Pinnacle College eNewsletter

9 December 2021

Newsletter Articles

OUR MISSION, VISION AND VALUES

Our Mission

Our mission is to foster academic and creative excellence in a respectful and nurturing educational environment. We strive to support student wellbeing and provide meaningful learning experiences that develop socially responsible and resilient life-long learners. Through collaboration and leadership, our students will engage in, and contribute to the community, both locally and globally.

Our Vision

At Pinnacle College, we celebrate diversity and uniqueness in an innovative and inclusive learning environment. Our vision is to equip students with the confidence and skills to reach their potential and meet the challenges of the future as global citizens, leaders and innovators.

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Dear Parents/ Caregivers and Students,

Please see the final message from the Pinnacle College Executive Principal, Mr Deniz Yildirim below as he is leaving his position at the end of this year.

Dear all,

We have come to the end of the 2021 academic year at Pinnacle College. I congratulate all of you on your achievements throughout the year and thank you for your sincere efforts. Looking back on 2021 is a great pleasure for me, as I remember many wonderful memories and a strong, successful, and happy Pinnacle College family.

I felt my biggest appreciation towards our beloved students. Their enthusiasm brings energy and joy to our school, while their dedication and hard work makes us all very proud as they continue to reach many achievements every year.

Our teachers all have a huge role to play in this as they act as an important source of guidance and inspiration for their students. Throughout 2021, I have seen many examples of our teachers doing whatever is necessary to help their students reach their full potential.

With the end of the academic year also came many exciting events at Pinnacle College. The End of Year Ceremonies, Year 6 and 12 graduations, sport carnivals, festivals were amongst the highlights of the year. After weeks of preparation, students from F-5 presented the school community with a fantastic line-up of artworks and performances. The Graduation Ceremonies were memorable nights for our Year 6 and 12 graduates who have reached an important milestone in their life. I would like to thank the graduation committees for organising such nights to remember, worthy of the special place our graduates have in the Pinnacle College family.

Dear Graduates,

Congratulations to every single one of you for your achievements not only this year, but throughout your primary and secondary schooling life. I wish you all the best for your future endeavours and I strongly believe that every single one you have the potential of becoming very successful, contributing individuals.

I encourage our students to use the upcoming holiday as an opportunity to learn many new things. They should, of course, relax and spend valuable time with their family, but should also take some time to improve important skills such as reading and writing.

At the end of this academic year, I am sadly stepping down from my position at Pinnacle College to move back to Melbourne due to my family circumstances. As of the beginning of 2022, I will commence working as the principal of Sunshine Ibrahim Dellal Campus(IDC) - Sirius College.

Sirius College is a sister college and the IDC is currently serving students from F-10 and will be serving from F-12 as of 2022.

Mr. Mahmut Karaduman, who was the principal of Girls High School at Amity College in Sydney before he moved to Adelaide a few years ago, will fill my position. He also worked as a teacher and school principal at various schools in Tanzania, Uganda, and Russia between 1992-2008.

Our School Board and I are very confident that Mr. Karaduman will take Pinnacle College to new heights with his wealth of educational leadership experience.

Pinnacle College has an excellent reputation in the wider community. Our students have achieved great academic results over the years. I am sure that this trend will continue.

I can tell you that I will dearly miss my Pinnacle years.

Wishing all of the Pinnacle Family the best in the future and a wonderful holiday.

Keep up the good work!

Mr. Deniz Yildirim

Kind Regards,
Atilla Sinik
Campus Principal

Primary Coordinator (Golden Grove)

As we roll into the final weeks of 2021, I have reflected on the many exciting events our school has experienced. I am proud of our staff and student initiatives that showcase the academic, sporting and behavioural achievements and endeavours of all our students. Many times our school feels like one big community as we come together to enjoy each experience. Specifically, I think of our current Year 6s who I have had the pleasure of teaching for the last two years. They have continued to impress me time and again as they are all so different and celebrate the personalities of each other. I am excited to be a part of your Graduation, your excursion to celebrate your successes (and to let your hair down), your Award Ceremony, and to see you share these moments with your families. Congratulations on your successes so far and for the failures you have reflected on to mould you into the great people we know you to be. Good luck in high school!

Mr Myles McLean

Curriculum Coordinator

Dear Parents,

We have finally come to the end of the year. It has been a year of learning and discovery for our students. When you receive your child’s report, please go through with them the grades and encourage them to see the progress they have made. These holidays, I only ask that you encourage your child to read as many books as they can. The public libraries have a huge range of children’s books and this will ensure they are ahead in their reading comprehension and English. Often we find that when students return after a long break, their reading levels drop. Online websites, Literacy Planet, Mathseeds, Mathletics and Reading Eggs are available to you during the holidays. Please use them.

Thank you for your support and I want to wish you all a safe and happy holiday.

Kind Regards,
Shalini Moss

Library

We all had a fantastic time this year in the library. I would like to thank Tammy especially for all of her help through the year. I could not have run the library at Golden Grove Campus without her.

Just remember to read during the break. All the public libraries have a great selection of books and also they do run holiday activities. Check them out.

Here are a few ideas of reading with your younger children:

Take ten minutes every day to read aloud to your child.
Let your child choose the book.
Let your child see you read.

We had a competition with the year 4-5-6s on reading 10 books of different genres. We had 1 student complete this at Gilles Plains and 10 students complete it at Golden Grove.

Thanks and have fun and enjoy reading….

Kind Regards,
Ms Lisa Preston
Librarian at Golden Grove and Gilles Plains

MUSIC

This term sure has flown by! I am so proud of what your children have achieved in Music this year. What a pleasure it was also to see the End of Year Concert performances come together! I hope you experienced the same joy I did seeing the fabulous songs, dances and costumes. A massive “thank you” to all of the class teachers who invested their time and creativity into the concerts.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday break!

Mrs Sarah Hateley
Music Teacher

FOUNDATION – GOLDEN GROVE

WOW! What a busy term it has been! I can’t believe it is already over. Foundation students had the most amazing, hands-on learning experience at the Ice Arena exploring with snow and making snowballs. This allowed students to consolidate their Science understanding of temperature and how the choices of clothing we make depends on the weather. Students are very excited for their first End of Year concert and they can’t wait to show you their wonderful dance performance. I would like to thank all parents and families for your ongoing support this year and I hope you all enjoy a well-deserved, safe summer break :)

Kindest Regards,
Ms Daniella Di Cola

YEAR 1 – GOLDEN GROVE

The Year 1 students have been busy this term making sure they are ready for Year 2 next year. They loved the athletics program with Issac and rehearsing for the end of Year Concert. Our class is bursting with excitement to show you our performance. A major highlight this term has been buddies with Year 5. We have seen both year levels benefit from this experience. As the year draws to a close, thank you to the Year 1 parents for your support. I hope everyone has a lovely break and I will see you next year at some point.

Kindest Regards,
Ms Sarah Watkins

YEAR 2 - GOLDEN GROVE

The Year 2 students at Golden Grove have hopped, skipped and jumped to the end of Term 4. The students have participated in a range of exciting activities, including Little Athletics, and a Japanese Cultural Experience. They have been perfecting their singing and dancing skills in preparation for the End of Year Concert. We cannot wait to surprise you with our performance. As we conclude the 2021 academic year, I wish to thank all parents for their ongoing support. Have a safe and happy summer holiday.

Kindest Regards,
Ms Bianca Villani

YEAR 3 – GOLDEN GROVE

The Year 3 students have all put their best foot forward and reached the end of term 4 in style with an amazing performance at the End of Year Concert. They’ve been up to some wonderful activities this last month. In maths they’ve shown off their ability to read and create maps. They have undertaken a very interesting investigation into how different materials react to hot hot water, in their science learning. They have also created some wonderful models of sustainable energy sources and homes in their technology activities.

It has been an absolute pleasure working with this group in term 4. I hope they all enjoy a well earned summer break. Best of luck for next year.

Warmest regards,
Mr Peter Sowerbutts

YEAR 4 – GOLDEN GROVE

Farewell families! We finished off the term with an excursion to AFL Max and the Broadway Spectacular! I am very proud of the Year 4 students. Thank you all for your support this year as the Year 4 teacher, it has been a pleasure to teach your children this year.

Kindest regards,
Miss Jessica Tripodi

YEAR 5 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Wow! This year has flown by so quickly! All our students have achieved many academic, social and wellbeing goals and I am beyond proud of them.

In Week 7 our students enjoyed their trip to the Adelaide Zoo for our science excursion and this week they did an outstanding performance at our End of Year Concert (Broadway Spectacular!) – they danced to the song ‘A Million Dreams’ from the movie, The Greatest Showman. Over the holidays, please ensure students complete tasks on Mathletics, Literacy Planet, and daily reading/comprehension activities.

I wish you all a safe, relaxing and blessed holiday.

Kind Regards,
Miss Sawafta Natasha

YEAR 6 – GOLDEN GROVE

We have recently completed our poetry unit and students have come so far in their learning of how to analyse writing, some examples even being above their expected year level standard. Students also expressed their thoughts and points of view on topics in the debating process. It still amazes me how confident and animated our cohort is! As we often practice our Graduation dance in our classroom and lack some space, we often put our classroom outside until we have finished our practice for the lesson. Below are some photos of the students having fun with a situation and learning in the open air and under the blue sky.

Kind Regards,
Mr Myles McLean

YEAR 7– GOLDEN GROVE

Northern Zone Ultimate Frisbee

Several of the year 7s and some of the year 8, 9 and 10’s participated in the Ultimate Frisbee competition at the Heights school on Friday, week 4. Mashier and Basira were excellent participants and Farah and Amal did an amazing job coaching. Well done girls!

Miss Molly Affolter

Year 7 students participated in the Beach house science excursion, it was an engaging educational and fun way of learning about forces, and compound machines.

Mrs Ayse Aslan

YEAR 8 – GOLDEN GROVE

Northern Zone 8/9 Beach Soccer

On Friday 5th November, several of our year 8’s took part in the beach soccer carnival at Mawson Lakes. We beat Paralowie (3-0) and Gawler (3-2). Congratulations girls! Goal scorers were; Eleina (6), Nazanin (2), Nada A (1) and Shahd (1). Nazanin It was perfect weather and the girls had a lot of fun.

Coastal Management Excursion

In week 5 the year 8s students attended multiple beaches for their coastal management unit for humanities. The girls enjoyed exploring the beaches.

Kind regards,
Miss Molly Affolter

YEAR 9 – GOLDEN GROVE

The Tarnanthi Exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia was a fun experience and I would definitely visit again. Each artwork told a different story which I personally found fascinating as they held the ability to paint out their emotions and experiences onto a blank canvas. The art pieces were very meaningful and showed the artist's emotions through a variety of layers, colours and design. You were able to tell that they were passionate about displaying the work of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. I liked how they gave you the opportunity to create your own artwork by providing you a work space in an environment that motivated you. This exhibition opened my eyes to many different aspects of art styles and art forms as well as allowing myself to see from the perspective of the artist.

- Zainab Ali

Kind regards,
Miss Mungall
Year 9 Creative Digital Media

YEAR 10 – GOLDEN GROVE

In week 8, the year 9 and 10 students went to the Tree Climb on Greenhill Road to celebrate the year and send off our year 10s. The girls showed bravery and amazing encouragement throughout the challenging climbs. A great day was had but all! Well done girls!

Kind regards,
Miss Molly Affolter
Year 10 Teacher

PASTORAL CARE – GOLDEN GROVE

The year 2021 comes to an end in a week, it is time to say good bye and good luck to our year 10 girls. The PC department organised a farewell event which was a sweet ending to a new beginning for them.year7-10 students and teachers attended the night to say farewell to our girls. We will deeply miss them and wish best of luck.

Also a huge shout out to GG year 10 peer leaders and year 4 students in making the peer support program a complete success. our program ended with iceskating excursion, Since 2020 semester 2, they worked through a program of activities which involved developing skills in resilience, decision making, moral values and problem solving. Well done year 10 peer leaders! You did a great job.

Regards,
Pastoral Care Department

Regards,
Mrs Nesibe Sezen

LOTE - Arabic - GOLDEN GROVE

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

The 2021 academic year has been an incredible one. The students should be proud of themselves for showing resilience and strength throughout the year. The year 5/6 advance Arabic had an Arabic speaking project. Students have been making collaborative decisions and arrangements using expressions for counting, ordering and organising ideas. Well done for everyone. Keep going and be aware even the greatest were beginners. Don’t be afraid to take that first step.

Kind Regards
Mrs Soheir Habib

FOUNDATION – GILLES PLAINS

We’ve had the scary times, we’ve had the ‘let's work hard’ times and now we have come to the fun times, where we can reflect on the wonderful first year of school that has been. Students had a ball at our recent Ice Arena excursion and have done a wonderful job at writing their stories. Now we are preparing for our first End of Year School Concert, which students are super excited about. Thank you parents for all your support throughout the year.

Kind Regards
Ms Victoria Makowiak

YEAR 1 – GILLES PLAINS

It's hard to believe that we have come to the end of the academic year already, but here we are! Year 1 has had an exciting and very busy term. We enjoyed rehearsing and performing for the end of year concert and had the best time making bliss balls with Jess from Cook 'n' Create. Getting our hands sticky and chocolatey was just the best! Thank you Year 1 parents for your tremendous support this year and have a safe and happy break.

Warm regards
Mrs Sandra Holland

YEAR 2 – GILLES PLAINS

This term we have been practicing and preparing for the end of year concert as well as making some amazing 3D models in class. The students created a 3D model of the water cycle and created Aboriginal Artefacts. We have had so much fun this year and I would like to thank all parents for their ongoing support.

Warm regards
Mrs Eleni Rocca

YEAR 3 – GILLES PLAINS

Dear Families,

It has been an absolute pleasure teaching and getting to know your child this year. Together we have laughed, played and worked hard. It has been a privilege witnessing their successes both inside and outside of the classroom. I want to thank you for all the support, kindness and gratitude you have shown me as your child’s teacher this year! Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday break.

Kind Regards,
Miss Kerry Apergis

YEAR 4 – GILLES PLAINS

Dear Families,

The Year 4s have had a highly enjoyable end to the school year, partaking in a fun-filled excursion to AFL Max. We completed multiple fitness challenges at the venue, refining our coordination and gross motor skills while working in teams. It was definitely one of the highlights of 2021, a year that has been filled with many positive achievements. I look forward to seeing what my amazing students will achieve next year!

Kind Regards,
Ms Mubarak Ashimajy

YEAR 5 – GILLES PLAINS

It has been a wonderful term, filled with lots of creative poems and songs. Students have written some fabulous poems and many have attempted to include poetic devices. I am so proud of them.

We have also concluded our Maths lessons on transformations and BODMAS. Some students still need help identifying transformations. Please use the time wisely during the holidays to encourage them to read widely and to complete Mathletics and Literacy Planet tasks.

Have a lovely break and enjoy the holidays.

Regards,
Shalini Moss

As most of you are probably aware, I am leaving Pinnacle College at the end of this year as my family has made the decision to return to Queensland in order to live closer to our extended family. I am very sad to be leaving Pinnacle College and would like to thank all students and parents who have supported me during my time here - I will miss you! I wish everyone the best of luck with their future endeavours and a safe and happy holiday.

Kind regards,
Nicole Scriven.