21 August 2020
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.
Principal’s Message
Dear Parents/Guardians/Caregivers,
Welcome back to Newsletter Issue 5.
First of all, I would like to extend my sincere condolences to the Lebanese community/people who lost their lives and their relatives in Australia in the Lebanon explosion, in Beirut. We are deeply saddened and shocked by the explosion that took place in Beirut 11 days ago. The thoughts and prayers are with our Lebanese community
Therefore, a number of fundraising events will be organised by the Community Engagement Department and Parent and Friends Association. Your support and contribution will make a big impact to help those experiencing homelessness. In a country already struggling with COVID 19 and economic collapse, every donation counts.
Furthermore, our Qurban Festival was another successful event. The school raised around $5000 and sent it to Australian Relief Organisation (ARO) to distribute all qurbans across Asia Pacific and Africa. I would like to thank all parents, students and teachers who contributed on the day. In particular, our SRC department had a great role in this event.
Due to the unprecedented and unstable conditions of COVID-19 restrictions and regulations, we stopped allowing parents to go inside the school. I hope, in a short period of time, we would like to see parents on the school ground again. Due to Covid 19, we will not be able to organise End of Year Performance (EYOP) this year. As you are aware, it takes a long time to prepare for this event and also restrictions often change. So, we had to make this decision regrettably.
Lastly I would like to congratulate the following students who have demonstrated outstanding behaviour at school and their families for their support.
Sarah Ansari
Ahmad Sabateen
Maya Al Jubory
Zunaira Akbar
Semih Aslan
Mubinahon Tohirova
Educationally Yours
Gokhan Kot
Campus Principal, Elizabeth East
Councillor
Hey Parents and Caregivers,
The students have spoken and we have responded. As a part of our continual growth and development at Pinnacle College we are introducing a range of pilot programs for integrated learning opportunities. The aim of these programs are to provide our students with the knowledge and exposure to varying future pathway options. We strive to work towards our student’s strengths and ensure that they can reach their full potential as they progress in their education.
The rationale is simple: How can we best prepare our young people to tackle the everyday challenges of life. Some of the areas that you can keep an eye out for include, managing finances and business development, hands on construction based learning, hospitality and artistic expression.
Sounds good right? If you or someone you know is an industry professional that fits into one of the categories above and you want to give back to your schooling community then please get in touch with me. We would love to hear about your experiences and different ways to teach our students the ins and outs of differing professional opportunities.
Kind regards,
Mehmet Kavlakogl
Inclusive Education Coordinator
Library
Thank you for your support with the Book Fair. We earned enough credits to get a lot of new books from Scholastics for the library. This is an important part of keeping children reading at home and the pride of owning their own books.
Book Week is in Week 6 this term. Aug 24th to Aug 28th. We have some very curious creatures visiting the school during the week. On Friday is the celebration of the CBCA Shortlisted books.
There will be the Book Week Parade in Lesson 1 and 2 on the Friday 28th Aug. (Sorry, still no parents on site, but I am sure there will be lots of pictures by staff) Classes will then read and celebrate one or more of the Shortlisted books with other classes.
Premiers Reading Challenge will conclude on Sept 7th. The students have had all year to complete their forms. Most of the reception to grade 2 students have completed this with their class. We can provide new forms if needed - just ask. 90% of the students of Pinnacle College (R-6) have completed this challenge. It is a great recognition of their reading from the Premier.
Kind Regards,
Lisa Preston
Librarian, Elizabeth East
Front Office Notices
Primary
Foundations
Term 3 has started as busy as ever. We celebrated the Qurban Festival in week 2, enjoying fairy floss, doughnuts and cakes. We also had great fun on the jumpy castle and having our faces painted.
In Health this term we are thinking about ‘People who Help us.’ Miss B used to be a nurse before she joined us here at school and today she gave us a lesson in bandaging and slings. We had great fun practising on each other. Congratulations should also go out to Sarah and Rayyan who were voted, by their classmates, as our SRC (Student Representative Council) members. We are now looking forward to more exciting learning experiences in the rest of Term 3 and 4.
Year 1
Hello beautiful families and friends,
What an exciting term we have been having! We have been working very hard during Literacy lessons to create our own procedure texts. We have learnt all about bossy verbs, adverbs and adjectives, which, we are incorporating into our written texts.
Reading tests were conducted last week, please ensure that your child reads each night.
They should be paying specific attention to expression, fluency and comprehension. Please note that I cannot move your child up to the next reading level without them being able to comprehend the text.
What’s the time Mr Wolf? Time has been our major Numeracy focus this term with the students delving into the areas of duration, half past and o’clock. Most did a wonderful job on their end of topic test! It is an important concept to grasp so please ensure that you keep up the practise at home.
A note that spelling words should be written and revised each night. It is important that your child learns the sound rule, not just memorises how the word is spelt.
Kind Regards,
Miss Rowlands and the Year 1s = )
Year 2
“Good afternoon everyone, and a perfetto day to you!”
This is our brand new greeting you will hear when you step into the Year 2 classroom...along with many perfect smiles! The Year 2 students have been working even harder than ever this term - and they’ve stepped into it with a lot of courage and determination.
In English, we have been learning about the comprehension strategy ‘Visualising’, which means to make pictures in your mind when you read a text. We read a text called ‘Kids in Space’, and the students had to draw pictures of each paragraph and what they visualised in their minds when they read it. They had a lot of fun looking at each other’s pictures!
Multiply, multiply, multiply is what we are learning to do in Maths! The students have been busy learning their times tables and with this, they have engaged in a number of fun activities and games to help them learn them. They created their own array cities using arrays to represent city windows, they love playing Beat the Champion before the end of the day and they have loved singing different songs to learn their times tables on Youtube.
We were also quite lucky enough to be able to celebrate the Eid Festival with our community and the children had such a wonderful day!
Please remember to keep practising their times tables every single night and continue to read - quickly, accurately and with expression!!
Miss Parletta and the Year 2 class
Year 3
The Year 3’s have had a fantastic start to the term so far. The highlight has definitely been the Book Fair as it has given students a chance to instil a love of reading. Our Library lessons have also been very enjoyable with Mrs Preston and we especially loved the experience of learning about tree hollows and saving our sea.
Learning our spelling words has been more fun than ever as the Year 3’s are able to pick activities of their own choice from our activity grid. They’ve been doing incredibly well at practicing their words by thinking, designing and creating - making spelling a whole lot more engaging and retainable!
Mrs Secgin & the Year 3 class
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 our Eid Festival. Still to come is Science Week, Book Week (including the annual dress up parade, an incursion and class rotations) and our own class excursion to the Maritime Museum. Please continue to encourage your child to complete homework, read daily and learn their time tables.
Kind regards,
Sarah Watkins
Year 4 Teacher
Year 5
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Welcome to another busy term. I hope you had an enjoyable break and Eid celebration.
In Literacy this term, students are working on procedure writing. They have identified the key features and the structure of procedural texts. Which includes a title, aim, ingredients, materials and specific steps.
Students have received feedback on their two written procedures this week. From observation, the majority need to be specific for ingredients and method as well as use some descriptive language to enhance the quality of their writing. We visit the library every week (Wednesdays) to borrow books and engage in literature. I thank those students who use this time wisely to deepen their knowledge and understanding. Please discuss the importance of reading with your child and remind your child to have the books ready for returning every Tuesday night to avoid any issues.
Warm regards,
Nibal Al Bayati
Year 6
Dear parents,
We are already halfway through Term 3 and grade 6s are busily working in their classes, as they slowly, but excitedly, approach the end of the year. = )
In Science, students have been busily experimenting on Volcanoes to see the effect of the ingredients on the level of eruption.
Students are also about to experiment in their groups to prepare for Science week, where they will show their experiments to the junior primary. All the best to our mini scientists.
For Science, students also received a natural disaster project that is due week 7 of this Term.
It requires students to research and explore a natural disaster of their choice.
For Design Technology, students started making the games they designed in class. Students have great ideas and are working with persistence and effort. We are very excited to see and play the games they design and make. All they best to our grade 6 students.
Regards.
Mrs Nesibe
SRC
Thank you to all our Semester 1 primary SRCs for their contribution and efforts. They were:
Grade 1: Aayan & Lily
Grade 2: Fardeen & Samiha
Grade 3: Yafi & Mahalia
Grade 4: Banin & Alaa
Grade 5: Mohammed
Grade 6: Soabeda & Mohammed Gursel
The following students have been selected to become the SRCs for Semester 2. Congratulations to our SRCs and all the best to them on this new journey.
Foundation: Sarah Ansari & Rayyan Rauf
Grade 1: Marva Mirzayeva & Kazi Tazneem
Grade 2: Ayesha Kashif & Muhammad Ali
Grade 3: Jannar Hossain & Muhammad Zaidi
Grade 4: Adn Rauf & Mikail Bagsoken
Grade 5: Sarah Kodirjonova & Sameer Siddique
Grade 6: Zahra Zaidi & Idres Mehman
Music
Primary Music
“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.” Kahlil Gibran
In Year 1, the students have been learning to recognise and play loud and soft and high and low sounds. We used this learning to choose instruments to tell the story of the Bird and the Elephant.
The Year 3s and 4s have enjoyed learning how to play the ukulele. So far, we have learnt the names of the different parts of the instrument, correct posture when playing, how to tune, the names of the four strings and different ways to strum. Singing and playing together is so much fun!
The topic for the Year 5 and 6 classes has been Music in the Movies. We have been learning about the purpose and use of sound effects and music in movies, music jobs in movies, composers who write music for movies, and the use of recognisable motifs. The challenge now is to compose music which matches a scene, changing such elements as the instrumentation, tempo, dynamics and
texture to create the most effective music for the scene.
Tracy Schache
Music Teacher
Secondary
Arabic
Year 10 class this term is focusing on the structure of Arabic sentences and paragraphs, and the cohesive links between them. It introduces learners to different Arabic cohesive devices, giving examples of their usage in sentences. These are some example connectors in Arabic language:
And: الواو used to link words, clauses, sentences and paragraphs. It is used within and between sentences,
While: as واو الحال starts the circumstantial Hal and is followed either by a nominal sentence or a verbal sentence, in addition to linking words, clauses and sentences, و can be used to link paragraphs and is often used to begin one. This is prevalent in media texts.
Then ثم Like ثم, و can be used to link two sentences.
After that: بعد ذلك Used to indicate that one action precedes another. In addition to the above additive conjunctions, there are other additive conjunctions that are used to link sentences and ideas. Like any other language, Arabic offers a range of additive conjunctions that have the same meaning. Next term we’ll be looking at Stylistic Expressions and Vocabulary.
Art
In term 3 we cover a large variety of topics in Visual Arts in all year levels. In this issue I wanted to feature Year 3 students’ works on Van Gogh’s Starry Night along with Year 12 student Nabila’s take on the inspirational artist’s eminent style:
“Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ inspired me to make my own, of an evening sky. Van Gogh’s unique and mesmerising technique are short brush strokes of different shades of hues with a few strokes of complementary colours that stand out. And his iconic giant swirls that make the painting seem like it was moving; timeless and beautiful. I had lots of fun experimenting and exploring Van Gogh’s techniques and the different vibrant colours. I also learnt that Van Gogh depicted an astronomical phenomenon in this painting: illuminated star dust, something that was only discovered in 2004.” Nabila Nurul Huda Mazwardi, Year 12
English
Greetings to all,
I hope you are having a wonderful day! Today, I would like to discuss about what the Year 9 Boys have been doing in English this year so far. At first, the Year 9’s read a book called Deadly, Unna? written by Phillip Gwynne. The boys completed an assignment regarding the book and its characters. Nowadays, we have been working on a new topic, RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic). RAFT is a writing strategy that helps students reflect on their role as a writer, the audience they will address, the varied formats for writing, and the topic they will be writing about. The class also read another book called The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins. After reading the book, the students answer questions regarding the chapters they read at home or in class. RAFT was an assignment connected to the book, as the students were to choose a character from the book and give a specific message to the targeted audience. We will continue reading The Hunger Games while discussing important themes in our society and the tropes of a Dystopian world.
Yours Sincerely,
9B.
Science
With the COVID restrictions having lifted, Year 12 Physics’ students enjoyed a full day of hands-on learning at the University of South Australia Mawson Lakes. Students applied their understanding of the theories of motion of charged particles in fields and the interference of light to several practical applications. They gathered data to test and prove theories and analyse procedures. Students also had the opportunity to tour the university’s computer science, engineering and postgraduate research departments giving them an idea of future avenues of study after their graduation.
PE
Term 3 has brought the return to a normal schooling experience in many ways, which to the delight of a lot of our students means sporting excursions! The first competition for the term sent our year 11/12 boys and girls to MARS Sporting Complex in Marden to compete in the state-wide inter-school Indoor Soccer competition.
Due to an unfortunate fixtures list, the teams could only play in 2 out of their 4 games, but Pinnacle were highly competitive throughout the day against strong Soccer schools such as Salisbury East and Glenunga. Highlights from the day were wonder goals from Zehra Yigiter and Omar Ahmed, plus further calm finishes from Hisham Hamada and Zakia Adam. Special mention to goalkeepers Ibad Ayaz and Hibba Al Daghestani, who made many excellent saves.
Mr. David Hannan
SRC
During the Islamic month of Dhul-Hijjah, Muslims around the world sacrifice an animal to reflect the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail, for the sake of Allah.Throughout this occasion, we should not forget the poor and needy in the world who experience Eid whilst they are suffering hunger and poverty due to conflict and natural disasters (Human Appeal, 2020).
Every year Pinnacle College holds a Qurban festival to raise awareness and hold a fundraiser for those who are less fortunate than us. The SRC, pastoral care and parents and friends committee organised different stalls on the day with teachers supervising. Various food stalls and activities, such as face painting and carnival games were a hit with students and adults alike.
Thank you to all the students, teachers and parents who came out to support the campaign. Overall the school raised $4900 which amounted to many wonderful Qurbans for those who are less fortunate. We could not do it without your support. So once again, thank you!