Sholem Aleichem College School Performance Report 2017

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Table of Contents The year in review ...... 3 Staff ...... 6 Qualifications of teaching staff ...... 6 Attendance & Satisfaction rates...... 8 Staff ...... 8 Students ...... 8 Parents ...... 9 Curriculum ...... 9 Professional Development Attended ...... 13 Reporting & Assessment ...... 14 Jewish Studies ...... 14 Residential programs ...... 18 Technology ...... 19 Clubs ...... 21 Infrastructure ...... 22 Creative Arts ...... 22 Music ...... 23 Health and Physical Education and Sport ...... 24 Student Leadership Opportunities ...... 25 House system and house days ...... 26 School uniform ...... 26 Learning Support ...... 27 Naplan, Funding, General ...... 28 NCCDSSD ...... 29 Naplan results ...... 29-37 Summary ...... 37 Finance report ...... 39 Marketing and Development ...... 40 Fundraising ...... 43 Grounds and facilities ...... 45 Foci for 2018 ...... 46

2017- The year in Review

Looking Beyond Our 2017 theme of ‘Looking Beyond’ has set the tone for what has been a tremendous year for Sholem Aleichem College. The theme was deliberately chosen to be open-ended and challenging, encouraging our students to be the very best versions of themselves they can be – and they have certainly lived up to the challenge!

Depending on the individual, you could choose to look beyond yourself, the horizon, your borders, the moment, the obvious or the surface, to discover something wondrous. Another interpretation could be looking beyond gender, religion, your current social group or friendship circle, race, nationality, your assumptions, your limitations or the limitations of others, to see a person or persons in a new and enlightening way. I hope the theme encouraged everyone in our community to move outside their comfort zones, embrace fresh challenges and extend themselves in countless ways they may never have previously imagined.

One of the key ways that we looked beyond in 2017 was our shift to team teaching across our Primary Classes. The new structure was facilitated by the installation of doors between each of the two classrooms per year level. Year 5 and 6 students saw their rooms turned into learning hubs, with the doors remaining open for all generalist classes and both teachers serving as home room teachers for the entire year level.

This innovating teaching model allowed greater flexibility in the delivery of curricula programs as well as an increased level of differentiation in material taught. A further benefit was teachers were better empowered to role model the essential collaborative and communication skills that students will need as they eventually move beyond school and university and into the workforce.

One of our key goals is to develop the college as a place where creativity flourishes. As Einstein famously quoted, ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge’. If these words were true in Einstein’s times, how much more relevant are they today, where knowledge is so easily accessible at the touch of a button, but where what we do with that knowledge becomes ever more important.

Our artistic programs at Sholem are second to none, and give students exceptional opportunities to develop their creative skills.

For the third time in the past five years our senior students have created their very own movie as a part of the internationally acclaimed Unmake a Bully series. The students worked with internationally acclaimed filmmaker Mike Feurstein from New York to write, co-produce and perform in a movie that will spread a vital anti bullying message to fellow students not just locally, but globally. Our movies are now on Nickelodeon and Youtube and are having an impact on children around the world.

Our P-4 Concert, Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy Vey! was an absolute delight. Our students sang and danced their way through a mash up of Australian, Yiddish and Hebrew classics as Click go the Shears, Eretz Eretz, Ani Nolad, Happy Little Vegemites and more.

The concert celebrated the joy of being a Jewish Australian with a strong sense of Yiddishkeit, and further bore testament to the great importance that we place at Sholem in nurturing the creativity and imagination of our students. Our concerts - whether they be our junior or full school – give our students the opportunity to shine in a range of creative ways, and to do so not only on an individual basis, but in a manner that fosters teamwork and resilience. Indeed, you could say that our concerts are a perfect example of the ‘3 Cs’ of modern education – creativity, collaboration and communication.

Our commitment to fostering creativity is also evident in our uptake and age appropriate use of technology – ensuring that we at all times remain ahead of the curve in terms of not just the hardware and software that we choose, but in how we guide our children to use (and at times not use) technology.

For example, we are in our second year of having an active, permanent MakerSpace in our school, resourced with an imaginative and challenging array of technical resources.

Furthermore, students are encouraged to pursue their interests in digital technology, STEAM subjects through a variety of lunchtime opportunities, such as Lego clubs, coding club, craft club and chess club. Recently students requested Minecraft be accessible at school, so we are now looking in to getting a school account.

We are committed to staying at the forefront of technical advancement and thus have built-in processes that mean we regularly review current practices. In an area that is constantly developing, such self-reflection is imperative. As part of our cyclic review, the college changed the 1:1 program from iPads to ChromeBooks. This meant a lot of extra work for the school in the areas of teacher and student training, but everyone is very happy with the change.

Robotics is the next direction we have decided to move towards in the school, so we are now extending our robotics resources. We have received a substantial grant for these purposes and hopefully we will soon be posting videos of our students coding the actions of robots.

If you are standing still in the area of Technology you are going backwards, so we constantly do our best to ensure Sholem is moving forward.

Jewish life is at the centre of all we do at Sholem, and this year was no exception. At our Purim celebrations in March, the costumes were breathtaking as always in their imagination and creativity. The parade was once again a highlight. There were footballers, princesses, cowboys, ninjas and more.

Peysekh is a time for family and friends to gather and celebrate with each other. For many of us it is also a time of cherished memories - families gathered around a Seyder table, many generations joining together, singing familiar songs, reciting our cherished story, sharing festive foods. We like to think of Sholem as a ‘second family’ for our students, and I believe the joy of our model seyderim is a perfect example of this.

Yom Haatzmaut, as always, was one of the highlights of the year with the children singing and dancing in celebration of Israel’s birthday, followed by a range of wonderful Jewish life activities.

As in previous years, the day commenced on a sombre note as the students commemorated Yom Hazikaron with presentations that remind us of the sacrifices made by so many soldiers in service of the State of Israel. The mood of the day then shifted from sombre to joyful, as we celebrated the land, state and people of Israel, in our unique Sholem way.

Yom Hashoah was commemorated in an age-appropriate manner. An assembly for our senior students remembered the suffering of Jews during the Shoah through a series of readings and songs. The students, in a sombre and respectful manner looked at the suffering and experiences of our people during these dark days. After the main assembly students in Years 5 and 6 remained behind to hear Philip Masel’s individual story of survival during the Holocaust.

There were so many more wonderful celebrations during the year, including Shevues, Rosh Hashone and Sukes and Khanuke -. You can see and read more about Jewish Life throughout this book, and I’m sure you will enjoy it! Our tours for prospective families once again provided wonderful occasions for us to put on display some of the exceptional features that make Sholem such an amazing place for young children to learn, grow and thrive.

I would like to personally thank our senior students, and praise the tremendous job they constantly do in representing the school and its motto of ‘Make mine a Mensch.’ The senior students have served as superb ambassadors for the college throughout the year, and I wish them every success for their life beyond the college gates – we will miss you!

Construction of our new wing will be commencing at the end of 2017 / beginning of 2018. This exciting $3.5 million project will include new purpose built Year 5 and 6 classrooms, a new Art Room, upgraded administration facilities, a high tech Maker Space / Discovery Zone and more. The expansion will ensure the school’s facilities allow Sholem to provide students with an education commensurate with the needs and challenges of modern schooling.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the very large number of people who give so much to the continued success and growth of the college. To my magnificent staff, a heartfelt thanks for the amazing work that you deliver for our students. I am deeply appreciative of your commitment, talent and professionalism and it goes without saying that it is your combined efforts as a team that make Sholem what it is today.

Sholem is more than just a school, it is a community, and as such it is comprised of many unique and valued members - parents, grandparents, extended family, friends and supporters - all of whom combine to make Sholem the unique, friendly, inclusive and supportive place that we are all proud to be a part of. A special mention and a huge thank you to SAPCA for all that they do for the college in both financial and personal terms.

And finally to our students – you have indeed ‘looked beyond’ this year and have embraced opportunities and challenges with equal relish. You set amazingly high standards in all that you do, be it in the classroom, on the sporting field, on stage or screen, in the playground, and outside of the college. Keep on growing into the wonderful mentschen that you are becoming, never stop asking questions, take pride in being yourselves – as individuals and as part of a community – and continue to embrace your Jewish heritage, traditions and identity.

We look forward to 2018, and to all of the wonderful experiences we will share together next year.

This report will highlight the myriad of opportunities, adventures, challenges, celebrations, achievements and successes that we made up 2017. This report has been distributed to the community via email, our school app, a link in the school newsletter and on our school website.

Staff

In 2017 Sholem Aleichem College Primary School employed:

1 principal

17 full time / 7 part time teaching

4 part time aides

10 Administration staff (5 FT, 5 PT)

4 Non Teaching (co-ordinators – 3 PT, 1 FT)

13 Regular Ongoing Casuals (Aides and Music)

The Principal, Helen Greenberg, has completed her 11th year in the role.

Teacher Qualifications 2017

Anne Gawenda B.Arts Dip Ed

Constantine Roubos B. Dental Science B. Ed

Deb Samuel B Ed Dip T, Cert Adv coaching

Dvora Zylberman B.Arts/Ed. (Arts)

Grad. Dip. Ed Post Grad. Cert. Einat Orbach B Arts (Primary) in Ed. Studies

Elissa Gryngras B.Ed (Primary)

Freydi Mrocki Dip. Teach VIT Yiddish

Helen Greenberg B.Arts Grad. Dip. Ed

M.Ed and Applied Ba East Asian Itai Michaelsohn Linguistics Post Grad Cert Ed Studies

Joanne Davis B.Arts Dip Ed.

Joel Halperin B.Art Dip. Ed

Laura Uhe B. Arts Dip Ed

Mandy Rajch B.Ed (Primary)

Maureen Carroll Dip T B.Ed M.Ed Ph.D

M.A. in Jewish PhD Jewish Merav Carmeli Teaching Diploma, B.A. Studies and Studies in Bible and Jewish 7

Studies

Dip Immigration Michael Grossman B.Arts B.Teaching Law

M. Diplomacy and Grad Dip Primary Carla Magid B. App Sci International Trade Education

B.Ed ( Early Childhood Leah Mand and Primary)

B. App Sci (Human Daniel Molnar Movement) M. Accounting Grad. Dip. Ed.

Michelle Nachsatz Dip T B.Ed

Masters of Teaching Mandy Nassim B.Sc( Psych) ( K-6)

Bachelor of Education Joel Lewis (Primary)

Miriam Chester Dip DN VIT Yiddish

Dip. Modern Natalie Samuel B.Ed Languages

Pearl Sclarr Dip Ed B.Ed

Dip Arts (Jewish Rebecca Yacobovich B.Ed (Primary) B.Arts Civilisation)

Reyzl Zylberman B.Arts/Ed. (Secondary) B.Arts

Robyn Klein Dip T B.Ed

Grad Dip Sally Holzer TPTC B.Arts (Pr). Music Ed.

Samantha Kirszner Dip Com Serv B.ECE Post Gra. Sp. Ed

Selina Rutko B.Ed(primary) M.Ed

Sharlene Wertheimer Dip Teach Grad Dip Sp.Ed M. Ed (Spec. Ed)

Simone Sann B Ed (Primary)

Dip Children’s Cert 3 Children’s Tammy Bolaffi B. Ed services Services

Attendance & Satisfaction rates

Staff Primary teachers (secular school) 92.48% Jewish school 82.4% Non-teaching staff 80.24%

Three staff were on maternity leave. One staff member was on extended maternity leave and away for whole year as such is not included in here. Nine staff accessed long service leave. A total of 140.5 days. (LSL is included in above percentages).

Teaching staff attendance rate was high with similar rates as the previous year. General staff attendance overall was good.

In 2017 no staff survey was held. The anecdotal feedback and meetings held with individual and various groups indicated that staff find Sholem Aleichem College generally to be a work environment that is supportive and open to their concerns, such as workload and expectations. As one staff member mentioned, “ Sholem is gold and compared to other schools teaches should feel privileged to work here”.

Feedback from the staff was also obtained through appraisals, informal discussions, staff meetings and of course easy access for discussions with the principal. Last year, some staff wished to look at implementing an EBA, but the majority of staff were satisfied with their working environment and conditions.

Staff felt Professional development was appropriate and enhanced our learning environment. Details of the kinds of professional development arte listed in another section.

Students Student attendance rate for 2017 The total school days in 2017 – 185 and 181 for Prep

The average attendance rate:

Prep – 96.3% Grade 1 – 96.6% Grade 2 – 96.9% Grade 3 – 96.6% Grade 4 – 95.9% Grade 5 – 96.6% Grade 6 – 95.9%

Once again, our attendance rate for students attending Sholem Aleichem College was very good. Con Roubos, the Assistant principal, continues to deal with lateness to school and is working with the students and parents to improve lateness from the regular latecomers.

In 2017, students were once again surveyed. There were positive results that they felt the school work was engaging and challenging, that they were listened to and treated fairly by the teachers. The students felt supported by their teachers and that the teachers understood and provided for their needs. Most teachers were approachable and treated them fairly. Bullying was not an issue at Sholem Aleichem College. Overall, they loved being part of the school community and had a sense of belonging. 9

Parents Once again, a survey was conducted of the parent body by K2 consultants. Last year, parents provided feedback that the survey did not differentiate if a parent has one child or children in different year levels. Therefore, in 2017, the parents could have indicated year levels and specific teachers as well as number of children. Unfortunately, this meant the survey was extremely long and repetitive. In fact, it was 254 pages. This will need to be reviewed for 2018. Unfortunately, we did not receive many responses to this year’s survey.

The parents are extremely happy with the generalist teachers. They provide appropriate work that challenges the children and is engaging. Parents felt comfortable talking to the generalist children about their children and the communication was effective. Some comments included “the generalist teachers provide environments where the children can thrive.” “staff members are responsive to parental questions and concerns”.

Parents would like more communication regarding our enhancement and Bridges program. Further with respect to communication, Sholem has improved but there are still areas of concern such as they do not always receive push notifications, and the frequency.

Some parents would like more varied after school programs. Some final comments from parents: “Every day I pick up a very happy little boy” “Love the environment and what the school stands for” “The school does an excellent job educating our children and preparing them for the next step in their education” “..has an amazing team of teachers and supporting staff who act as role models and lift the spirits and motivation of the children to great levels. We would have liked Sholem Aleichem college to have had a secondary school for the continuation of a great learning experience for our kids”

Curriculum

At Sholem, we have always valued the importance of assessment, but in 2017, we looked beyond just assessing student performance and started to look at the data and what it tells us. Using data to support learning enables our teachers to make more informed decisions about their students and using data in instructional decisions can lead to improved student performance and learning.

We obtain our student based data by using a variety of assessment types – this includes: teacher observation; summative and formative testing; peer assessment and practical performance. This constitutes the information and data that is used to gauge the educational attainment and progress of individuals; groups; and cohorts; and also, the effectiveness of programs run at the school. We use this information to maximise student learning and outcomes. We use the evidence to: improve the focus of our teaching, focus students’ attention on their strengths and weaknesses and to improve our programming to plan and report on student achievement.

At Sholem we are always looking for “best practise” and we are aware that in education, the bar is constantly moving. It is important that we don’t simply rest on our laurels but keep planning, reviewing and assessing our pedagogy by being innovative about looking beyond what we currently do well, identifying the great ideas of tomorrow and putting them into practice today. Teachers have always used the interests and needs of their students to drive their planning. We now include collected data information to make the learning even more authentic. The new doors opening the two classrooms for each grade level extended opportunities for collaborative team teaching, differentiated groupings and integrated socialisation of students. Teachers could seamlessly work together or, at times, as a single class.

We really take pride in being a ‘Community of Learners’, and our Values ensure that we work together towards our agreed and understood priorities, directions and purpose. We have defined and are committed to the values that underpin the way we work as a school.

We believe that our curriculum s ho uld provide students with the capacity to question, examine and critique knowledge and its applications. It s h o u l d take account of, and address appropriately, the interests and knowledge relevant to the current, as well as to the future. It should provide a path for students to develop values and a way of life that is consistent with sharing the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and being a Mensch. The Australian Curriculum sets the expectations for what our students should be taught and their achievement is judged against consistent national standards. As a school we are responsible for the organisation of learning and choose the context for learning and plan in ways that best meet our students' needs and interests. Our curriculum provides a coherent and comprehensive set of prescribed content and achievement standards which are used to plan student learning programs, assess student progress and report to parents. This is contextualised to make it unique for our College.

All our teachers follow and report against the Australian Curriculum Achievement Standards. Teachers make informed judgements about whether students have achieved the standard using a range and variety of assessment information collected throughout the year to determine a final grade for the purpose of reporting to parents.

All teachers collaborate with Junior or Senior level colleagues to examine student work samples, discuss assessment tasks and collaborate on curriculum ideas. We engage in practical sessions to look at content and pedagogy to help make strategic decisions to ensure that we address and build teacher understanding of learning area content across curriculum perspectives.

Programs  Friday afternoon sport for Grades 5 & 6 – tennis  Bridges/ extension program  Intensive Swimming for Grades 3-6  Singing & individual instrumental lessons  Reading room (Grades 1 & 2)  Intensive Swimming for Grades Prep-4  Child Body Safety Awareness Program Prep – Grade 6  Click Against Hate Program for the 5’s and 6’s. This program is dedicated to promoting tolerance, justice, multiculturalism and dealing with issues of racism and hatred. This is an interactive program taught using a

PowerPoint demonstration, discussion and a final collaborative presentation by students. It engages with the students and equips them with the appropriate tools on how to be safe on line.  Life Education Van: One of the highlights of term2 for the students was the visit from the Life Education Van. This primary school program consists of 13 curriculum based modules focusing on issues around food and nutrition, personal safety, physical activity, cyber safety, safety with medicine and legal drugs; tobacco, alcohol and caffeine. By taking a comprehensive approach to drug and health education the modules help children to develop relationship skills, positive communication (both face to face and online), problem solving and decision making skills. The students are provided with the opportunity to develop strategies, and practice the skills required to avoid the harms associated with an unhealthy lifestyle.  Digital Citizen Program for Prep to Grade 6  Prep transition program

Excursions/ Incursions  Grade 2 incursion: Fizzics- chemistry based fun experiments with a visiting scientist.  Grade 6 excursion: My Fair Lady (the musical)-As part of a literacy unit of inquiry, linked to Maths, Art, ICT design and history looking at equality, voting and suffragettes.  Grade 5 & 6 were privileged to listen to talks from Professor Kasow on the history of Yiddish in Poland and also an exceptionally insightful talk by Fazah ( a Pakistani born Australian of Islamic faith ) on the similarities of Judaism and Islam.  Grade 4- our local area  Preps/ grade 1- Chesterfield farm  A visit from the dentist for Dental Week- Junior Primary  Grade 2 excursion- CERES  Grade 6 incursion- electricity  Grade 6 excursions – Jewish Museum, Holocaust Centre, Yiddish movie  Grade 2 science incursion- material stuff!

Co Curricula Activities  SSV sport- swimming, tennis  Lunchtime clubs- chess, library, lego, coding.  SSV soccer for Grades 5 & 6.  Enhancement Students- Maths Olympiad  Grade 3-6 participated in SSV Cross Country, netball  Students from Grades 3-6 were invited to do the ICAS testing  Dress up Day for Jolly Phonics: Preps celebrated their completion of learning all their sounds by dressing up as their favourite letter!  Simultaneous Reading Day: Prep – 2  Well Being Information evening for Parents covering body safety and awareness.  Prep 2018 information Evening  NAPLAN for Grades 3 and 5  filming of the 10th ‘How to Unmake a Bully’’  ICAS English  Tournaments of the Mind  Reyzen Day and Jeans for Genes Day– organised by the students to raise money for cancer research.  Bridges program (Yiddish, Hebrew & English) for students requiring extra assistance  Continuation of Mathletics- interactive maths computer program from Years 2-6  Instrumental program for Grade 3 to 6.  Lunchtime and After school programs-chess, soccer, art  Grade 6- Moving Up program- over 3 weeks 12

 Music scholarship auditions  Welcome to Prep 2018 Assembly (resounding success!)  School Athletics Day- great day!  Showing of “Unmake A Bully” movie  All Jewish Studies Department events  Grade Prep- 4 concert  Grades 4-6 participated in the Jewish Schools AFL Cup challenge  Grade ¾ Hoop time interschool competition  Book Week activities  Bnei Mitzvah ceremony  Grade 6- Moving Up program- over 3 weeks  Celebration Evening

Highlights  Book Week  Annual school athletics carnival  Jewish Youth group activities at school  Bnei Mitzvah ceremony  Filming and Showing of “Unmake A Bully” movie  Incursions/excursions  Prep – Grade 4 concert  Life Education  Graduation for Grade 6 students  Community presentations and involvement  Mitzvah Day- Our large, community based Tsodekah program.  Giving programs ( House Initiatives)  Involvement in inter-school sports competitions  School camps  Sport clinics  Performances by choir/orchestra at public functions  Musical Soiree  Yom Tov celebrations  Grade 6 – Rabbits in the classroom as part of the Unit of Inquiry- life cycles

Professional Development Professional Development is a vital part of ongoing teacher learning as it means that our teachers are keeping abreast of the latest trends and initiatives and bringing these back to the classroom and the students. Our priority focus at the beginning of the year was to give staff the opportunity to explore the potential of Mindfulness and how the practice can help transform teaching and learning in the classroom.

Professional Development

 Update of CPR/ Defib training  PAT M- looking at data  Working in teams (general studies teachers)  New teacher institute  Mandatory Reporting  SMART boards- training for all staff  CARS & STARS (3-6)  Jolly Phonics training- Leah Mand, Ruth Shulman, Nigel Hoory  Beyonding schools and schooling for our complex era- Con Roubos, Robyn Klein, Tammy Bolaffi  Coding- Michelle Nachsatz  Strategies and Resources for Students with Visual Impairment- Tammy Bolaffi  PLC’s  Smart board training with Joel Lewis  Keyboard typing  STEM conference- Michelle Nachsatz  Canvas Training (grade 3-6 teachers + admin)  Dealing with Being Autistic  Robyn Klein and Michelle Nachsatz attended the Futures Expo- looking at technologies of the future, with an emphasis on how we furnish and provide work spaces in classrooms.  All day PD- 2 sessions: mandatory reporting and looking for the signs of abuse  Anxiety in students  CARS & STARS- grades 3-6 program. Looking at the implementation in the College  Typing program (all Generalist teachers) staff viewed a webinar and trialled the program in all grades to improve keyboard skills.  Emergency Management Training  Smart boards  Maker Space room- use of technology  Maths –Nigel Hooley, Dvora Zylberman  Joanne Davis (art conservation)  Robyn Klein ( mindfulness)  Dvora Zylberman (VCAA examiner)  Chrome book training for teachers 3-6  Southern Cross project: (Robyn Klein, Tammy Bolaffi, Mandy Segal, Carla Magid).  The College was one of 5 schools chosen to receive a grant to complete a project to be implemented in 2018. This runs over 4 days at ISV.  Canvas training for all staff  Planning for 2018 – new teams for 2018 working together to begin their planning of work and looking at the curriculum for their new year levels.  Peer visits & reviews  Completion of Southern Cross project. 14

Reporting and Assessment

Assessment All our teachers follow and report against the Australian Curriculum Achievement Standards. Teachers make informed judgements about whether students have achieved the standard using a range and variety of assessment information collected throughout the year to determine a final grade for the purpose of reporting to parents.

Our Assessment includes a mix of summative assessment of learning to determine and report what the student has learned, formative assessment to guide future learning and ongoing assessment to focus teacher feedback alongside student self-assessment and reflection.

We have established a whole-school assessment schedule for teachers which provides multiple sources of information about student achievement. These include standardised and class tests, on line testing, assignments, projects, portfolios, performance observations, discussions and involvement in state wide standardised testing processes such as NAPLAN.

Teachers use the data they collect to make judgements about, and report on, student achievements and future learning. The assessment scope and sequence is a living document and was revised by staff to accommodate 2017 testing.

Reports The report format reflects the outcomes from the National Curriculum and relevancy to Sholem Aleichem College. Student achievement and progress is reported by comparing students' work against a standards framework of outcomes through a number of checklists for each subject area. Reporting this way provides more meaningful and useful information to the parents and provides information on student achievement and progress and sets the direction for ongoing teaching and learning. We use the A – E rating system which is in line with both National and State indicators of learning success.

The Learning Outcomes statements explicitly describe the various skills and concepts that have been, or will be, taught at each year level and in every subject area. These checklists are in line with the National Curriculum and our school’s specific educational goals. These directly reflect what has been taught in each classroom and are revised by staff on a semester basis.

Jewish Studies

Sholem Aleichem College is a unique school. Every time we have a visitor from overseas, they are bowled over by what they see and hear and feel at our school. That’s because SAC is the only Jewish day school in the English speaking world at least that has the teaching of Yiddish and Yiddish culture at the centre of its Jewish studies program. When the American writer Herman Wouk best known for his bestselling books including:The winds of war, Marjorie Morningstar and The Caine Mutiny, visited SAC shortly after the school was established, he was amazed and delighted to see these small children in faraway Australia, singing and expressing themselves in mame loshn. He was in tears when he left the college. We do believe that we offer our children a very special education, grounded in Jewish History Jewish traditions and Jewish values.

The yomtoyvim which are a special and traditional part of every school year, were thoroughly enjoyed and beautifully celebrated this year. As we grow some things change but the basics stay the same. The celebrations are always steeped in learning and fun and good things like the food associated with each yontef. Each celebration has its own way of highlighting tsedoke and we always focus on this. The days which are devoted to the yomtoyvim are very special to the children.

The commemoration of the Holocaust is the most solemn date on the school’s calendar. Sholem was given the singular honour of being the only school invited to sing instead of an all school’s choir at the communal commemoration at Robert Blackwood Hall. The grade 5 & 6 children along with several of our year 7, 8 and 11 students assisted with all the anthems and also sang another of Hirsh Glik’s songs…Shtil di Nakht. The respect shown by the children at these events is a credit to them and their teachers.

The school commemorated the Holocaust on the 19 April with a dignified and beautiful ceremony after which we were fortunate to welcome Phillip Maisel, who talked to the children about his experiences during the Holocaust and particularly about his friendship with Hirsh Glik, to the astonishment of the children. His story about being one of the first to hear the Partisaner Hymn in a bunker read by Hirsh himself, was riveting. Again the children were so respectful and then asked many many questions. We were also lucky to have Gideon Preiss, who regularly comes to our commemorations to accompany the children in their singing.

In our Professional Development, IT remained a central focus as did differentiation in the LOTE classroom. Several sessions were attended on children with disabilities.

The Krystal Foundation again generously allowed us to send 2 teachers to Warsaw for the summer intensive Yiddish course. Freydi Mrocki and Tsipoyre Gelman were the lucky recipients of this grant. They both returned full of praise for the experience and delighted to have had the opportunity to enrich themselves, engage in Yiddish learning and use the opportunity to meet with teachers and Yiddish lovers from around the world.

The year was notable for the myriad of visitors who came and toured and met the children and teachers and performed or spoke of their connection with Yiddish. All who visit are amazed at what they find here at Sholem. They included Deborah Strauss and Jeff Warschauer two talented klezmer musicians, Samuel Kassow a wonderfully interesting historian and Yiddishist, Daniel Kahn and Psoy Korolenko. Scope and Sequence

Reyzl as an AFL ambassador was invited by the AFL to speak to the St. Kilda football club. We were very proud when she did this and spoke of football, our school, the history of the Jewish connection to St. Kilda and programs run by Jewish schools. She is a true ambassador for football and Yiddish, bringing knowledge of Yiddish to the wider community.

The second Bney Mitsve event was another beautiful showcase for our talented, knowledgeable and intelligent grade sixes. The depth and breadth of their knowledge and their emotion in marking this rite of passage was evident and a testament to them and their teachers Freydi and Reyzl.

It was a terrific year in Jewish studies at sac. We are constantly re-examining our programs to make sure that it meets the needs of our children and the changing world in which they are growing up.

Informal Jewish Education Our 2017 year was filled with wonderful learning opportunities for our children, outside of the classroom. Following on from our last college AGM, we held a Yom Hashoah assemby for Grades 3-6. Our students displayed great maturity and their respect shown for the commemoration was commendable. Each year, we invite a survivor to share their experiences with the Grades 5/6 students. Last year, the students heard from Phillip Maisel. The students listened carefully and respectfully as he shared his experiences and answered the students’ questions. They especially loved hearing about Mr Maisel’s friend, Hirsh Glik, who wrote the Partisan Hymn (Partizaner Himen). 16

On Yom Ha’atzmaut we were, once again, joined by Hashy and Habo for a day of fun activities. A true highlight of the day was our school-wide Eurovision competition, where all classes competed using real Eurovision entries as inspiration. The teachers also joined in on the fun, preparing videos of their own versions of Israeli Eurovision entries.

Our college celebrated Lag B’oymer with a special bon fire celebration outside, set up by the amazing Greg Hatch. A special thank you to all parents who pre-boiled potatoes for us to roast on the fire. Our Jewish Studies captains, Mikhayla Burstin and Ella Carmeli-Wolski, led a special quiz with our students and, following this, our students joined in singing the Yiddish campfire song Arum Dem Fayer and, later, the song Bulbes. Michael Grossman, once again, wowed the students with his wonderful storytelling. Of course, the students enjoyed potatoes and marshmallows. We also welcomed Jeff Warschauer and Deborah Strauss (USA), who were in Melbourne as guests of Yiddish Australia. Jeff and Deb took our students on a musical journey of Klezmer music and dance with a special interactive concert.

For Shevues, we held a special school assembly and collected a lot of fruit and vegetables for a local food bank. The students were also given some chocolate milk as a special milkhik treat. Across our school, students discussed the importance of rules and how the Ten Commandments helped the Jewish People as a starting point for living together as a free community. All classes also prepared a milkhik dish in their Jewish Studies classes, including blintses, butter, ice- cream and more.

Our Art captain, Emily Givoni, ran several Jewish Art Club sessions throughout the year. We also had several students enter videos into the SBS ‘Why learning a language is important to me’ competition, with our very own Hillel Ringelblum named as a finalist. Hillel’s video was displayed on the SBS website and went viral thanks to a spotlight in the American Yiddish newspaper, the Forverts.

Our Grades 5 and 6 students joined together to mark Soviet Yiddish Writers day, which is remembered on August 12th each year. The students recited poetry and sang songs by various Soviet Yiddish writers. They showed great respect for the day.

We continued meeting with members of the Islamic community and invited Faeeza Jawaid into our school to speak with the Grade 6 students about the similarities and differences between Islamic and Jewish traditions. The students were so impacted by her session that they invited her to their B’ney Mitsve ceremony at the end of the year.

In the lead-up to Rosh Hashone and Yom Kiper, apart from giving our students apples and honey, we also continued our tradition of students sending letters of apology to other students or teachers. Our students also all received some apple with honey for a sweet new year.

For Mitzvah Day, our school focused its efforts on the environment, with our Jewish Studies captains running special lunch time activities in the week leading up to Mitzvah Day that aimed to educate their peers on ways we can help the environment.

Our school was very excited for Khanuke and we relished in the opportunity to light the khanuke lomp at Celebration Evening as a whole-school community.

This year, Tu B’Shvat fell just before our school year, but our teachers marked the yontef in their classrooms with special activities, from planting to comic books reflecting on Yiddish poetry about trees and more. We celebrated Purim at school on Thursday March 1st. While the day was all planned and ready to go, unfortunately weather was not on our side. So, our usual outdoor costume parade took place at the Kadimah, followed by a special Purim assembly. The students enjoyed a morning of activities, ranging from quizzes to crafts to baking homentashn and sports. For these activities, the students were split into groups which included students from all year levels. A highlight was seeing the Grade 6s take the younger students under their wings for the morning. We were lucky to receive assistance for the morning activities from Ora Glickman and some of the SKIF helfer. In the afternoon, students were treated to a special Bollywood experience – a different type of Purim shpil. Students learned a little about Bollywood culture and they even got to dance a little. As always, we collected shalakh mones for those in need and donated the food to a local food bank.

This year, Sholem Aleichem’s birthday fell the day after Purim (Friday March 2nd). On Purim, one of our stations included mural-painting at the ABC site and one mural was themed around Purim and the other was themed around Sholem Aleichem’s birthday. On the Friday, we began the day at the junior campus with our special Sholem Aleichem photo booth, which also made its way over to the senior campus for recess. We held a special birthday assembly where Itai Michelson took over the reigns as this year’s acting Sholem Aleichem and the students performed in Yiddish and Hebrew. Whilst we had a cake for Sholem Aleichem’s birthday, prepared by Dvora Zylberman, the students received icy poles, rather than a piece of cake. Many students dressed up for the occasion and we managed to raise some money for the National Yiddish Book Centre.

We also held two Peysakh seyders: a junior seyder and a senior seyder. Our Grade 6s prepared for our school seyders with such pride and maturity. We are, as always, grateful to our parents who volunteered to help us with the preparation of food for our seyders and helped out on the day.

Our students relished in the opportunity to meet with Victoria Hanna, an Israeli singer who was here for Shir Madness. We are grateful to Merav Carmeli for arranging her visit. She told the students about how she used music to overcome her stutter and this was very inspiring for the children. Her session was a great fit for this year’s school-wide theme, ‘Creativity’.

Most recently, we, once again, celebrated Lag B’oymer around the campfire.

We are very excited to be working with our new, energetic Jewish Studies captains for 2018, Sholem Burstin and Trixie Burstin. We know they will bring a lot of creativity to the role!

We are sure that this year will prove to be another successful year for the program.

Residential Programs

Our camps provide our students in year 3 to 6 with the opportunity to:  enhance self-esteem, self-worth and confidence  provide the opportunity for personal challenge and achievement  create a sense of community and bonding with peers and teachers  encourage teamwork and communication  kindle an interest in the natural environment  offer experiences not necessarily available to children growing up today in city and suburban environments

The Grade 5s ‘camp was held at Sovereign Hill, Ballarat as part of the history component of the curriculum. It was felt that having camp early in the year would give students across both levels the opportunity to socialise and bond as a group.

The Grade 3 students attended camp at Phillip Island. The purpose of the camp was to give our students a unique beach/ocean experience. As well, it was a significant opportunity for our students to develop both their personal and social skills and confidence.

Grade 6 spent an amazing week in Canberra. The students travelled by bus, stopping on the way to see significant historical towns and sites. Highlights of the camp were: the National Museum, the High Court of Australia, Parliament House, The War Memorial, The Australian Institute of Sport, the National Gallery, a tour to see the Embassies, Australian Electoral Commission, old Parliament House, the Tent embassy and Questacon. This was a very memorable camp for our Grade 6 students and brought to life their history component of the curriculum.

The Grade 3 students attended camp at Phillip Island. The purpose of the camp is to give our students a unique beach/ocean experience. It is a significant opportunity for our students to develop both their personal and social skills and confidence.

Grade 4 attended an outdoor adventure camp. Camp Jungai – which means ‘meeting place’ in the local Taungurung language offered a unique range of engaging, fun and educational activities. Camp Jungai has a focus on Aboriginal culture and offered the students interactive and fun sessions which included:  Traditional dance and music 19

 Art  Bush tucker walks  Indigenous food and medicinal plant garden  Weapons and artefacts – including boomerang throwing  Cultural evenings – indigenous stories, games and didgeridoo

Technology

Each year the roll of Technology within the educational landscape gets larger and more embedded in all aspects of school life. Whereas the corner stone of education has always been the three R’s, now, more and more, you hear of the 5 C’s. Although the key skills of modern education have been multiplying, with additions like compassion, culture and connectivity regularly being included, the fundamental core values of the 21st century are seen as: creativity; collaboration; critical thinking; cooperation; and communication.

These C’s are fundamental to our understanding of changing pedagogy, and the role that technology plays. A powerful tool to drive these essential skills, technology utilizes the traditional 3R’s, whilst maintaining a focus on the primary C’s of 21st century education, incorporating overlapping elements meaningfully in a non-linear path.

Presently I don’t know of any other educational discipline that so effectively applies these skills to student personalized learning whist also preparing students for the unknown challenges of 21st century careers and life. You just have to watch the students collaborating during our lunchtime clubs to see the many benefits, both social and educational, that technology is giving our students.

Training In an area that is constantly developing, it is paramount that teachers are given regular PD in order to keep them on the cutting edge of new and better technology. Teachers have been sent to a variety of In-services and there have been many in house sessions too. Some of the programs that the teachers have been upskilled on are:

 Teachers were given an overview of the new Victorian Technology curriculum  Michelle sat in on junior and senior planning sessions in order to teach staff how to effectively imbed technology into teachers’ planning  Simon from Unified took a staff training session on the Smartboards.  Joel has taken training sessions on Smartboard game making with teachers.  Joel and Michelle have had weekly training sessions to learn how to set up our new LMS-Canvas and the staff has begun general training.  Michelle and Joel attended a 2hr training session with Neel from Canvas  Selina, Joel and Michelle have begun using the Chromebooks with the students. Michelle and Selina, to some extent, are learning alongside the students  Michelle Nachsatz, Joel Lewis, Bec Yacobovich, Nigel Hooley and Einat Orbach attended a 2 day Google Summit. It was invaluable in learning the potential of Google Drive.  Joel Lewis has attained his Level 1 Google accreditation.  Michelle and Joel have taken sessions with teachers to upskill their ability on the SmartBoards. This was followed by a series of “show and tell” sessions where teachers could share their new SmartBoard resources.  Teachers had the opportunity to trial and learn about: google cardboard and google expeditions; Ozobots and Beebots; LittleBits and 3Dpens.  Dvora and Reyzl Zylberman and Itai Michaelson went to a full day training session, showing them how to apply the ChromeBooks to LOTE subjects.  Michelle and Joel introduced the teachers of grades 3 – 6 and the Jewish Studies staff to Google Education Suite.  Michelle has gone into the kinder to model teaching coding to the 4 yr. old kinder students. 20

 Michelle attended a 2.5-hour Canvas session at Hailerbury City. They are very happy to create relationships with other users.  Michelle attended a Gamification Conference at ACMI.

Purchases . A hive of Beebots. - 6 rechargeable devices and some associated paraphernalia . A set of 6 Ozobots. These are little robots that get instructions through drawn texta lines (colours and patterns making them respond in a particular way) . Specialized tools which enable the students to build with cardboard . 40 Chromebooks (30 bought on behalf of the students, to be paid back over 3 years) . charging station . google management software *30 . 5 new SmartBoards . 10 iPads . 4 power hubs for the new iPads and various devices . 2 new photocopiers

As part of a successful government grant, the following devices have been purchased by the school:  A 4 pack of Mambo drones  A class set of 10 makey makey  A class set of “wearables”  4 cubettos  3 sets of maps and story books to use with the cubettos  5 sets of Lego WeDo2

Digital Citizenship Program This is an area of the curriculum which is becoming more and more important and, as such, is constantly being reviewed and developed. Our Digital Citizenship program runs from Prep through to Grade 6, building on the targeted skills and understandings as the children mature. As the grades 4’s have just acquired their own devices, they also began their school year with a unit of work that carefully looked at the School Technology Policy and User Agreement – clearly showing them what “acceptable use” looks like within the technology framework. The areas covered by the classes to appropriate degrees of depth and complexity are:

 Internet Safety  Privacy and Security  Relationships and Communication  Cyber Bullying  Digital Footprint Reputation  Self-Image and Identity  Information Literacy  Creative Credit and Copyright

Makerspace The face of technology in education has completely altered. It is no longer enough for a school to say that the students are using a variety of devices on a daily basis, this is just expected. Technology is now about designing, creating and problem solving – it is about innovation. It is about students making mistakes, accessing the outcome, making changes and trying again. It is the only area in education where mistakes are seen as a positive, an outcome to be built on and truly used as a learning tool. To this end, we now have the birth of the MakerSpace movement.

Makerspaces are places where tools, projects, mentors and expertise come together in a rich learning environment. Makerspaces are all about exploration, discovery, creation, building and trying new things. They are spaces where students are able to let their curiosity take over and engage in science, engineering and tinkering.

Often described as a mash-up of industrial technology, textiles, science and art, makerspaces can offer a wide range of activities such as: woodworking; electronics; sewing; robotics; simple construction; coding; digital fabrication and videography.

The Sholem Aleichem College MakerSpace is used in two ways: Classes come in and either work on a project that complements their class work or they work on a device purely from a “technology” curriculum point of view. e.g.

 Junior primary and kinder students were introduced to coding through BeeBots  As part of the Bnai Mitzvah program, the Grade 6’s designed their own piece of Judaica. The students designed their object using TinkerCad and printed it on the 3D printer. These were displayed at the Bnai Mitzvah evening.  All students from Grade 2 – 6 participated in The Hour of Code worldwide initiative. Or students come in during club time and design and create their own projects e.g.  Students made a puppet theatre and the puppets to go with it  Students made scarfs using a loom  Students worked on a torch that could “see around corners”.

Clubs

Clubs are becoming a popular part of the Sholem Aleichem culture. They are an opportunity for students to explore their passion in a relaxed, non-threatening environment and a great way for students to socialize, on an equal footing, with students from other year levels. Clubs are especially popular with students who find socialising at lunchtime challenging. Some of the clubs we had on offer in 2017 were:

 Lego club: a session where students can build with Lego. Eventually this club will build up to experimenting with Lego robotics.  Chess: the opportunity for students to be taught chess and then finesse their skills. Some students will have the opportunity to represent the school in chess tournaments later in the year.  Craft Capers: students start by putting together a project proposal and then have the opportunity to build their design. They may apply various types of technology to their creation. This is a chance for students to design, build, reflect and improve on their work in a collaborative environment.  Code Masters: where students work on computer coding using programs such as Scratch and Python.

Classroom Each junior class room has at least 4 computers, a SmartBoard and direct access to a class set of iPads. The class SmartBoards is set up in a way that enables each teacher to mirror the screens of Apple devices onto their large screens. This allows the students to easily share their work.

All students in Prep, 1 and 2 have Mathletics accounts whilst students from Grades 4 – 6 have their own login, email address and Google Education Suite accounts. With the introduction of ChromeBooks, it was decided that touch typing needed to be a high priority for our students. Consequently, all students from Gr 2 now have an account in a typing program.

After training up the staff, most classrooms now run a web page, rather than sending out newsletters. These are much more up to date and will serve as a wonderful memory of the students’ primary years.

Infrastructure

With the move to the Senior Campus and in preparation for the building works, a lot of “unseen” work was completed in the area of technology this year.  A network bridge was built between the Main Campus, Kadimah and the Senior Campus  The servers were moved into the library as the server room was demolished  Wifi points were put in Gr4 in preparation for the ChromeBooks  The reception desk was moved to Cheryl’s desk so many technology connections were moved to there  The Senior campus was wired for network cables and wifi access point

Creative Arts

Students at Sholem Aleichem have had a wonderfully creative year in the art room in 2017. The art program has helped enrich their learning across all areas of the curriculum, as art activities were integrated into Jewish and General Studies. Students used their weekly art lesson to explore new techniques and media, beautify the school environment, enrich their units of learning, and learn to express their feelings and ideas through making art works while improving their art skills.

Some of the highlights of 2017 were:

Grade five and six students painted two large, outdoor murals to decorate the outdoor space. Students had opportunities to further their painting skills in a fun and messy way when they helped paint the back drops for the annual college musical. They also helped sculpt the props.

All primary students took home a ceramic artwork which they sculpted from scratch. The pieces were fired and glazed and they looked magnificent. Grade five and six students sculpted large terracotta dragons over a number of weeks, which were very intricately detailed and technically complex, and they looked wonderful!

Grade Two students completed a unit on construction when they made a three-dimensional vehicle from wood and cardboard, with moveable wheels.

Prep students continued to develop their motor skills working on crafts and projects that required cutting and folding. A highlight from 2017 was the ‘winter painting’ which was a multi process activity where the students painted an A3 sheet of paper and then sprinkled salt onto their page. When dried, the salt looked like snow.

Grade Three and Four students learned about colour and contrast when they made “agamographs” which are three- dimensional paintings. Grade One students made huge “royal self-portraits” using mixed media. Grade Three students furthered their drawing and watercolour painting skills when they did a unit on illustration, which connected to their inquiry into fables. Grade Six students made wooden puppets of characters from My Fair Lady, which were used to make a short animated film.

A big focus in 2017 in Art was creating and responding to the elements of art by seeing and using colour, line, space, texture and shape. Students used these elements not only in their own art works, but were encouraged to see how other artists used them too. They developed new skills new in painting, drawing, collage, watercolour painting, construction, textiles and printmaking.

Music

The annual dinner held to welcome our new parents, saw a handful of our talented students entertain the appreciative audience, at the Kadimah.

During the first week of school, the grade 3 children were introduced to our ensemble instruments. At a special evening, they were given the opportunity to play violins, clarinets, flutes, cellos and percussion. The children were then asked to choose their favourite one, with the understanding that they will continue playing that instrument for four years. I am pleased to report that the children have enjoyed their lessons, and they have progressed extremely well with their playing this year. The instrumental group made their debut at the celebration evening. I look forward to their continued growth and further enjoyment over the next few years.

On Sunday 20th March, the combined choir of children from grades 4-6, performed at the In One Voice celebration. Once again, our children sang with passion and beautiful pitch. What a magnificent performance!

This year, the annual Yom Hashoa Commemoration was held on Sunday the 23rd April at the Robert Blackwood Hall. As in previous years, the grade 6 choir was invited to join the children from other Jewish day schools to sing in the combined schools choir.

I am overwhelmed by the number of talented children we have at Sholem! Each year we hold two separate soirees to accommodate the many children who wish to participate in these wonderful evenings!

This indicates the growing love and dedication to studying an instrument both outside and in the school. This year we were treated to singers and instrumentalists alike, who performed with professional precision and obvious enjoyment! Our school musical took a different format this year. Children from prep-grade 4 presented an Australiana themed concert. Songs were sung in Yiddish, Hebrew and English with dialogue to tell the historical story. Costumes, scenery and wonderful production paved the way to an enjoyable evening!

Once again our instrumental teachers and pianist Gideon Preiss formed the talented orchestra.

Mazel-tov to everyone involved.

On Sunday 13th August, a selection of children from grade 5&6 performed at the Kadimah, to celebrate and honour Jacob Waislitz. He was a renowned Yiddish actor and director who transformed Yiddish theatre in Melbourne. The children sang beautifully and not a dry eye was seen as the children sang our school hymn!

The following Sunday, a selection of grade 4 children delighted the audience as they sang at the afternoon celebration of David Burstin’s 80th birthday.

On Wednesday 20th September, the grade 3 children sang at the UIA Rosh Hashana Community Morning Tea. This was held at the Caulfield Synagogue.

Once again our children sang with enthusiasm, perfect pitch and melodious harmonies!

On Wednesday 15th November, a number of grade 4 children sang at the Citizenship Ceremony for the Glen Eira Council, held at the Caulfield Town Hall.

The children sang’ I Still call Australia Home’ and the National Anthem, accompanied by the Glen Eira Brass Band, and ‘I am Australian’ accompanied by Tomi Kalinski.

The Celebration Evening was held on Wednesday 13th December at the St Kilda Town Hall. All the classes performed songs from famous musicals, singing in Yiddish, Hebrew and English. Grade 5/6, grade 4 and grade 3 school ensemble groups played, showing their growth and musicianship. What a wonderful performance! Another successful musical year at Sholem!!

Health, Physical Education and Sport

The Health and Physical Education department strives to provide opportunities for students of all ages and abilities, of both genders, across the college community. Each year we are motivated to research and engage with a range of suitable stakeholders to ensure we are providing the very best resources in regards to Health and Physical Education for the college community.

2017 saw Sholem continue to acquire considerable funding through the Federal Government Sporting Schools program. With this money, we were able to bring in specialised coaching for a range of sports for students’ Health and Physical Education classes. We had basketball coaches helping our students on the blue court leading up to the annual Hoop time event. We had members of AFL Victoria providing coaching to the Year 5/6 students leading up to the 3rd Jewish schools cup at Elsternwick Park. Finally, students from Year 5/6 also participated in an inaugural Tennis program over 10 weeks. They went to Elsternwick Park Tennis Club each Friday afternoon and received specialised tennis coaching over this period, with very positive reviews.

Interschool sport in 2017 again delivered outstanding results both individually and within team sports. Liam Shapiro from Year 6 reached the state Tennis championships, which was a significant achievement for her. Additionally, our Year 5/6 mixed Basketball team reached the Beachside division basketball team finals after making the Grand final of the Dendy District finals. The team showed great spirit at the divisional finals and represented themselves and the college with significant pride. An outstanding result.

Sholem Aleichem College participated in the 3rd annual AFL 9’s Jewish School Cup held at St Kilda Football Club’s home facilities. This year was the biggest one to date with every Jewish day school bringing at least one boys’ and one girls’ team. Once again Ms Reyzl Zylberman organized the entire event through her role at the AFL Victoria. Sholem Aleichem College sent both a boys and girls team to represent the college. In what was a memorable day, both teams enjoyed the day out engaging with students from other Jewish day schools.

2017 saw the continuation of the annual swimming program at Starfish swim school which catered for students across all Years in the Primary school. The program is well organised and engaging, and received positive feedback from parents, staff and students. In 2018, we have planned to update the swimming program to allow greater opportunities for the Year 5/6 students in a more challenging swimming environment.

Our annual Sports Day was again held at Sandringham Athletics club. Each year we aim to make this special day bigger and better. In 2017 our focus was to try and include as much of the community as possible. With the help of the marketing department, we advertised strongly for the community to come along on the day to provide more atmosphere. We also introduced a new race that included parents, grandparents and special friends. We included a fun relay race which won points for the respective house of their child or friend. It proved a big hit with many people turning up for the day and large interest in the popular parent/special friend race. The combination of a more inclusive schedule as well as the music, colour, decorations and races on the day, ensured the 2017 annual Sports Day event was bigger and better than ever.

The day ended with the traditional post Sports Day Barbeque which was again generously delivered by our wonderful SACPA team at Thomas Street reserve.

Although there will be limited space on the main campus during the construction phase of 2018 , the use of the ABC site, as well as the main basketball court, will allow us to continue to provide relevant lessons and opportunities for all the students of Sholem Aleichem College. We look forward to an exciting year ahead in 2018.

Student Leadership Opportunities at Sholem

Our Assistant Principal, Con Roubos, worked closely with staff and students to further develop leadership opportunities for our students.

At Sholem Aleichem College, the Student Leadership Program aims to develop leadership, team work and organisational expertise amongst students by providing opportunities for students to display these management skills in a range of activities at classroom and school level. Student Leaders are expected to set a strong, personal example to other students by their manner and actions, both in and out of class.

Furthermore, these positions give students an opportunity to develop personal leadership skills; they encourage students to have a voice in the ongoing development of their school; and provide student involvement in a range of activities throughout the school.

Leadership Program In 2017 Mr Grossman continued to serve as our Student Leadership Coordinator. In this role Mr Grossman coordinated all the School Leaders and School Representative Council meetings. He assisted the Leaders in writing the scripts and running all Monday Morning assemblies.

Discipline – Peer Mediation Program Our Year 6s enjoyed their services as Peer Mediators over the year. They assisted their fellow students in solving minor disagreements and arguments in the yard during recess and lunch. Sienna Glennon was appointed as Community Captain. This was a new role developed to assist with the smooth running of the Peer Mediation Program. As the Community Captain, she created the Peer Mediation timetable and ensured there were always two Year 6 students on patrol during recess and lunch. Sienna also made announcements at assemblies about the Peer Mediation Program.

House System & House Days

A House Points System based on reinforcing positive behaviour is implemented at the College. Teachers are asked to allocate House Points to students who model our Sholem Values for a Lifetime during class and playtime. The House Captains assist in collecting and recording the points and making announcement at the assemblies. A House winner is announced at the final assembly of the year.

The House Staff Leaders, Student Captains, Head of Houses also organised very successful House Days. Each House organised a day of fun activities and fundraising for an institution that matched the colour of their house. On that day all students were expected to come to school wearing the colour of the House which is organising the day.

The days were held on the following dates: Molodovsky – Big Morning Tea – April Term 2 Reyzn – Bandana Day – August Term 3 Leyb – Jeans for Genes Day – September Term 3 Peretz –Fred Hollows Foundation – November Term 4 More than $5,000 was raised from the fundraising activities in 2017.

School Uniform

There has been an improvement in the wearing of school uniform and hats in 2017. The College carries out spot checks twice a year to check that students are wearing the correct uniform. A total of 4 students were recorded which was 2 less than the year before. Emails were sent home to parents to remind these students to make sure they have their hats at school.

Once the rebranding of the school has occurred, parents and teachers will be asked to take part in a Focus Group looking at improving the uniform.

Learning Support

Educators are continually searching for new strategies and techniques to meet the needs of the diverse student population. They are making decisions about what they teach and how they present the material to best support all students. They draw on their knowledge base to design activities, ask questions and respond to the efforts of their students. Some strategies do not seem to be as successful as they were in the past and more students have a difficulty acquiring the basic skills of literacy and numeracy; the number of students with disabilities appears to be growing. Inclusion of students with learning disabilities in mainstream classrooms general education and special education teachers need to collaborate more than ever on ways to differentiate instruction in the classroom.

Students who are not progressing at the benchmark level are referred for assessment to Sharlene Wertheimer, Special Education coordinator. Assessment results are discussed with the relevant teacher and parents and a plan of action is devised to provide support to the student. This may entail further intervention with outside professionals such as psychologists, occupational therapists or language therapists. Should these students require support, the College has different programs in place to accommodate the varying learning needs.

Online Assessment The PAT (Progressive Assessment Tests) Online Diagnostic testing across all year levels is administered annually. (PAT Maths, PAT Comprehension/Reading, PAT Spelling and PAT Vocabulary). All students are assigned tests at specific levels and completed online with teachers being able to access the results immediately. The results are employed to inform teachers with their planning and assessment for the year. A Resource program which complements the assessment program is available so that teachers have easy access to activities which enhance their planning and are targeted at the students’ difficulties.

The results are transferred to the SPA (Performance Analyser) which keeps a track of students’ progress over the years. Alternate Online Assessments (On Demand Tests) are also employed (different from the PAT group of assessments) and this further information provides teachers with information on the progress of the students in their classes.

Student Support Four Support programs are offered to relevant students  Gap This is designed specifically for students who have not reached the benchmark reading level. Structured and systematic teaching of basic reading skills is provided.  Bridges: Numeracy and Literacy This program is targeted to students from Prep to Grade 6 who require extra support with literacy and numeracy acquisition. Students may be withdrawn from the classroom to work either individually or in small flexible groups. Support is offered only when required and students may enter and leave the groups as necessary.  ESL This program targets students whose home language is not English. No students accessed this support program in 2017.

Enhancement Program The 2017 Enhancement Teachers were Mr Joel Lewis (Yr 5/6), Mrs Einat Orbach (Yr3/4) & Mr Hooley (Yr 1/2). Some of the programs our students participated in 2017 included Sholem News, Tournament of Minds, Maths Olympiad and Interschool Chess Competitions.

ICAS (International Competitions and Assessments for Schools) This year at Sholem Aleichem College, 9 students in Years 3 – 6 participated in ICAS. ICAS provides an opportunity for students to gain a measure of their own achievement in an external testing situation in the areas of Computer Skills, English, Mathematics, Science, Spelling and Writing.

Certificates are awarded for each year level as follows:

. High Distinction to the top 1% of entrants . Distinction to the top 10% . Credit to the top 35% . Merit to the top 45% . Participation to all other participating students.

Our 9 students managed to attain 3 merit, 9 credit, 9 distinctions and 1 high distinction certificate.

NAPLAN

The NAPLAN tests were held in May. The student’s results indicate that the programs in place at the College are successful. Please see data below.

Funding

Funding for children with needs is included in a lump sum received from the Commonwealth government. This enables the school to provide support to teachers with integration assistants. State funding applications are submitted annually for children requiring support with language, vision, hearing and physical difficulties. Jewish Schools Integration Program (JSIP) now run by Melbourne Jewish Children’s Aid Society (MCAS) continues to fund students based on their needs.

General

Twelve assistants were employed at the College during 2017. They perform an essential role of supporting students under the direction of the class teacher. Many of the assistants have attended courses which provide specific training for children with autism and others have participated in courses specifically designed to provide the assistants with knowledge and skills to support students with a range of difficulties on an academic, social and emotional level. As school numbers increase, so does the number of students with needs. Nineteen students received funding from MJCAS (formerly JSIP). Amounts received were as follows:

 Level 1 $400, Level 2 $750, Level 3 $3000, Level 4 $8000

 Ten students were assessed at Level 3($30 000), 8 at Level 2 ($6000) and one at level 1 ($400). These funds may only be used to support students in the class.

 Six students qualified for funding from the State government in the sum of $800.00 under the category of Language difficulty. However, for some students, assessment scores disqualified them from receiving funding.

Program Support Meetings (PSG) are held each term to discuss students’ progress and Individual Learning Plans (ILP’s) are developed in order to monitor their progress in achieving short and long-term goals. Parent’s input is valued and included in the plans.

With the continued support of the teachers and relevant outside professionals, the Learning Support department aims to provide our students with all the assistance they require to access the curriculum.

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on Schools Students with Disability (NCCDSSD)

This model advocates for all teachers (not only Special Education or support staff) to support students appropriately and to provide evidence that consideration, consultation, provision and monitoring of programs is delivered and that a suitable level of adjustment is delivered to the student. There is no longer a need for a formal diagnosis and all disabilities are included ie asthma, dyslexia etc. This model is far more encompassing but there needs to be much deliberation amongst staff to decide on the appropriate level of adjustment provided. The figures from this count form the basis of the CENSUS numbers for Students with Disability.

All students with a disability are included in the census in one of the following categories: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional disability.

The level of adjustment determines the amount of support provided: quality differentiated teaching (QDTP), Supplementary, Substantial and Extensive.

Naplan Results

Sholem Aleichem College participates in the annual NAPLAN assessment. Below are the NAPLAN 2017 results: Yellow=State Red=Sholem Aleichem College

YEAR 3

State School

Reading: Students ABOVE the State and National Minimum Standard 100%

Writing: Students ABOVE the State and National Minimum Standard 100%

Spelling: Students ABOVE the State and National Minimum Standard 100%

G&P: Students ABOVE the State and National Minimum Standard 100%

Numeracy: Students ABOVE the State and National Minimum Standard 100%

FIVE YEAR TREND

Reading

Writing: In 2017 the genre for writing task was a persuasive piece.

Spelling

Numeracy

Grammar and Punctuation

YEAR 5

Reading: Students ABOVE the State and National Minimum Standard 100%

Writing: Students ABOVE the State and National Minimum Standard 100%

Spelling: Students ABOVE the State and National Minimum Standard 100%

G&P: Students ABOVE the State and National Minimum Standard 100%

Numeracy: Students ABOVE the State and National Minimum Standard 100%

FIVE YEAR TREND

Reading

Writing: In 2017 the genre for writing task was a persuasive piece.

Spelling

Grammar and Punctuation

Numeracy

Summary

Overall, we were exceptionally pleased with the results from Naplan in 2017. Our students in grade 3 and 5 achieved outstanding results. In all areas, reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation and numeracy our students outperformed national and state levels. In grade 3,the outcomes were outstandingly above all other averages. In all areas, even though the national and state average has remained basically constant over the last 5 years, Sholem’s results have increasingly improved and in some areas markedly. In grade 5 there was a significant improvement in reading, writing and spelling from the previous year.

Our Director of Curriculum and Special Ed. Coordinator met with the teachers of grade 3 and 5 to unpack the data and used this information to help plan student curriculum and target areas. We are very proud of our results in 2017 as we were overall: - 6th in Victoria (including government, Catholic and independent schools) and 16th Nationally (including government, Catholic and independent schools) 38

Finance Report

The development of the College has been an ongoing process involving council, business office, senior leadership, staff and the community. As the College is growing, the extension and renovation of the new facia and student and staff facilities, underpinned by the Masterplan and strategic intent are well underway. The expected completion is on track for the end of December 2018.

With increasing and stable enrolments, and continued generous donations and bequests, the financial viability and future planning remains solid. As a result of Board policy decisions and careful management by our Business and Finance team, our debt per student ratio remains relatively low without compromising our high staff per student ratio that continues to support our students with the highest of quality teaching. Salaries and on-costs remain the highest item of expenditure and is managed by our business and finance team to carefully control the operational costs to continue to provide staff with professional development for the benefit of the students’ educational offerings. The Business Centre is well established in the Kadimah Offices location where the links in the administration and finance are established and a strong bond is formed between the 2 entities.

Our close partnership with the Kadimah is well established and successfully share resources and staff while supporting Yiddish and Yiddish culture and education.

Our administration and finance team continue to work effectively and diligently under the guidance of Dianne Rich, our Business Manager. The Principal, Business Manager and administration team have been collectively working on financial viability and sustainability to ensure the continued growth of the College. The finance and administration team have had a moderate growth with the engagement of a payroll and Human Resources position and a Digital Marketing and Communications Officer on a part time basis to offer improved services for the staff, parents and the community.

Thank you to the finance and administration team for helping us achieve another financially successful year.

Income a. Total revenue $3.140m (100%) b. Fees Charges and Parent Contributions $970k (31%) c. Government Grants Recurrent $1.555m (50%) d. Government Grants Capital $241k (8%) e. Donations and Appeals $373k (12%)

Expenses a. Total Expenditure $2.847m (100%) b. Salaries and Salary On Costs $2.107m (74%) c. Teaching Expenses $434k (15%) d. Occupancy Costs $297k (10%) e. Finance Costs $0 (0%) f. Amortisation/Depreciation $4k (0%) Note: Market value method used for Depreciation g. Bad and Doubtful Debt Expense $5k 0%)

Sholem Aleichem College - 2017 Summary of Income Catagories

8% 12% 31% Fees/Charges & Parent Contributions Government 49% Grants Recurrent

Government Grants Capital

Sholem Aleichem Colege - 2017 Summary of Expenditure Catagories 0% 0% 0%

11% Salaries and OnCosts 15%

Teaching Expenses

74%

Occupancy Costs

Finance Costs

Marketing and Development

Marketing Major Marketing highlights include the rebranding process for the college and the shift to digital marketing. Our digital marketing program saw close to 800,000 impressions served to a highly targeted demographic base. Fundraising remains consistently strong, with excellent support from a loyal database of donors. The 2017 Business Breakfast was a highly polished and professional fundraising occasion that showcased the college very favourably. Events continue to be a major focus of the portfolio, with wonderful highlights including the School Concert, filming of the Unmake a Bully series, The Bnei Mitzve Ceremony, New Parents Welcome Dinner, Celebration Evening and be highly popular annual staff party.

One of the biggest shifts in the marketing portfolio during 20017 was a shift away from print media to Digital Marketing.

NewsXtend, an arm of News Corp, was chosen as our service provider. Our marketing was focused across three main channels. 1. SEO 2. Social Media 3. Display advertising on Websites

Our key demographic chosen was Jewish women, aged 25 – 30, with young children, living within reasonable proximity to the college.

SEO 13,000 Impressions served, with 861 clicks – this was discontinued due to low search volumes.

Social media Over 280,000 impressions were served on Facebook, with over 14,000 post engagement actions taking place 41

Display ads Over 500,000 impressions served With discontinuation of SEO, price reduced to $2000 per month, with the decision to use intermittently – approx. 6 – 8 months per annum.

Program paused over mid Dec – Jan, recommencing with the return of school. One of the major priorities in 2017 was the continuation of the rebranding process begun in 2016.

We began the year continuing to work with Randal and Steve from Three Wise Men.

A fourth territory was delivered as we had been unhappy with the original three territories and were not able to proceed with them further. This territory was still unacceptable and no consensus could be found for common way forward. We examined using the Golden Chain motif, but were not successful.

The process became bogged down and quite frustrating with continual delays in delivery from Three Wise Men.

Eventually we decided that we should part ways and seek a new provider. All works in progress were handed over to the college with the college retaining copyright in those materials.

The brief was then handed over to Crayon Creative. We were very impressed with Crayon Creative’s work. A range of imaginative new ideas were presented.

Those ideas have now (in early 2018) been accepted by Council with the new logo design finalised and set for soft release in May 2018 and for full release in term three 2018 to coincide with Rosh Hashanna.

We continued to investigate new media opportunities such as adshells and cinema advertising, but the cost of these was deemed prohibitive.

Print Media has been reduced in 2017 as a result of our spending on Digital Media. Our spend has been shared between AJN and Melbourne Jewish Report. Our focus has been on obtaining major coverage in the quarterly education supplements with the college continuing to purchase advertorial in these supplements. The schoolyard section of AJN has been replaced by a community page, resulting in lower coverage across the board for school in terms of weekly highlight, but we maintain regular posting of features on activities at the college.

Social Media – our use of Facebook has expanded with regular postings by Eva Betts. Engagement with the page is solid, and is combined with our digital media campaign, as detailed previously. Posts highlighting the success of our students traditionally prove most popular, but posts highlighting events at the school are also extremely popular, and are frequently shared.

Our Photo Policy was updated taking into account the changing nature of the usage of digital images and our increased emphasis on child safety and privacy.

We continue to use real estate boards to promote major events and important initiatives of the school such as the annual appeal, business breakfast, enrolment campaigns, open day, and more.

Sholem stands alone as the only Jewish school to have a presence at In One Voice Festival. A marquee was established with banners, posters, and flyers being utilised to promote SAC, as well as a computer screen displaying our tour video. The tent was fully manned by staff and SACPA volunteers all day. The overall value of our participation at the event is in terms of overall branding and having a presence, with little direct benefit in terms of people signing up for tours, 42 requesting information etc – it seems more of an opportunity for existing community members to have a schmooze, rather than an opportunity to attract new enrolments. The school choir again performed beautifully on stage performing in English, Hebrew and Yiddish.

Open Day was held in May, giving the College a chance to present itself to the broader community. However, the number of families attending was down and this reflects the diminishing value of Open Day with families choosing to prefer personal tours at a time that is convenient to them, Families also feel that touring on a ‘normal’ school day is more indicative of the overall college than on an Open Day where they perceive that the college may be trying extra hard to impress.

It is important to note the magnificent job done by the senior years students in their capacity as role models for the school, greeting guests at the college gates and ensuring that they are welcomed with the warmth for which Sholem is renown.

The 2017 Yearbook continued to go from strength to strength in terms of quality and production values. This however is likely to be the last year that Little Fish will handle the yearbook, as Naomi Glennon has now moved into full time work.

Fundraising

Fundraising for the college remains consistently strong with our traditional donors remaining as the bedrock of our appeal, and new donors consistently expanding our base. Given the ever increasing competition for fundraising within the Jewish Community, the loyalty of our donor base must never be taken for granted, and consistent efforts are made to show our appreciation of their generosity. Donors had the option of being able to support any of the following: Building Fund, Scholarship Fund, Library Fund, Jewish School Fund. Where a donor had not specified a fund, these donations were directed towards the Jewish School Fund.

Hard copy mail outs continue to be a main stay of our appeal marketing campaign with a full mail out done to the school’s entire data base. Real estate boards were put up, print ads were employed in The AJN and Leader and social media was again used to support the appeal.

The Business Breakfast was one of our major fundraising activities in 2017. The event was our most successful ever. It saw the announcement of the Jewish Cultural Precinct and the support for it from key stake holders including Glen Eira City Council, with an impressive speech given by Mayor Mary Delahunty. The theme was How to Cut Through in the Digital Age, and the panel of high level speakers including Eytan Lenko, Morris Miselowski and Dave Siegel was very well received

Grants: Funding was obtained for sporting equipment through the Sporting Schools program. Meetings were held with senior staff members to highlight potential opportunities for projects that could attract grant funding in an extremely competitive environment. However, staff members did not identify projects for which they wanted to lodge a funding application. In general, such applications need to be driven by staff for specific projects, otherwise they are unlikely to succeed. Generic funding applications, not tied to specific meritorious projects have a very low success rate, and are generally frowned upon by grant funding bodies, unless they specifically call for general funding applications.

Continued to investigate crowdfunding as a source of potential revenue for either School initiated charity drives – where funds will then be allocated outside the school or unique opportunities within the school – eg purchase of equipment, a scholarship for needy families, unique professional development for staff, or experiences for students.

Met with My Cause as an alternative to using Charidy as part of a matching donor program. Again the commissions charged make this form of funding prohibitive, especially given the existing loyalty of our donor base. The appeal of so

43 called ‘matching’ funding has worn off slightly as the community has become more aware of the practice and understand that the ‘matched’ funding is already in place regardless of their donations.

A process to attract more bequeaths to the college is being investigated. The establishment of a foundation for the college that would also include bequest generation is still highly recommended.

David Burstin celebrated his 80th and requested all gifts be split between the College and Kadimah. Much of the pre – event organisation in terms of invitations etc was handled by the College Marketing Department. A major donation of nearly $6000 was received from Joshua and Dora Hiller outside of the appeal.

Events The 2017 concert ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy Vey was a unique event in that it was our first P-4 Musical. The event was a huge success, and was extremely well received by the audience. Ticket sales were strong, at approximately $9000, but there was less pressure on ticket availability as the Grade 5 and 6 students were not involved.

After an extensive search of suitable venues given our growing audience numbers, the Gandel Centre at Mount Scopus has been booked for the 2018 full school musical which will be Mary Poppins. Other venues and procedures are being investigated for future years, including a move to the Besen Centre at Scopus, and a shift to only doing a full school concert every second year (with a junior concert and filming of Unmake a Bully, in the intervening years).

The Bnei Mitzvei celebration was again held in Novemeber and built on the success of last year’s event. The number of guests was higher than 2016, reflecting growing community awareness and acceptance of this important milestone in the Jewish Life of our students. Close to 200 guests were in attendance for this moving, emotion charged event celebrating the Jewish development and learning of the students. The Father’s Day Breakfast provided a wonderful opportunity for showing our appreciation for the dads and special males in our community.

2017 saw the return of Mike Feurstein for filming of the third instalment of the Unmake a Bully, series. This critically acclaimed series examines ways in students can deal with Bullying and is seen by audiences around the world. The world premiere was held at Classic Cinemas in Dec, with two screenings for our younger and older students. The quality of the movies was exceptional and the overall experience a highly rewarding and beneficial one for the students.

Celebration Night 2017 was once again one of the highlights of the school year. This year had a special element – the surprise delivery to Helen Greenberg of a presentation to mark her ten remarkable years of service and achievement for the College. As usual the Town Hall was filled with happy smiling faces, celebrating all that had been achieved by the college and its students during the year. The graduation class delivered a memorable and emotional presentation. It was a professionally executed evening than ran very smoothly, although slightly longer than planned due the 10 Year Celebrations.

Regular events such as the Annual Staff Lunch, Staff Welcome Breakfast, and New Parents Welcome Dinner were all run with great success and were very well enjoyed by participants.

The 2017 Staff Lunch was again held at a surprise venue. This year the theme was Greek, and we celebrated at the Aegean Restaurant in Fitzroy. A new feature this year was the awarding of prizes for teachers and staff who had celebrated milestone years of service to the college, eg, 5,10, 15, 20+ years. This gesture was very much appreciated by staff and capped off a brilliant afternoon that celebrated the camaraderie and spirit of the Sholem team!

Grounds and Facilities

Building works In 2017, a large focus was the preparation for the building works to commence at the start of 2018. The new wing will accommodate 4 classrooms for grade 5 and 6, a discovery centre, art room, special ed. facilities, staff work areas, reception, meeting rooms and offices. A builder was appointed and a development of a plan of where to house 4 classrooms (as the portables would need to be removed), and all the class and office areas in the old building.

Demolition was to commence during the first week of January 2018. Therefore, a plan needed to be devised of where to move and carefully consider the logistics of student movement. We were extremely fortunate that Woolworths, who bought the old ABC site, allowed us to use their facilities during 2018. Throughout the 4th term and in preparation, we worked closely with the architect, IT and other consultants to ensure that the ABC site would be ready for the commencement of the school year at the end of January. This was an enormous task and was achieved successfully.

Business Office Our business office is still housed in kadimah and we continue to share facilities and resources. This is an extremely important relationship and we see great benefits for both organisations.

Classrooms In the summer leading up to 2017, we organised for double doors to be built between the 2 classes at each grade level. This has now allowed for team and co teaching and planning. We are pleased with the flexibility this has allowed for teaching and student learning.

2 Sandham Street, Elsternwick We received permission from Glen Eira council that we can use this house for special education and an art room. This was important as we needed an option for housing classes when construction began. As we did not need the house at present, we use it for storage until 2019 where we will further look into use of this property.

Habonim We have also been working closely with Friends of Habonim to be able to use their site in the future. Together we have applied again for the use of the site as an educational institution. It was approved by Glen Eira Council but even though we went to mediation with the neighbours who lodged objections, we will be attending VCAT in2018.

Emergency Management Procedures (EMP) Successful drills were conducted once a term and reviewed by CSG. A successful drill at the Kadimah was also conducted in Term 4. The College uses the system of a Command Post to delegate warden roles to staff. Staff have adapted and taken on this role responsibly.

With the guidance and assistance of CSG, we have managed to review and update our Emergency Management Plan (EMP) to include the ABC site for 2018. All drills in 2018 will include all three sites – Main Campus, ABC site and Kadimah.

Foci for 2018

Theme: Creativity  Implement year 3 of the SAC SIP-  Develop team building and team teaching  Helping staff to collect data and to use it effectively in their planning  To develop a curriculum that allows children and staff to use and explore their creativity  Improve communication and accountability in our Special Ed Department and ensure it is accessible and its programs and staffing meet the needs of our students  Improve communication between staff to staff and staff to parents and vice versa  Develop resources to complement our Scope and sequence in all areas of the Jewish Studies department  Provide further international opportunities for our Yiddish staff in their Professional development  Enhancing Jewish identity, languages and culture  Improve the transition programs and increase of preschool into primary numbers  Continue to embed technology into programs and upskill staff and implementing Chromebooks into year 3. Students from Year 3 to 6 will have their own chromebooks. Last year for Ipads in grade 6  To roll out a learning management system- CANVAS  Refine and implement our assessment schedule  Develop global citizens  To ensure minimal disruption during the building works which will be completed by the end of 2018  To work with Habonim to be able to use their site in 2019  Create a new logo, Rebranding of the College and develop a marketing program that is innovative and new  Increase student numbers  Improve student outcomes  To be at the cutting edge of educational research and implementation  To implement masterplan, building program and strategic plan for SAC  To coordinate our archives and develop a better storage system and presentation  Develop closer links with alumni