Inside this Issue

Principal’s Message

Deputy Principal

Student News

Extra Curricula Events

Events and Organisation

Attachments

Community Messages

Welcome to Menai High School.

We are a proud comprehensive high school with a tradition of outstanding academic results. Our school values are based around Care and Commitment where we create a learning environment driven by student wellbeing. Our school vision encompasses the development of Skilled Learners, Skilled Citizens who are Skilled for Life. Our wide ranging curriculum caters for the diverse learning needs of all students, with opportunities to succeed academically, creatively, socially and emotionally. We develop students who are equipped to thrive living in the twenty first century, willing and able to make valuable contributions to our society.

Coming Up

School Council Meeting—Monday 10th May—6.00-6.30pm

P&C Meeting—Monday 10th May—6.30.7.30pm

Exams—Years 7 & 8—Monday 10th May to Friday 14th May

NAPLAN—Years 7 and 9—Tuesday 11th May-Friday 14th May

Formal Assembly—Excellence—Friday 21st May

Reconciliation Assembly—Friday 28th May

Contact Us

Phone Number 9543 7000

Fax Number 9543 5513

Email menai-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Website menai-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MenaiHS/

Parent Newsletter Issue 3—2021

Menai High School

Principal’s Message

I would like to welcome everyone back from the holidays. I trust everyone had an enjoyable and restful break. Term 2 has started well and at a cracking pace, I can’t believe it is May already!

ANZAC Assembly A highlight from our first week of Term 2 was our ANZAC Day Ceremony. We commemorated ANZAC Day as a whole school during our Friday Assembly. As always this was a very solemn, respectful and moving

ceremony where we remembered and honoured the fallen. Thank you to Ms Fenemore and her team of teachers and students for the hard work, thoughtful planning and participation that went into making the ceremony such a special event.

Feel Good Fridays This term our wellbeing team has introduced Feel Good Fridays to foster wellbeing and positive school experiences for our students. In Week 1 Year 12 ran UNO and chess competitions in the playground and in Week 2 Year 8 ran a skipping competition. It was wonderful to see so many students challenging their friends and teachers with beaming smiles on their faces in a spirit of fun and healthy competition.

Principal’s Message-continued

Mobile Phone Ban and YONDR Pouch Introduction Last week YONDR pouches were introduced to Menai High School. Early results have been excellent with almost all students complying with the new policy perfectly. Feedback from teachers and parents has been very positive. The battles over mobile phone use in the classroom have ceased and in the playground students are visibly far more social, interacting with each other and enjoying the company of their friends. Students have mastered the unlocking stations very well and exiting in the afternoon has gone very smoothly. I would like to thank our school community and P&C for their strong support of this initiative which we know will benefit the learning and wellbeing of our students.

Athletics Carnival and Cross Country Our athletics carnival and cross country run was held in week 1 this term and both were fantastic days of competition with several school records broken. Thank you to our competitors and our teachers who organised the events with a special mention going to Ms Lehane and Mr Robinson.

Principal’s Recognition Joshua Walters—selected to represent the Sydney East Association in the Australian Football team competing at the NSWCHS Championships at Coffs Harbour on 21-23 April, 2021. Ella Barnett—selected to represent the Sydney East Association in the Girls Basketball team competing at the NSWCHS Championships at Maitland on 4th-6th May, 2021. Barney Ellevsen 6th May, 2021

Deputy Principal

Mrs R Allen—Years 8 and 10 Academic Effort Awards Congratulations to the following students in Years 8 and 10 who received Academic Effort awards at the Formal Assembly held on Friday 30th April, 2021.

First Name Surname Year First Name Surname Year

Jessica Arnold Year 8 Lachlan Cameron Year 10

Jorja Coots Year 8 Alysha Cannon Year 10

Charlie Cox Year 8 Nicholas Cullen Year 10

Kye Duck Year 8 Makayla Dang Year 10

Levi Green Year 8 Sahar El-Ali Year 10

McKenzie Griffiths Year 8 Kayla Graziano Year 10

Lucas Guy Year 8 Tony Hu Year 10

Aiden Hubbard Year 8 Lily Johnston Year 10

Benjamin Khuu Year 8 Jessica Jones Year 10

Aaron Klem Year 8 Bailey Julian Year 10

Julian Krepp Year 8 Abigail Korcekova Year 10

Dayna Marshall Year 8 Valentino Lauria Year 10

Tia Myring Year 8 Taya Margetts Year 10

Jade Papworth Year 8 Jaime McCaw Year 10

Sahara Peters Year 8 Khodr Mehanna Year 10

Marko Petkovski Year 8 Jacob Nguyen Year 10

Alex Pukler Year 8 Tyra Olney Year 10

Nazek Rabaa Year 8 George Papacostantinou Year 10

Lucette Rayner Year 8 John Papworth Year 10

Verena Sahertian Year 8 Louise Priestley Year 10

Christopher Shepherd Year 8 Logan Smith Year 10

Angela Skoric Year 8 Kenny Sun Year 10

Kate Stalgis Year 8 Emma Tapealave Year 10

Tamzin Sturt Year 8 Matthew Thomas Year 10

Aryan Suvarna Year 8 Erin Tkalec Year 10

Dawn Tarip Year 8 Jay Towner Year 10

Joshua Webster Year 8 Hamish Woolley Year 10

Bree Whitehall Year 8

Deputy Principal

Mrs R Allen—Years 8 and 10 National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) In May 2021 the National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) will be completed by students in Years 7 and 9. NAPLAN has the support of all State and Territory Education Ministers and will assess the literacy and numeracy skills of students across Australian schools. The results of the tests will provide important information to schools about what each student can do, and will be used to support teaching and learning programs. Parents will receive a report indicating their child’s level of achievement. Each student’s level of achievement will be reported against the national minimum standard. The NAPLAN tests will be conducted from 11th-14th May, 2021. Access to disability adjustments or exemption from the tests must be discussed with the school principal and a parent or carer consent form must be signed. Students may be withdrawn from NAPLAN by their parent or carer. This is a matter for consideration by parents in consultation with the school principal. If you wish to withdraw your child from the tests, a parent or carer consent form must be signed. (Please see document in the Attachments Section on page 22) Please make an appointment with the principal if you would like to discuss your child’s participation in NAPLAN.

Deputy Principal

Ms E Sayed-Rich—Years 7 and 9 Welcome to the start of Term 2. I look forward to a great term of learning and achievement.

Year 7 and Year 9 Academic Effort Awards Congratulations to all students who received awards at the academic effort assembly on Fri-day 30th April, 2021.

First Name Surname Year First Name Surname Year

Ari Bowyer Year 7 Latifah Abbas Year 9

Avelyn Chau Year 7 Aya Agha Year 9

Caleb Chen Year 7 Matthew Bertolissio Year 9

Jessica Goldsmith Year 7 Emily Boyd Year 9

Shayla Gonul Year 7 Chloe Bulmer Year 9

Danielle Goosmann Year 7 Kyan Cameron Year 9

Ashton Graham Year 7 Leyla Carkisoy Year 9

Leila Kavazovic Year 7 Darwin Congerton Year 9

William Kranepuhl Year 7 Zac Curtis Year 9

Kaesha Lane Year 7 Tomas Elkins Year 9

Sophie Maddock Year 7 Charli Fernandez Year 9

Lucy McCredie Year 7 Hayley Griffith Year 9

Melanie Moore Year 7 Ray Jiang Year 9

Cooper Morante Year 7 Hana Kheder Year 9

Paul Nesbitt Year 7 Oliver Krause Year 9

Indiana O'Hara Year 7 Eve Lewis Year 9

Martin Priestley Year 7 Nathan Maddock Year 9

Zac Saliba Year 7 Zein Malas Year 9

Alannah Sebalj Year 7 Thomas Marshall Year 9

Isaac Sest Year 7 Liliana Monte Year 9

Ezara Smith Year 7 Allegra Montoya Year 9

Adam Williams Year 7 Bonnie Porter Year 9

Linus Rathbone Year 9

Joshua Riches Year 9

Timothy Rudnitskiy Year 9

Natasha Santos Year 9

Talena Saumaitoga Year 9

Lara Talakovski Year 9

Deputy Principal

Ms E Sayed-Rich—Years 7 and 9 Uniform As the colder months approach, parents are reminded the Menai High School Uniform shop will NOT be accessible from Monday 10th May until the end of Term 2. This is due to the school hall roof being replaced. In order to manage the disruption to the uniform shop we are asking that families use this week and next week to purchase any items of uniform they need if at all possible. The more orders that can be filled prior to the works commencing the better. From May 10th we are requesting uniform orders be placed online using the following link which will take you to the relevant area of the Daylight School wear website. http://daylightsportswear.com/menai/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=8&zenid=ms79neudtsmab3pgt1k945pao6

There will be a temporary uniform window shop front set up in the kitchen opposite the PDHPE staffroom at the front of the hall. This small area will remain accessible throughout Term 2. The window shop front will be staffed as per the usual uniform shop times. i.e. Tuesdays 8:00am - 12:00pm and Fridays from 12:30 - 4:30pm. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your cooperation whilst our hall roof is replaced. An email has been sent out to all parents informing them of the changes.

Deputy Principal

Mr L Meagher—Years 11 and 12 Academic Effort Awards Congratulations to the following students in Years 11 and 12 who received Academic Effort awards at the Formal Assembly held on Friday 30th April, 2021.

First Name Surname Year First Name Surname Year

Yazan Al Koudmani Year 11 Phoebe Allsop-Guest Year 12

Joshua Apolony Year 11 Dylan Archer Year 12

Luke Arduin Year 11 Medinah Bahsa Year 12

Ariana Banicevich Year 11 Jade Brasch Year 12

Georgia Biscaya Year 11 Samantha Bryce Year 12

Jackson Curtain Year 11 Lara Chandler Year 12

Kye Cvetkovski Year 11 Mitchell Cooper Year 12

Joshua Denham Year 11 Tiarna Cullen Year 12

Abbey Dimmer Year 11 Mitchell Dol Year 12

Kyra Dsakalis Year 11 Anabella Fairbairn Year 12

Lara Ewerlin Year 11 Courtney Garbutt Year 12

Olivia Fechner Year 11 Leon Helou Year 12

Max Florance Year 11 Lewis Holmewood Year 12

Caitlyn Gilbody Year 11 Danielle Lamotta Year 12

James Hazen Year 11 Christina Lamotta Year 12

Amanda Hyde Year 11 Haley Lyons Year 12

Laurena Kranepuhl Year 11 Rishone Marks Year 12

Isabella Lam Year 11 Tahlia Martignago Year 12

Jessica Langley Year 11 Amelia McLeod Year 12

Joshua Lopizzo Year 11 Aaron Mitchell Year 12

Jayden Mayas Year 11 Luke Mitchell Year 12

Joshua McKeown Year 11 Bonnie Nguyen Year 12

Fatima Nahle Year 11 Lavanya Nolan Year 12

Grace Nesbitt Year 11 Zakarie Ogle Year 12

Elisa Oda Year 11 Rohan Ormsby Year 12

Matthew Plummer Year 11 Josphine Phan Year 12

Dylan Ralph Year 11 Jamilla-Kate Pittard Year 12

Eliza Ratcliff Year 11 Byron Pryor Year 12

Luke Riches Year 11 Joshua Richardson Year 12

Ashton Schmidt Year 11 Hunter Spiros Year 12

Patrick Shepherd Year 11 Eva Stojanovski Year 12

Taylah Sloane Year 11 Michelle Terblanche-Braack Year 12

Matthew Steele Year 11 Eliza Tru Year 12

Ilana Suljanovic Year 11 Larissa White Year 12

Anthea-Anthitsa Tsoulos Year 11 Connor White Year 12

Akshay Uppal Year 11 Reece Whitfield Year 12

Emily Vanovac Year 11 Chloe Williams Year 12

Jack Vickery Year 11

Kayla Whitehall Year 11

Student News

LOTE Faculty Mrs Ferraro would like to congratulate Lilly Bassot, Ali Ayoubi, Jake Robertson and Hayley Adioski for their excellent Katakana name pages in 7I Japanese.

Additionally Mrs Ferraro would like to congratulate the following students Olivia, Lilly Bassot, Bethany Domrow and Jake Robertson on achieving their BLACK belts in Hiragana. This means these students were able to accurately write all 46 Hiragana characters under test conditions. This is an amazing achievement and I am very proud of their dedication and enthusiasm for Japanese. yoku dekimashita!! (well done!!).

Ms Hassan congratulates the following students in her Year 10 Japanese class on their outstanding results in the Listening and Reading Assessment Task—Laura Akrman, Annisa Bolang, Allen James Bolina, Naomi Bunyon, Lachlan Cameron, Angelo Diamataris, Sahar El-Ali, Aden Freeman, Madeleine Grant, Yang (Tony) Hu, Isabella Liang, Taya Margetts, Shanice Marin, Soraya Mahafa, Yifei Pan, Ema Tapealava, Erin Tkalec, Marieta Van der Merwe and Angel Yeung.

TAS Faculty Miss Rozga, Mrs O’Keefe and Mrs Kendrick would like to commend their Year 10 Food Technology classes on their enthusiasm when preparing, cooking and presenting a broad range of restaurant quality ‘Super Food Meals’ for their Food Trends Assessment Task.

Also Mrs Kendrick congratulates Hannah Al Koudmani, Charli Fernandez, Lara Talakovski, Bella Rose Franklin, Joanna Yu, Abbey Chapman, Kayla Tran, Akira Saliba, Rachel Chen and Kiana Naitaka (Year 9) on their excellent Practical Assessment Task in Food Technology.

Good News Reports

Good News Reports (continued)

Student News

Good News Reports (continued)

TAS Faculty

Ms Cook writes—that throughout Term 1, Year 10 Textiles Technology students Alysha Cannon, Bree Clark, Natasha Krepp, Taya Margetts, Hannah Soper and Zoe Tambimuttu designed and produced miniature Macrame Wall Hangings as part of the ‘Textile Art’ Unit of Work. Students incorporated a minimum of five weaving techniques within each wall hanging, linking these to cultural and traditional practices. Students investigated methods of styling textile items for photography and created backdrops to be used for photographs of their work. These photographs were added to their portfolio and have been shared below. Well done Year 10!

School Leadership Team

Captains Capri Ireland

Jared Dean

Vice Captains Sally Gordon

Amelia Lamotta

Marcus Petrovski

James Peach

Mali Willoughby (Year 9) was accepted in the NSW Public Schools Aboriginal Dance Company, also known as Bangarra Youth. It is a highly motivational, elite program that will build dance and choreographic skills, knowledge and cultural awareness. Mali will work with choreographers from the internationally renowned Bangarra Dance Theatre to film a performance of ‘Alchemy’ for the State Dance Festival.

We are very proud of Mali and offer her our wholehearted congratulations.

Ms Garden ATSI Coordinator

Well done to all the students mentioned in this Good News Report.

Miss B Stone Head Teacher, Welfare

Student News

Good News Reports (continued)

HSIE Faculty Ms Wearring commends Alyssa Talakovski, Janice Lau, Shaylee, Darcy Lynch and Phoebe Seretis on their excellent results in the Year 12 Society and Culture HSC Assessment Task 2. Also from her Year 11 Society and Culture class Jolisha Dang, Elisha Debbage, Caitlin Gilbody, Charlotte Martin, Billy Agha, Abbey Dimmer, Ilana Suljanovic, Sarah Tapp and Amelia Ward on their excellent Media Files.

Year 11 Leadership Team—2021 Ms Ryan would like to congratulate the following students who have been successful in their application for the Year 11 Leadership Team-2021—Billy Agha, Hannah Barrie, Ariana Banicevich, Lauren Brown, Elouise Cameron, Jaylen Chasle, Kyra Dasaklis, Abbey Dimmer, Jack Ellery, Andre Ferreira, Thanush Gowda, Grace Hawksworth, Felicity Jensen, Kayla Klem, Joshua McKeown, Jorja Paes, Patrick Sheperd, Sabah Swade and Kayla Whitehall.

Extra Curricula Events

Year 7 Rewards Excursion 2021

As a reward for Year 7 students who continue to work well at school, the Welfare Team provided the opportunity for selected students to participate in an excursion to an Indoor Rock-Climbing Facility on Thursday 1

st April, 2020.

The excursion was made available to 47 students who had already received a Year Advisers Award (i.e. 6 praise certificates). Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the day.

Mrs Ryan Relieving Head Teacher Welfare (Wednesday) Year 11 Adviser

Coming Together for Harmony Day

Ms A Prince Coordinator

Extra Curricula Events—continued

Thursday Senior Study in the Library

Remember the library is open for year 11 and 12 students only every Thursday afternoon from the start of lunch until 2.30pm. This is offered specifically for our senior students to access extra support, study time and tuition.

Don’t let this be you the night before assessments are due or near exam time!

We are very fortunate to be able to offer the assistance of two tutors on a permanent basis: Mr Redman, a former MHS Maths head teacher and Mrs Dounas, an English, History and Learning Support teacher. Additionally, until week seven we have Mrs Summerfield from HSIE and Mr Bean from Science to assist seniors in those areas. So effectively, FREE TUTORING!!

We also offer help with organisational planning and summarising of your subject notes.

To make the study time more welcoming, we are again offering (Covid safe) light refreshments such as tea, coffee and biscuits.

We strongly urge all our year 11 and 12 students to make use of this wonderful opportuni-ty on Thursday afternoons.

#Improvement Movement #Improvement Movement

Extra Curricula Events—continued

Tell Them From Me student feedback survey (Term 2, 2021) I am delighted that this term, our school, like many other public schools in the state, will participate in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From Me student feedback survey. The survey measures factors that are known to affect academic achievement and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching practices.

More information about the survey is available at: http://education.nsw.gov.au/ttfm

The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide us with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. More than 6,300 schools in Australia and around the world have used Tell Them From Me to survey 5.4 million students. Capturing the voices of our students will help improve how we do things at our school.

I want to assure you that the survey is confidential. The survey is conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between 20

th – 30

th April. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary.

A consent form and FAQs for parents/carers about the survey is being sent home with students. If you do not want your child or children to participate, please return the form to school by Tuesday 20

th April. Copies of the form and FAQs are available from: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/

information-for-parents.

The consent form and FAQs are available in 23 languages. More information can be found in the link below https://education.nsw.gov.au/student-wellbeing/tell-them-from-me/information-for-parents-and-carers/your-childs-participation

Mrs N Ryan Relieving Head Teacher Welfare (Wednesday) Year 11 Adviser

Baseball News I've received some exciting news about one of our past students Koby Roberts who graduated from Menai High School in 2020.

Koby has been accepted into Feather River College in California to pursue his studies and baseball career. He is due to start in August this year.

While Koby was at MHS he played in multiple baseball competitions at regional, state, national and international levels. Not only was he a great student and athlete, but he also helped me promote the sport to our Year 7 co-horts through the Junior Baseball Development program that I coordinated in 2017 and 2018. This led to increased participation of students at the local baseball club called the Marlins in Illawong which is a credit to his leadership and dedication to the sport.

This is a huge achievement for Koby as his dreams are becoming reality!

An awesome start to a bright future.

Mrs N Ryan Sydney East SSA Convener and Coach

Extra Curricula Events—continued

World’s Greatest Shave This year the Year 10 cohort led the charge on beating blood cancer by organising and running a very successful World’s Greatest Shave fundraiser.

This involved the Year 10 students organising and running fundraising activities such as coloured hair spray, bake sale, hair braiding, temporary tattoos, leg waxing, lolly jar guessing competitions and funky scrunchies.

Additionally, we had a plethora of staff and students who bravely stood up to shave or cut their hair in support of funds raised for cancer research.

Money was raised online prior to the event as well as gold coin donations for fundraising activities. As a community, Menai High School raised over $7000 which is a fantastic effort! Special mention should go to our top fundraisers: Ella Badder and Amber Soo, each raising over $1000; Aden Freeman, Suhaila Mahafza and teacher Liam Ensor who each raised over $500.

Well done teachers and students.

Ms Ready and Mr Cole Year 10 Advisers

Extra Curricula Events—continued

VET News

Many of our Vocational Education and Training students pursue a vocational pathway after the completion of their HSC. Jude Mendez was one of our 2020 graduating students who has successfully found employment in the IT industry. He is now working towards his Cert IV as well as undertaking vendor certification training.

Jude credits his success in attaining a position, with a leading international company, on the qualifications he gained at school. With additional work on Jude’s part, he left Menai High School with a Certificate III in Information and Digital Technology. He is currently working as a Systems Configuration Manager. Congratulations Jude, another Menai High School VET success story.

2020 HSC students are reminded to ensure their USI account is not using their Department email address. These email addresses will become inactive. They should log onto their USI account and check it is not linked to their Department email address. https://www.usi.gov.au/help/login-to-usi-registry

Year 12 Construction students were busy during Term 1 completing their mandatory work placements. A number of our students were able to secure apprenticeships as a result of these placements and will commence these at the end of the year.

Extra Curricula Events—continued

VET News (continued)

Our Primary Industries students have also been busy during the school holidays with a number of Year 11 and Year 12 students undertaking work placement at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. They were working on the “Walk an Alpacca” exhibit and “Little Hands on the Land” exhibit. Our students are to be commended on their outstanding livestock handling and communication skills.

Mrs L Blanche Head Teacher VET

Extra Curricula Events—continued

VET News (continued) On Friday 30 April Ms Ready and Mr Cole took the Primary Industries students to the Tocal Field Day. This was an outstanding educational opportunity for our students who were able to learn about “Future Farming” and how technology is being used within the industry. Ms Ready and Mr Cole are to be applauded for the effort they went to in order to provide this experience for our stu-dents. Some of our students in year 11 and 12 Business Services participated in the WHS Evacuation Drill. Students were able to apply their knowledge of WHS Legislation as observers during the re-cent drill. They then reported back to the WHS Committee with their observations and findings. Congratulations Business Services students. Mrs L Blanche Head Teacher VET

Extra Curricula Events—continued

Year 10 History: The Sydney Jewish Museum Excursion On Wednesday the 21

st of April, Year 10 were taken on an immersive excursion to the Sydney

Jewish Museum in Darlinghurst. As part of their unit on The Holocaust, students explore artefacts within the museum, hear stories from survivors, and engage in educational programs to broaden their understanding of the experiences of those unfortunate millions caught in the wave of Nazism throughout Europe. Students were readily engaged in the often confronting and challenging presented throughout the day through three workshops: a survivor talk, a museum tour, and an educational presentation. Survivors Share Their Stories The Jewish Museum is one of those excursions that Year 10 will never forget. It allowed us to deeply understand the experiences the Jewish people had to go through. Even though it would be impossible to step into their shoes, we had the privilege of hearing from three generous Holocaust survivors: Eddie Jaku, George Sternfeld, and Susan Warhaftig. Every student was able to hear from one of these strong and resilient survivors. I was privileged enough to hear from the beautiful Susan Warhaftig. Susan was very lucky compared to ours. Susan and her mother were able to avoid the concentration camps twice; but, sadly, her brother was shot at the age of 11. Her story centred on her experience of being smuggled from her home in Vienna, Austria to a small village in Budapest, Hungary. She lived in this village for quite some time before moving to Sydney after the war, where she has remained since. Perhaps the most impactful part of Susan’s talk was a doll that she has carried with her since her escape, which she carried across the world and keeps with her to this day. Her story was very moving and allowed us to understand the experiences Jewish people had to face.

Alexandra Melicher A Guided Tour of the Museum Inside the museum, Year 10 students were split into small groups, each guided by one of the amazing volunteers working at the Jewish Museum that day. Most of the volunteers have a personal connection with the Holocaust; either they are of Jewish descent or their grandparents were witnesses of the Holocaust. The gentlemen that guided my group offered very detailed and accurate descriptions of the artefacts and information boards that were displayed within the museum. There were multiple sections in the museum that contain unique artefacts that all share a connection with the Jewish community and its rich history. There are old hand-written Torah scrolls, musical instruments, toys, garments and even artefacts that were previously owned by one of the survivors present on the day, like the leather belt that was worn by Eddie Jaku when he was in the Auschwitz concentration camp back in 1944. Rare video footages and photos taken before and during the war were also displayed with informative captions made by the volunteers that offered our year group an irreplaceable and informative experience about the Holocaust and the history of Jewish communities across the world. Unfortunately, there is not enough time for a complete tour of the museum, but the Jewish Museum is nevertheless an informative and unforgettable experience for the Year 10 students that visited the museum.

Tony Hu

Susan Warhaftig, photographed by the Sydney Jewish Museum

Extra Curricula Events—continued

An Engaging Educational Presentation Nearing the end of the program, students received a seminar from one of the museum staff, where they gained a comprehensive insight into the emotional impacts, restrictions and laws inflicted upon the oppressed communities in Nazi Germany, particularly the Jews. Students learned that contrary to popular belief at the time, Judaism was not a ‘race’ nor a group of people characterised by their physical features, but rather a choice of religious identity; they can be of any colour or physical characterisation. According to the speaker, the diaspora of Jewish people - the Jewish population scattered around Europe due to the invasion of their homeland countries - are the major cause of this loss of identity. Jewish people today include only the people who believe in Judaism, disproving the Nazi ideology of Jewish people being an inferior race, or a race at all. Moreover, the Jewish culture which the Nazis deemed to be subpar, has educated many of the most accomplished people in the world today, such as Albert Einstein and the co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin. These interesting facts not only confirms the absurdity of the Nazi ideology but also allowed students further knowledge into the Jewish culture and history studied in the classroom.

YiFei Pan & Marieta Van der Merwe

An image from I Met a Survivor, photographed by Nadine Saacks and published by the Sydney Jewish Museum

At the end of the excursion, Menai High School was presented with a gift from the Sydney Jewish Museum: a book of photographs capturing Holocaust survivors meeting young children. It was a moving way to end an invaluable day for our students, who proudly represented their school community on the day. Ms Fenemore History & English Teacher

Events and Organisation

Administration

Year 12 On Thursday 29th April NESA released the 2021 HSC Timetable. All students entered into HSC courses will receive a personalised HSC timetable via their students online account. It is most important students check their personalised timetable and notify Mr Meagher or myself immediately if their are any errors. There are a small number of Year 12 students who have still not activated their students online account despite many reminders. They simply need to go to: https://studentsonline.nesa.nsw.edu.au/go/access/ and follow the instructions.

School Photos All students have now received a 2021 student ID card with their new 2021 photo on it. Students must bring their ID card to school each day and use it at the front office when arriving late, leaving early or accessing the toilet during class time. If students lose their ID card, they must pay $5 to the office for a replacement. A few parents have enquired about the arrival date of school photos. The huge process of proof checking all photos has recently been completed meaning that photos should arrive in May/June. Mrs L Ferraro Head Teacher, Administration

P&C News Last year Menai High School was the fortunate recipient of a grant under the Communities Environment Program (CEP). The funding was used to create a native garden and Native Bee Habitat for the school. The plants are all in and the garden is thriving, however we will have to wait a little longer for the bees, with spring being the best time to introduce them to the garden. For anyone who is panel trained and would like to be involved in the process of recruiting teaching staff at the school, please forward your details through to my email address below. The school Executive values parent input and it is a very rewarding way to support and shape your school community. If you are not trained but are interested in becoming so it requires completing a short online course which can be found at: https://www.teach.nsw.edu.au/jobsnsw/selectionpaneltraining/ Unfortunately, some parents and carers are mistaking the P&C email address for that of the school. If you have any school related questions about your child, please email the main school email account, menai-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au. If you have any questions about P&C at Menai High School then please contact me on the email address below. Our next P&C meeting will be on Monday 10

th May, in the school library, and commences at

6.30pm with the Principal’s report. All members of the school community are welcome, so please consider coming along to support your P&C and be involved in supporting our school community. Meetings take place on the second Monday of each month during school term. We look forward to welcoming you. Lisa Chapman MHS P&C President Email: mhs.pandc.president@gmail.com

Attachments

Community Messages

Community Messages

Community Messages

Community Messages