientation/Information Evening 

Monday 21 November 2022

• Playball – Seashells Open Session for Parents

Thursday 24 November 2022

• Parent/Teacher Meetings

Thursday 1 December 2022

• Dolphins/Starfish Concert & Graduation 

Friday 2 December 2022

• Seashells Concert

Monday 5 December 2022

• Playball – Dolphins Open Session for Parents

Thursday 8 December 2022

• Bush School Family Picnic in Centennial Park
• Last Day of Term 4 

Community Notices