I trust that the new year has begun well for you and our children.

Teachers and staff have been working very hard to ensure a smooth start to the year.

Policies, student/parent handbooks, conduct, bus, library and computer user

agreements have been sent out to each student. Kindly ensure that you have read

these with your child. These first few weeks were very important to set a strong

foundation as well as expectations for the challenges that lie ahead. Encourage your

children to have a study plan and to spend time reading. Every class will be receiving

homework, which will serve, as a reinforcement of what has been taught in class.

The home reading program for primary school students is well underway. Please sign

the homework and home reading sheets.

We will continuously emphasize our college motto, mission statement, values and

goals. In doing so students and teachers will realise that our main goal is to aim for

“Excellence in Education, Character and Service.” Every student was reminded of the

Behaviour Management Policy. We hope to work towards a positive approach to

behaviour management so that we can provide support to all our students to develop

them towards good character.

I cannot over emphasize the importance of parent involvement. I believe children

have better academic and social outcomes when their parents and teachers work

together. I encourage all parents to share information, voice concerns, ask questions,

make requests and give constructive criticism. I also encourage you all to complete

the expression of interest form sent out 2 weeks ago to join our Parents and Citizens

Committee.

I hope to InshaAllah build a close relationship and develop an open and transparent

communication to provide the best opportunities for all students at our college.

Please feel free to make an appointment at any time to discuss any matter regarding

your child.

I wish you all a successful year and will communicate to you through our monthly

newsletters.

Mariam Banwa

28 February 2017 Address: 724 Blunder Road, 1 Jumada 2, 1438 Hijri Durack QLD 4077 Tel: 07 3372 1400 Fax: 07 3372 2500

Email: tarbiyah@aiic.qld.edu.au

New School year with changed

primary Arabic textbooks Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu

The new academic year at AIIC brings with it a set of brand new buildings, a bunch of new teachers and

Imams and the exciting new Arabic textbooks for the primary classes. We have been using the CBSE

series of Arabic text books in the previous years and those books helped students immensely to build

their foundation in Arabic language studies. As the college grows, we are in the process of providing

more scientific and comprehensive set of textbooks especially for the primary level after considering

the students’ performance in the past and aiming at improving their Quranic language skills over the

coming years. We launch our new Arabic language textbook series for the primary classes ‘Duroosul

Lugathil Arabiyya from Majlis publishers of India, in the first term itself this year. The new Majlis

textbooks will be used from grade 2 to grade 5 and the CBSE books will stay for preps and grade 1

students. We hope that students will benefit largely out of this change and it will surely bring about

some positive changes in the language studies of our primary students Inshaallah.

Wassalam

Imam Shariff

PREP 3 – by Ursula Muncaster

The children settled extremely well

into the Prep classroom, lots of smiles

and very few tears. We began by

establishing routines (this reduces

anxiety of what is happening) and

negotiating classroom rules and

expectations. In history we have

focussed on our self and family. The

children have drawn self-portraits,

made a face to put on our school bus

and there is still the life-size cut out to

paint and a 3D self-portrait – so much

work to do! In maths we continue

with foundation concepts only Mrs M

is a little sneaky. When we came to do

tall and short, Mrs M took a photo of

all the children standing, I then edited

the photos so that the tall children in

the class were short and the short

children were tall. The children then

had to order their peers from shortest

to tallest, they could not use their

prior knowledge, they had to apply

their knowledge of tall and short!

The phonics program is a lot of fun as

the introduction to a new sound is

very visual and stimulating. For the

phonic /t/, Miss Kaniz and myself

played tennis in the classroom. This

week the students made pizza for the

phonic /p/. You never know when a

new sound is going to be taught, so

don’t miss school at all! The children

have been practising putting two and

three phonemes (sounds) together to

identify the word they make. As the

phonics are taught, we teach high

frequency words with new sounds and

inshallah, soon we will have some

great readers.

I am looking forward to a wonderful

year, the children are eager to learn

and they have so much potential.

Ursula Muncaster

Prep 3 Teacher

On the 13th of February, we gathered to congratulate an outstanding group of AIIC students selected as the

2017 Student Council representatives. Being a student council representative is an important job. Serving

on the school's Student Council gives students a say in student activities and empowers them to have their

opinions heard.

This year our Primary School Student Council Representatives were chosen through a combination of an

application and voting process. All students were given the opportunity to apply, and describe how their

talents would best serve the purposes of the A.I.I.C. It was amazing to see the quality of letters coming

through and the amount of students enthusiastic to contribute to our school community. From these

students, 2 students from each grade of year levels 1 to 6 were chosen to represent their class. The chosen

students were selected based on their ability to lead, work in teams, and speak publicly with confidence.

More importantly, these students needed to be passionate about making a change, reliable, trustworthy and

committed.

The teachers of AIIC are committed to developing leadership skills in all our students and consider the

preparation of our future leaders a priority. From Prep to year 6, the development of such skills is embedded

in curriculum units, classroom routines and extra-curricular activities.

This year our Student Council Representatives are looking to serve our students better through lunch time

activities and programs. Certain students will also be trained in peer mediation and be available at break

times for children to chat to about any concerns they may be having at school. We wish this year’s Student

Council Representatives the very best as they embark on their leadership journey. May it pave the way too

many more feats of leadership in the future!

Maneesha Iqbal and Farida Hashim Primary Student Council Coordinators

Dates to Remember- March 2017 Date Day Event

3 March Friday Clean up Australia Day

8 March Wednesday Primary College Sports Day

9 March Thursday Secondary College Sports Day

10 ,17 & 24 March Friday Inter-school Sport

21 March Tuesday Harmony Day

23 March Thursday College Photo Day

30 March Thursday Immunization Yr 7/8

31 March Friday Parent Teacher Interview/Awards/Term 1 Ends