As always, the first term of the year has flown by and as I write this last article of Term 1, I think back with a huge smile on all that has been achieved at Carmel School. At the forefront of my mind is the fabulous High School Musical, which show-cased the talents of the Carmel Academy of Performing Arts and the long-term hard work of the creative staff involved. What a bril ...

From the Principal

I failed high school, leaving with one B grade and two E grades (and the E didn’t stand for Excellent). I based my choice of final year subjects on the advice of a careers advisor who told me that I should choose subjects I wasn’t very good at, because “What’s the point of studying subjects you do well in without trying?” Happily it’s a very different mindset and approach from ...

From the Principal

We regularly hear of the importance of connectedness and belonging in achieving positive mental health outcomes. There have been so many instances of connectedness and belonging at and around Carmel School during the past couple of weeks, it’s hard to know where to start when describing them! OKC Ari Range’s prize-winning film was shown at the Burswood Telethon Community Cinem ...

From the Principal

Ms Birch’s High School assembly this week unpacked the School value of Courage, evident in each of the students who spoke so ably to their peers on a range of topics including the JNF fundraiser and the recent Year 11/12 dinner dance. Ms Birch related courage to wellbeing and pointed out that wellbeing (‘the ability to thrive and respond positively to life’s challenges’) is cr ...

From the Principal

Week 2 has seen the start of Carmel School being pioneers as the first school in Australia to adopt an exciting new Hebrew program in Years 1 and 2. Niflaot (Wonders) focuses on students speaking from an early stage of their learning. This aligns closely with the results of our recent survey, in which parents expressed the wish for their children to learn Hebrew in a modern and ...

From the Principal

Welcome to the new school year! In the second week of January, I started to wonder why I was dragging my feet coming in to work. Rather than leaping out of bed at 5 o’clock as I usually do, I wasn’t getting up until my alarm told me I needed to. I wasn’t getting excited about different ideas and the things I wanted to make happen … Perhaps I was going to be ill? Maybe I’m just ...

From the Principal

Our Year 11 Shorashim travellers returned late on Tuesday evening last week, tired and happy to be home after the fabulous trip Mr Lawrence had organised for them. I understand Tasmania was beautiful and the conference with four other schools’ Jewish students in Sydney was a great learning experience. So much of what we do successfully hinges on connectedness and being able to ...

From the Principal

There is definitely an end of year feeling starting to creep in, as the weather warms up, the exam season is upon us and we experience the “last” of a number of activities for this year. As I write, the Year 11 students are enjoying their alternative Shorashim tour in Tasmania, the Year 12s are writing their final exams and the Year 10s have started their exam period, with Eng ...

From the Principal

Perseverance This week we saw the result of great perseverance. In 2002, I was lucky enough to teach the Year 5/6 L.E.A.P. class (Learning Enrichment Activities Program). It involved a small group of students and the exciting brief to challenge and enrich their learning with whatever projects we wanted to work on. Our ‘Playground Project’ was an authentic learning experience ...

From the Principal

It’s always a pleasure showing external people around the School and yesterday was no different, as the sun shone and during the various wanderings around the two campuses, I was able to take the time to step back and view just some of the things that our Carmel students were involved in. It made me very proud as well as grateful for what we enjoy at Carmel. Seeing what was go ...

From the Principal