Principal’s Message

Assalaam ‘alaikum Dear Parents & Guardians,

Alhamdu lillah Term 3 has rushed past us before we even noticed it. It has been a busy term with Book Fair, Quran competition, lots of Sports competitions and many smaller events across the school.

Our NAPLAN results are in and we busy analysing them and making improvements for 2022. This is the first NAPLAN since I have joined the school and it is a valuable tool in checking our students’ progress.

Message to Parents/Guardians

For parents who would like to assist in planning new events, fund raising and giving us valuable feedback to improve the school, we plan to hold more frequent Parent Committee meetings in Term 4.

We also need to hold elections so that we have a strong representative body from the parents. Candidates need to have been involved in the school and be available to attend functions and especially assist in organising regular parent meetings.

A reminder to all parents though that wearing of masks is mandated (compulsory) for our high school students and all adults on campus – whether working or visiting.

We are encouraging all of our students to save money and save the environment by purchasing cloth masks that can be washed rather than thrown away every day.

Cloth masks are available in the front office and can be bought easily online. Paper masks will now only be sold for $1 each – so please do encourage your children to look after themselves and the environment at the same time.

Quran Competition

Alhamdu lillah the Quran competition was a great success. We are now waiting for the trophies to arrive so we can reward the excellent work of our students. Our heartfelt thanks goes to the organiser Sheikh Mohamed El Sayed, the teachers who supported him and our judges – Sheik Amin Abu Samaha, Reyad El-Rifai, Sheikh Rijad Jazvin and Dr Ahmed Mostafa for their time, encouragement and words of wisdom to the students.

The Quran is the heart of our religion and we are gradually training our team of teachers to improve in how they engage with the students in Quran memorisation and understanding. The department in primary is led by Sis Heba who has been encouraging our Arabic and Islamic Studies teachers to develop more exciting and interactive lessons with the students.

Photos of the Quran competition are included in Sheikh Mohamed’s report. 

Attendance and Uniform

One area however that has not shown improvement this term is student attendance. Unfortunately students regularly arrive very late – and usually because parents have dropped them off late. We will be sending out our new Assessment policy soon which has much stricter conditions on attendance and enrolment – and may result in your child not being eligible to continue if they are continually late to school.

Students have improved significantly in their wearing of the uniform and we look forward to a new company who will be supplying our uniforms in 2022.

If you have any concerns about the current quality, please do come to the parent meeting to discuss this as we will try and ensure that the new company provides stronger, more comfortable and more long lasting uniforms for our students.

A reminder that our boys are often sent home for ‘undercuts’.

A picture of an undercut is shown below and involves shaving close to the head so that the top hair hangs out and over the very close cut sides of the head.

Book Fair

Our Book Fair Day, with its dress ups and Parade was a lot of fun. As usual teachers were involved and did a fun play, while the students characters (and teachers characters) were so much fun. Pictures are shown below.

New Staff

We would like to welcome a new member of staff to the school – Mrs Julie O’nions.

Although a qualified teacher, Julie is working as an SSO to assist some of our students who may need extra help with various programs to settle them, improve them and assist them in progressing. We also have Mrs Naina Rajeev who is replacing High School teacher Wayne Shulz until the end of the year. 

Sports

Sports continues to be driven well by our two Sports teachers and Coordinators – Mr Paiwast Ahmed and Mrs Katy Javor. Our recent Bachar Houli interschool competition organised largely by Mrs Javor was a wonderful example of how our schools can work together to deliver fun but competitive events. Having our girls team win the Bachar Houli Cup was an added bonus! 

Afghanistan

It is with great sadness that we saw the event unfold in Afghanistan. We have a number of Afghan families in our school, and despite the politics of both sides, recent events have caused further trauma to many. For those attempting to flee, our students wrote letters to the Hon Simon Birmingham encouraging the Australian government to give asylum and to assist these families into safe refuge. We continue to work on fund raising to assist those who have left everything to seek shelter in Australia.

Caring for our Kids | Sick children

A reminder to all of our parents that sick children cannot attend school and must be returned home. Recently a gastro virus was present with children vomiting in the school. With parents not responding to our urgent phone calls, a number of children and staff were sick due to this exposure. Please make sure that you always respond to our phone calls and keep any sick children at home.

Lastly, we look forward to talking to all of our parents about their children’s progress. As with last term, this year’s Parent Teacher Night will be conducted over the phone. We have a new software to make it easy to book in your meeting – so contact the school if you have not received the link.

Insha Allah you and your family stay safe, are vaccinated soon, and will be able to enjoy a wonderful holiday before the final term of this very busy year.

Wassalaam ‘alaikum,

– Silma Ihram
Principal