23 August 2019
Newsletter Articles
OUR MISSION, VISION AND VALUES
Our Mission
Pinnacle College strives to establish and maintain a safe and nurturing environment so that every student may reach their full potential and achieve a high level of academic excellence determined by state and federal standards.
Our Vision and Values
When you enter Pinnacle College you will be met with a friendly smile. Our level of pride is displayed by our teachers and staff. Apart from a high standard of education at our well-maintained campuses, we aim to develop responsibility in our students, alongside appreciating and valuing different cultures, possessing positive behaviour and a high ethical conscience. We also guide students to accept actions, widen their view of the world which in turn enables them to learn from the consequences of their choices. Studying in a diverse multicultural community, students have the opportunity to widen their view of the world, enabling them to help each other and be productive both now and in the future.
Student Representative Council
Eid al-Adha, also known as Eid Qurban, is the second of the two Islamic holidays celebrated worldwide each year. It can also be referred to as “Festival of the Sacrifice” and is sometimes considered the holier of the two. The practices during this holiday commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God's command. Seeing his devotion, God provided a lamb to sacrifice instead before Abraham could sacrifice his son. In honour of this intervention, an animal is sacrificed ritually and divided into three parts. One share is given to the poor and needy, another is kept for home, and the third is given to relatives.
Pinnacle College is a school with students with very diverse backgrounds. It is our duty to give thanks to all that is provided for us and share the privilege we have in Australia. Pinnacle College celebrated Eid al-Adha by holding a Qurban festival where all proceeds went towards the Australian Relief Organisation. Australian Relief Organisation has been running qurban campaigns since 2013 and carry out distributions on behalf of our donors.
Thanks to the support from students, teachers, family and friends the ARO could deliver meat across the globe. Each package is delivered to poverty-stricken regions, and the qurban meat provided great joy and happiness among locals. To witness the distribution process of your qurban meat, our volunteer delegations travelled to remote corners of the world. There, they shared the happiness of thousands as a result of your donations.
In order to raise funds various for the cause various pastoral care groups and teachers came up with fun activities. A 10kg block of chocolate was raffled off which raised $346. In the end Mr. Hannan won the prize but he has generously shared the chocolate with the whole school. Congratulations Mr. Hannan!
The “Lollies in a Jar Guess” was won by Firdevs Sinik. The total amount was 1142 and she was the closest with a guess of 1111. She happily received her prize but was also generous enough to share the chocolates with her class. Well done Firdevs and don’t eat the whole jar in one sitting.
From qurban festival alone we were able to raise over $3500 and with the pastoral groups, Pinnacle College raised more than $4000. It is wonderful to see a community join together to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Miss Watkins and I would like to thank all the teachers and SRC members who helped with the planning, organisation and running of the qurban festival. We could not have done it without you.
Regards,
Miss Nicole Neong
Introducing EdSmart
Dear Parent,
As you may have noticed, our school is now using EdSmart to make communication between school and parents more streamlined, safer and less stressful.
EdSmart is a digital system that replaces the paper forms we used to send home for you to complete and return. These forms are now going out to you via sms and email. All you need to do, is follow the link to complete any details that’s required. There’s no need to download any apps, you simply click on the link and follow the prompts. This will save you time, and no need to look for those misplaced forms, anymore!
Here's how it works
Instead of paper forms coming home in your child’s school bag, you will be sent an email notification with a link to click that opens a secure web page version of the form to complete and submit.
You can do this on your phone, tablet or computer at your convenience.
All of the data you submit in the forms is held in a secure database only accessible to selected school staff.
EdSmart will help us better manage any needs in the school community with the extra time saved. Another bonus is that we'll be reducing our carbon footprint and cost significantly.
In regards to use this system effectively, it is crucial that your email and contact number is up to date. Therefore, in the next few weeks, you might be contacted by one of our friendly Front Office Staff, asking you for your details.
You can learn more about EdSmart at the link below and if you have any questions we welcome them.
https://edsmart.com/parents
Kind Regards,
Front Office Staff
Councillor
Pinnacle College is now a registered member of the Be You community. This new framework focuses on a whole school approach to addressing social and emotional learning. It is a progression of the Mind Matters and Kid Matters programs, conceptualised by Beyond Blue and Headspace in Schools. In collaboration with our homegroup presentations, this term we will be focussing on building resilience to allow our students to assert themselves and welcome new challenges. The attached graphic, indicates the 5 core streams this new framework will be targeting.
Library
Just a reminder
From 20th May the Playford library has been bringing their mobile library to the Elizabeth Campus. They have been holding fortnightly visit from 12:30-2:30 on Mondays. If you haven’t been before come and check out the wonderful books they have to borrow. Remember, you will need a Playford council or OneCard library card. Here are a few other things you can do with your Playford/OneCard library card:
OneCard network
https://onecard.network/client/en_AU/sapubliclibraries
- Browse, search and borrow from over 4 million items from other SA Public Libraries
- Access free online resources
- Download free audiobooks and ebooks through our digital libraries including Premiers Reading Challenge books
- Access free online learning resources such as Lynda.com
Kind regards,
Lisa Preston
Librarian
Primary
Foundations
There has been so much learning and fun in Foundation already this term. In Week 1, we celebrated our 100th day of school by dressing up as if we were 100 years old! For me it was a scary glimpse into the future but we all had so much fun being grannies and grandpas. In literacy, we have learnt so many tricky words that our Tricky Word Tree is looking healthier with more leaves every day. It has been so exciting to read more books and we are getting so clever at sounding out and writing now. In Science and Technology, we are looking at different materials and their properties. Students enjoyed decorating a party hat with items that matched in some way and describing them. We also had two lovely new students start with us this term and hope they are enjoying their new class. We certainly love having them!
Year 3
Year 3 students learnt about wind energy by making pinwheels to model a wind turbine!
Year 4
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
I hope you all had a blessed Eid and are well rested to finish of the term with as much dedication as I have seen so far.
Students have learnt about 3 of the 7 steps to writing so far this term – planning, sizzling starts and building tension. We will continue the steps and finish with writing a narrative for our assessment. They are thoroughly enjoying reading ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ as our class novel – even though it makes us crave chocolate!
This term is jam packed with exciting events. We have already held qurban fundraisers and our Eid Festival. Still to come is Book Week including the annual dress up parade and class rotations, Numeracy Week and Science Week. An incursion has been organised so please pay ASAP. The students will learn how to draw like a real comic artist.
I look forward to seeing you at parent-teacher interviews. Let’s do this!
Kind regards,
Sarah Watkins
Year 4 Teacher
Year 5
The Year 5s have successfully completed Semester 1 and, as well as improving in their studies, they have focused on class routines and organisation. This term, students have been focusing on consistency in submissions, completing tasks as well as resilience, a key tool in social and emotional resilience. The students are focused on setting new standards in their work application and being ready for success in Year 6 and beyond. While we are serious about our achievements and improvement, we also like to be a bit silly where possible. For example, our behaviour charts which reward or discipline us for our actions throughout the working day, have had a little makeover. The Year 5s took photos of themselves being silly or humorous and attached it to their badge, making their chart a touch more personalised.
Mr McLean
Year 5 Science
Grade 5s were busily exploring solids, liquids and gases, as part of their Science/Chemistry studies. Students explored different materials and classified them as a solid, liquid or gas. Grade 5s also learnt the different characteristics of atoms in the three states of matter. Great effort to our grade 5 students.
Ms Nesibe
Year 6
Dear parents,
Year 6s have started working on natural disasters this term in Science. We started by exploring volcanoes. Students experimented on volcanoes to investigate how altering the proportions can affect the level of eruption. Students also received a natural disaster project, which is due soon. All the best to our scientists.
Additionally, grade 6s (along with the grade 5s) will run the science show this year. Students are to find and trial an experiment, in order to show the junior years.
Students were also asked to bring in photos, as part of preparations for their concert and yearbook. Time is going by quick and graduation is fast approaching. We wish the year 6 students all the very best, during the last semester of their primary schooling.
Year 6 HASS
Grade 6s explored Asian countries, as part of their HASS/Geography studies. Please see pictures of games students played in groups to help them practice the location of Asian countries. Also grade 6s presented their HASS research project of a chosen Asian country, to their friends and conducted a self and peer assessment. Great effort grade 6s.
Ms Nesibe
Art
In Art, Foundation and Year 1 classes are exploring dance this term within the Arts curriculum. We are looking at cultural dancing and are learning the routine for the end of year concert. The theme this year is ‘The Circus’. The Foundation class will be circus animals and the Year 1s will be performing clowns. We have been learning dance terminology for different movements and have also been exploring cultural dances from around the world. The Year 2s have been looking at still life and are exploring different artists, techniques and mediums. The Year 3s are studying POP Art. They have been enjoying using famous food and celebrities as inspiration for their brightly coloured artworks.
Mrs Mungall
Drama
In Drama we have been busy scripting this Year’s End of Year Concert performance piece. The students have chosen to do ‘Harry Potter’. We have read chapters from the books and compared them to the movies. We have explored similarities and differences based on the authors vision compared to the producers and directors. Students have analysed the characters and have auditioned for roles. We have decided to film as well as perform the production this year. The students will be working as the production crew as well as performers and will have a chance to explore all the different roles and responsibilities that are involved in a theatrical performance.
Music
As another term begins, there are new things to discover and learn in Music.
In Year 3 we are exploring how to make many different sounds on one instrument, how to write a musical score showing duration (long and short sounds) and dynamics (loud and soft sounds) and how to play that score.
In Year 4 the students are exploring how to create lots of different sounds with their voices, on their bodies, and using instruments. They are starting to read musical scores to play different parts at the same time.
The Year 5s are learning about ensemble playing by playing different parts on different instruments. This requires a great deal of concentration and cooperation. They are also learning how to create a variety of moods with music to accompany a storyboard or a scenario.
In Year 6 the focus is on Latin Music, so the students have learnt about where Latin music comes from, what it sounds like and how to play Latin rhythms. The students have also written their own lyrics in a Latin style, making effective (and fun!) use of rhyme.
Tracy Schache
Music Teacher
PE
This Term in PE junior primary are learning ball skills. We have started the term looking at basketball. We have covered rolling, throwing, dribbling, passing and shooting. We will be introducing the students to football skills later in the term. This term the middle primary are learning skipping, gymnastics and cultural dancing. We have started the term with skipping and are looking at intermediate and advanced jump rope tricks. We have also covered partner and long rope tricks Including entering and leaving a long rope. Students in Years 2,3 & 4 will begin to explore movement sequences through developing their routines for their End of Year Concert performances.
Mrs Mungall
Secondary
Music
This term the students will be continuing to learn about theory concepts to make the connection between how music is written and how we read music in order to play it. The students will finish their compositions using GarageBand and will perform their raps for the class. Each elective has a song that they are learning to play on the keyboards, with the intention of playing as an ensemble later in the year. The students are beginning to realise that learning to play a musical instrument is a slow and steady process requiring lots of patience, perseverance and practise. Success = Effort + Attitude.
Tracy Schache
Music Teacher
Humanities
In Year 10 Humanities, we have been learning about the importance of human wellbeing and what people need to live happy and contented lives. One of the important topics we covered during this unit was basic human needs such as access to clean food, water and secure safety. Important variables to these needs are wealth, health and education which are vital to maintaining wellbeing. We also learnt about different ways to measure wellbeing such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Human Development Index (HDI). We learnt about the struggle in developing countries to access basic health care services and the impact of HIV. We learnt about the links between wealth and health and what barriers exist to develop wellbeing such as lack of health care workers and finance. Overall, we learnt about the goals that we need to fulfil to ensure that everyone can reach their full potential.
English
Year 10 English students have been studying poetry at the moment. This is an excellent example of a student’s work. Well done Alexis Jarymn.
I have eyes yet I do not see
I have hope yet fear it all
I am who I am meant to be
That I clearly recall
There was a world I lived upon
A land of green, and light
Of life and death
A land I wish I had never lift
But now I’m here
Long forgotten
Long before legend
Long and now
I am trapped
In endless darkness
Forgotten hope
Yet always see a light
Three days I fled
Three days I was back
Yet in return
The world I walked upon
Changed it all
Made us believe
That this is the space for me
I watched them fall
The way it change
A clear example
Of what we became
And now I sit
Here and there
Looking at the stars
Rather quite grand
Wishing and hoping
Maybe one day
I see them all
A hopeful dream I do recall
And be the day, if it may
That I get the chance
To leave this planet, if I may
But now I see
A floating planet
A moon to be
A starry night
A hope about to take flight
I write this no to say
I wish upon a star
One of rock and ice
One I see tonight
Written by Alexis Jarmyn
Art
Year 7 students work on cultural and expressional masks in Term 3. They learn about the use of masks in different cultures and drama and build a mask based on their chosen cultural inspiration. Year 8 students learn about digital photography, photography techniques and editing tools in general. They use school environment and each other as subjects and aim at capturing interesting scenes every week. Year 9 students explore the connection between culture and identity through an artwork that can hide and express chosen aspects of their personality. Students are encouraged through this project in self-analyses and reflection.
Science
The Big Science Competition is an annual competition that challenges students from years 7 to 10. The 50-minute, multiple choice competition tracks their performance against state or national averages and tests the student’s critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. The questions are set in real-life but also have a contemporary context. This year 22 students from Pinnacle College entered competition with amazing results. The following students recieved exceptional results. Congratulations!
Year 7
Asir Shaikh (Credit)
Year 8
Joshua Polulach (Distinction)
Year 9
Nimra Siddique (Credit)
Malaika Bashir (Distinction)
Year 9 Pastoral Care
During Ramadan, year 9 students went to three different iftars. The girls first enjoyed an iftar at Firdevs’s house. Then students visited Ms Nesibe and Ms Semanurs’ houses due to an iftar invitation. We thank all the students who attended, as well as the hosts for their welcoming gesture and hospitality. Wishing a blessed past Ramadan and Eid to all once again.
As we approach school holidays, students also went cinemas to watch Aladdin during week 8, both as a social activity and a fun reward for all the effort they’ve shown this Term at school. Students enjoyed the night out, and broke loose from any stress and tension these last few weeks of school and loads of assessments could offer…
Ms Nesibe
Year 12s
On Wednesday 14th August, the year 12s were lucky enough to participate in the P.A.R.T.Y. Program. This program is held in the Lyell McEwin Hospital Trauma centre and allows northern schools, such as Pinnacle College, to access the behind the scenes of the hospital. The program aims to deliver a high standard of resources across sites with a common goal of preventing trauma in today's youth.
The students interact with health professionals developing skills in recognising dangerous situations commonly experienced in youths today such as drugs, alcohol and reckless behaviour that can potentially lead to injury and death.
Sporting Competitions
8/9 Boys Northern Zone Basketball
Tournament
As we arrived at the Mars basketball stadium my fellow teammates and I immediately knew that we have had to get noticed for our hard work and to represent our schools’ talent. We played our first game against st Columba and confidentially won 14-11. Throughout
the day we had the ability to reunite and hang out with friends from other schools and played against them. The pinnacle college basketball team won every game which was a total of 6 games. We played with pride for our school and the dedication to bring home the winning trophy and certificates.
Nasir Ibrahim
Open Girls and Boys Indoor Soccer Competition
On Wednesday, 14th August the year 9 and 10 girls and boys went into an indoor soccer competition. The weather was wonderful and both girl and boy’s teams went in strong. The girls won their first game and then drew for their second. Unfortunately, some injuries occurred for both teams which led to some defeats. Thank you to Ahmad Aly and Rahmatulloh Rejapov for volunteering to referee that day. These games cannot happen without the dedication and selflessness from the referees.
Open Girls and Boys Ten Pin Bowling
The year 10 girls team came second in the Ten Pin Bowling competition on 16th August. Congratulations girls!
