AL ZAHRA COLLEGE
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MARCH 2011
AL NEWS HISTORY!
The Inside News.... Inside this Newsletter, you can read about: • AZC meets the NSW Premier; • Citizenship 2011; • Violin lessons; • Nut-free zone; • IB Matters; • Learner Profile; • Payments; • Primary student progress reports; and • Calendar.
Online Newsletters www.azc.nsw.edu.au
! Al Zahra College was involved in the NSW state electioneering when Year 6 and AZC Parliamentary Ministers and Shadow Ministers met the Premier, Kristina Keneally, at Arncliffe Park on 10 March. In Arncliffe to announce funding for new sporting facilities at
Arncliffe Park, Prime Minister, Ali Chahine, offered the Premier sound advice while Opposition Leader, Zahra Abou-Ghaida, counselled the local aspiring member, Steve Kamper. Obviously, advice given was ignored!
Open - minded is one of the attributes of the Learner Profile and one of our core values at Al Zahra College.
What is an open-minded person? They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and VOLUME 14, ISSUE 2: MARCH 2011!
All editions of Al News are available online each month. Please provide us with your email address so that we can forward to you future AZC weblinks to keep you
VALUES
communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience. Weekly assembly awards are presented to students to demonstrate Learner Profile attributes. PAGE 1
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PRIMARY STUDENT PROGRESS REPORTS At Al Zahra College, feedback on student progress is given to parents through Student Reports at the end of each semester (Terms 2 and 4). In 2011 PYP Unit of Inquiry reports will be included each semester, rather than at the end of each unit. To comply with government requirements our Student Reports will: • • • •
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be provided at least twice per year; be timely; deal with academic and non – academic learning; be in plain language to be readily understood by parents and guardians; be confidential; maintain the privacy of students; be followed by opportunity for discussion between the child, parents/guardians and teachers; give constructive advice about supporting the child’s further progress at school; include for each subject studied, an assessment grading of A, B, C, D or E, clearly designed against specific standards: The NSW Board of Studies common grade scale. (Note that Pre-School reports will have their own grading method); and include the child’s achievement relative to the achievement of the child’s peer group at the school.
For students undertaking standard assessment in reading, writing, spelling and numeracy in Years 3 and 5, the semester 2 report will include: • the result of that assessment against appropriate national benchmarks; • the result of that assessment against achievement levels or bands; and • the average achievement of the child’s peer group at the school against achievement levels or bands. If you would like any further information, please come and see Dr David McGregor. VOLUME 14, ISSUE 2: MARCH 2011!
NUT FREE ZONE Mohamed Soummaka, who is in Kindergarten in 2011, has a severe nut allergy. To prevent a medical emergency, there can be no nuts or foods containing nuts in the school. This includes, especially Nutella and hazelnut products, and anything containing tree nuts. Al Zahra College and the Soummaka family appreciate your assistance in making our College a nut free zone. Thank you in advance for your complete support.
COLLEGE UNIFORM Parents are reminded that they must purchase available uniform items from AZC and missing/out-of-stock items from Yeronga School Uniforms (900 Canterbury Rd, Roselands). There is concern that some families are substituting College uniform items by purchasing items from unapproved suppliers. Specific concerns are boys’ trousers, school shirts, AZC caps and tracksuit pants. Parents can save themselves a lot of money by ensuring their child’s name is marked clearly on all pieces of clothing. PAGE 3
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REGIONAL SWIMMING Six students represented Al Zahra College at the 2011 Regional (ASISSA) Swimming Championships.
! If your child is eager to participate into this program, please complete the note below and return it to college by Friday, 1 April, 2011.When we receive your permission slip, your child will be assessed during the last week of Term 1, to determine the ability to play violin, after which you’ll be notified. There will be no tuition costs with this program during 2011. Students will purchase their own violin, if they want to participate to this program. (NOTE: a violin should not be purchased until instructed by Mrs Akbar. Details of purchasing will be provided by Mrs Akbar.)
Backing up in 2011 were Zahra Abou-Ghaida, Ahmad Sabra (pictured) and Khalil Youssef, while new representative swimmers were Ali Faour and Bilal Chahine. All students swam well with Ahmad Sabra just a touch away from going to State in the 10 years and under 50metres butterfly. Well done! VIOLIN TUITION Al Zahra College will offer a new instrumental program in Term 2 - Learning violin. Students will learn how to play violin, develop performance skills and improve their music theory. Students also will perform at school functions and occasional outside school events.
Parents will be required to commit their child to daily practice at home. Parents should also be aware that these instrumental lessons will occur when normal class lessons are occurring and it will be the responsibility of the students to ‘catch up’ on any missed classwork. READY TO LEARN It is absolutely essential that students arrive at school, ready to learn. This won’t happen if students do not have adequate sleep (10-12 hours, depending on age) or have unhealthy eating habits.
MARCH 2011
Calendar
28-30 March • School Photos
31 March • Term 1 Interschool Finals 6 April • Secondary Interschool sport • AIS ANZAC Day wreath laying ceremony. 7 April • Fun Day activities • 3.00pm: Parents’ session on accessing Reading Eggs program • Last day of Term 1 for students 27 April • Term 2 commences 28 April • AZC Cross Country 4 May • Paul Kelly Cup (AFL)
Payments Parents are reminded that all payments should be made by direct deposit, Bpay or through the EFTPOS facility at AZC. The reason for this procedure is twofold:
If parents don’t have these two factors right, then learning and personal achievement will be a ‘hit or miss’ affair.
- AZC does not want to handle or hold cash on the premises; and - AZC wants to minimise any bank charges for parents who are withdrawing cash from ATMs to make a fees payment.
How much sleep do your children have each night?
AZC appreciates your cooperation in this matter.
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Day – The Cancer Foundation; Jeans for Genes Day – CMRI; Literacy Backpack Project for IndigeLEADERSHIP nous Students – Foundation for There are many opportunities for all students to develop their leader- Youth. ship skills at AZC. AZC also sponsors two students annually at a Lebanese orphanage. These include: • School parliament ministers (in- Global appeals are strongly supcluding Prime Minister and Opported when they occur, for examposition Leader). ple, the Pakistani Flood Appeal and the Tsunami Appeal. • Class captains (class representatives to school parliament). Primary students can provide a service to students during lunch • House captains breaks by coordinating gradebased activities on a termly basis. • Class monitors
CITIZENSHIP 2011
• Sporting team captains • Leading weekly/special assemblies • Leading Salat
Completed and sustained service contributions will be acknowledged in student progress reports and contribute to the Annual Leadership, Service and Service Learning awards.
The duration of these leadership positions may range from 1 week to 1 term, 1 semester, or the entire academic year.
MARCH 2011 Classes will promote service learning during the course of the academic year. Examples of service learning can be found at: http:/www.marylandpublicschools. org/MSDE/programs/servicelearni ng/project_ideas.htm http://www.goodcharacter.com/SE RVICE/primer-‐10.html http://www.proteacher.org/c/868_ Service_Learning_Projects.html
ANNUAL LEADERSHIP, SERVICE, SERVICE LEARNING AWARDS Leadership An Annual Leadership Award will be gained by leadership action for two terms during an academic year. Service An Annual Service Award will be gained by service action for two terms during an academic year.
Completed and sustained leadership contributions will be acknowledged in student progress reports and contribute to the Annual Leadership, Service and Service Learning awards.
Service Learning An Annual Service Learning Award will be gained by completed service learning action to a minimum Grade 4 level, during an academic year. SERVICE LEARNING
Service learning is a method of teaching, learning and reflecting, frequently youth service, throughout the community. As a teaching method, it falls under the philosophy of experiential education. More specifically, it integrates SERVICE meaningful community service There is a strong service culture at with instruction and reflection to AZC where students learn that it is enrich the learning experience, possible to make a positive differ- teach civic responsibility, encourence in the world. age lifelong civic engagement, and strengthen communities for the Students support a range of Austra- common good. lian charities including: Pink Ribbon Day – breast cancer; Daffodil
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Citizenship An Annual Citizenship Award will be gained by achieving the Annual Leadership, Annual Service and Annual Service Learning Awards during an academic year.
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Al Zahra College
THE LEARNER PROFILE Risk-Takers
Caring
Communicators
Thinkers
Reflective
Open Minded
Inquirers
Balanced Knowledgeable Principled the The IB Learner Profile is that attributes and descriptors that IB define the type of student hopes to develop through its P). programs (for example, MY
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MARCH, 2011
AL ZAHRA COLLEGE 3 - 5 Wollongong Road, ARNCLIFFE. NSW 2205 P: (+61) 2 9599 0161 F: (+61) 2 9599 0162 E: info@azc.nsw.edu.au W: www.azc.nsw.edu.au
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