11 March 2022

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, Friends and Students,

Welcome to our first edition of our Pinnacle Newsletter in 2022. I am hoping we will have a great year with our students, staff and parents this year InshaAllah.

I would like to welcome our new parents who joined the Pinnacle family this year whether as a Foundation parent or in other year levels. Traditionally, we have our Welcoming BBQ to meet with the parents of new students; however, as you would also expect, we had to cancel this program, due to the pandemic. We will seek other alternatives to compensate for the loss of this wonderful event throughout the year.

We were able to offer the Miniroos Soccer program to our upper primary students this year. The students are enjoying their training in the oval with their coach. The program is currently planned to run until the end of term 1. Our intention is to continue this program free as long as we secure the grant for the next rounds.

The new GP play area will be available for our students’ use very soon. The new fence will surround the new land, to give our students a safe play zone that they can enjoy with their friends.

A new shade structure will be installed in the new building area in Term 2, to provide extra shade for our students when they have their recess and lunch break. PE classes will also benefit from this new shade structure. We are very grateful to the state government for providing the grant for this structure.

I would like to also remind you that you can contact me at atilla.sinik@pinnacle.sa.edu.au or by booking a face to face meeting via the front office. Please do not hesitate to bring up any issues throughout the year, no matter how small, so that we can work it out, when the matter is easy to resolve. Also, please forward any feedback which you may have, which will contribute to any improvement for us and eventually for our community. We are very keen to hear your positive feedback as well:)

Stay safe and stay well.
Kind Regards,
Mr Atilla Sinik
Campus Principal

PRIMARY COORDINATOR

Dear students, Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome to a new school year at Pinnacle College. I am really pleased and honoured to have this opportunity to be the Primary Coordinator of the Gilles Plains Campus. Thank you to all the students, our warm staff and supportive parents, who are helping me come up to speed in my new role.

I am excited about this new challenge and I encourage parents to reach out to me, whenever you need. Please do not wait until our Parent Teacher Interviews with your questions or concerns regarding your child.

I am looking forward to working with all the members of our school community, with the intentions of great outcomes for our students, our school and wider community.

Welcome to Pinnacle, 2022!

Kind Regards,
Ola Abdelmonem

JUNIOR PRIMARY CURRICULUM COORDINATOR

For those parents who do not know me, My name is Mrs Vokolos and I have been teaching at Pinnacle College for the past 8 years. I have worked at all three campuses and this year I am based at Golden Grove Campus. Part of my role is to ensure the correct curriculum and programs are delivered, working closely with all Junior Primary teachers and visiting students during learning time at Gilles Plains Campus.

The beginning of our 2022 school year has been quite different from previous years. It has been a challenge for some, however our students have risen to the occasion once again and have returned to face-to-face teaching with such positive energy. I would like to thank students and parents who have responded with great flexibility and understanding. We are very grateful for your support!

Our Reception and Year 1 students enjoyed having most of the school to themselves as they settled into their new learning environment. We have enjoyed welcoming our new Foundation students and loved meeting all our new parents. Staff have watched our youngest students navigate their first weeks of learning and they have all embraced their daily routines with increasing confidence. I am looking forward to watching our Foundation students grow and flourish in the years ahead.

Having your MYSIS login details will give you access to your child’s learning progress. This is a great way to know assessment dates, assessment types and results. If you have any questions in regards to MYSIS, please see your child’s teacher.

Tips for Junior Primary Parents:

Improving your child’s Pencil Grip

The most efficient way to hold a pencil is the dynamic tripod grasp (similar to that in the image below) where the pencil is positioned between the thumb and index finger with the pencil resting on the middle finger.

If your child needs support with using the correct pencil grip, fine motor activities can help them develop the skills they need to hold their pencil functionally, and write more easily. You can also purchase pencil grips (example below) to strengthen their grip.

Fine Motor Strength

Children need strong hands and fingers for a whole range of day to day activities for school and play. As well as enabling functional pencil grip, strong wrists, hands and fingers helps children write with endurance and fluency.

Some great exercises to help build your child’s fine motor strength include:

Paper Crumpling: Have your child crumple up sheets of newspaper or scrap paper into the smallest, tightest ball possible. Increase the challenge by only letting them use one hand to crumple the paper.

Playing with play-dough:

• Make a spider or octopus by having your child first roll the play dough into a ball, flatten it, and then pinch out eight legs using their pincer fingers (thumb and index finger),
• Make spaghetti by having them pull off small pieces of play dough and roll them into long ‘noodles’,
• Making animals or objects using the play dough.

I look forward to witnessing all the students’ positive successes throughout the year.

Kind Regards,
Maria Vokolos

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT DEPARTMENT

Dear parents,

As a community engagement department, we would like to continue our programs with your valuable support. Hopefully we’ll start our activities with class afternoon teas in the following weeks, which is a great opportunity to get to know each other as parents of the students who have been sharing the same classroom setting for many years.

We would like to thank our P&F members for joining us for a catch-up coffee at a local cafe.

Special thanks to the families who shared the beautiful grounds of Glen Ewin Estate, for a fig picking activity with us last Sunday.

We look forward to your continued support!

Regards,
Serap Sinik

LIBRARY

Welcome to the library in 2022. There will be lots of exciting events in the library this year. The Premiers Reading Challenge is starting again. The forms will be kept in the classroom, so they don’t get lost or crumbled. Students only need to read 12 books to complete the PRC. We are hoping to have a prize for the 1st class (years 3-6) to completely finish the challenge. Please encourage your children to read any books and add to their PRC form in their classroom. The year 5-6s are volunteering for Library Monitors. There will be a Book Cup competition where the year 5 and 6s will read 5 books and compete in a quiz style competition.

We all need to remember to take care of our books, so they will last. Please do not have books around food, drink or pets. Please do not take books out into the weather. But the most important thing is to return your library books to the library. We still have quite a few books overdue from last year.

A reminder if your student has ANY overdue books (including overdue books from 2021) they are NOT allowed to borrow ANY books from the library until all books have been returned or paid for.

Keep reading,
Mrs Lisa Preston

SCHOOL EVENTS & SRC

Welcome to Term 1! My name is Mrs Sandra Holland and I am the Events and SRC Coordinator for Gilles Plains. My student leadership team and I certainly enjoy planning events for our school community and also organising fundraising events to help those less fortunate.

Firstly, I would like to thank the student leaders of 2021 who were a fantastic team last year. Your support and sense of school community were much appreciated.

Now, it is now my pleasure to introduce the new student leadership team for 2022:

School Captain: Maria Javed
School Vice-Captain: Laiba Fahim

Angas Eagles House Captain: Yousuf Niyazi
Angas Eagles House Vice-Captain: Rauzat Nawar
Finnis Dinosaurs House Captain: Samer Nabipour
Finnis Dinosaurs House Vice-Captain: Maysa Arkawazi
Gilbert Sharks House Captain: Shanum Tai
Gilbert Sharks House Vice-Captain: Hunain Memon
Torrens Dragons House Captain: Shubbar Shabbar
Torrens Dragons House Vice-Captain: Haroon Mehman

Student Representative Council (SRC) Members:

Foundation: Noah Quazi and Simona Reshani Islam
Year 1: Abrahim Turay and Rukaiya Adubumilike
Year 2: Emad Arkawazi and Hafsa Elfayoumi
Year 3: Umer Alfarooq and Aaizah Najeeb
Year 4: Imran Ghalip and Alisha Faisal
Year 5: Salima Anwar and Masangay Swaray
Year 6: Maalik Abdulaziz and Ula Al-Hadad

Congratulations to all our elected students and I look forward to working with you all.

Finally, here is the list of student events and dates to remember for Term 1.

I look forward to all our events this term and please don’t hesitate to contact me at sandra.holland@pinnacle.sa.edu.au if you have any questions about events or the student leadership team.

FOUNDATION

Dear Families,

I would like to thank you and your children for a wonderful start to the 2022 school year! My name is Miss Kiya Norris, and I will be your child’s teacher this year. The first few weeks have been full of exciting learning experiences, establishing routines, and developing lifelong friendships. I am excited for the year ahead, as your children are already showing such enthusiasm and motivation towards learning.

Thank you for your continued support.

Kind Regards
Ms Kiya Norris

YEAR 1

Dear Parents,

Welcome to the start of Fun in Year 1! My name is Ms M (Ms Mackowiak), and I will be your child’s teacher for this year. I would like to welcome the following new students and their families to our class and school community: Eshaal Farhan, Shanzay Raheel, Ibrahim Kadiyawala, Abdullah Ansari and Rafay Khattak. I hope that you are enjoying Year 1 so far. Our class has made a solid start this term with their learning and I hope that this wonderful momentum will continue, as the term goes on. Thank you parents for your support thus far.

Kind regards,
Mrs Victoria Mackowiak

YEAR 2

Welcome to the 2022 academic year. Even though it was a bumpy start I am so amazed at the resilience and perseverance of the wonderful Year 2 students. I would like to welcome Hafsa and Rahart to the class this year. It has been a pleasure to have them join the class and they have fit in beautifully. Students enjoyed creating sloths to hang out in the classroom and completing some creative writing tasks.

Mrs Sandra Holland

YEAR 3

Welcome to Year 3! My name is Miss Kerry Apergis and I am so delighted to be your child’s teacher this year. Despite the rocky start to the new academic year, the Year 3 students have quickly settled back into face-to-face learning. I would like to sincerely thank you, the parents, for supporting your child/ren over the home learning period. I am feeling very blessed to have another wonderful class this year and we have already created some wonderful memories together. I am excited to get to know you and your child/ren and I look forward to being a part of their learning journey in year 3!

Kind regards,
Miss Kerry Apergis

YEAR 4

Welcome to a new year! We have started the year on a positive note. The students have shown me they are hardworking and have very high goals for themselves. We welcome Manha and Alisha to our school and class this year. They have settled in well.

For English, students are gathering facts about their favorite farm animal in line with Charlotte’s Web, the class novel. In Maths, they are completing mental addition and subtraction. The photos show the students’ science experiment on growth of a plant.

I look forward to the year with the Year 4s.

Kind regards,
Shalini Moss

YEAR 5

Welcome to a new year at Pinnacle College! My name is Miss Mubarak and I will be the Year 5 teacher in 2022. This year has already started on a positive note, with our lovely students featured on BTN (you can watch us at the 10-minute mark of ‘BTN Classroom Episode 4, 2022’). I’m sure this year will be filled with many more memorable events and I look forward to sharing these experiences with you.

Kind regards,
Ms Mubarak Ashimajy

YEAR 6

Welcome to 2022 and to what should be a wonderful year of learning and growth in our Year 6 classroom. My name is Peter Sowerbutts (students call me Mr S), and this is my first time teaching my own class at the Gilles Plains Campus, after previously being a PE teacher here and a classroom teacher at the Golden Grove Campus last year. A special welcome to our newest students joining us for the first time in 2022, Maalik and Zunairah, who have both fit in really well from our first day back in the classroom. Despite the delay to the start of face to face learning, Term 1 has started off with some excellent learning and will hopefully progress into a very successful term. I look forward to meeting more of you throughout the year. Thank you for your support.

Kind regards,
Mr Peter Sowerbutts

MUSIC

Welcome to Music for 2022! It’s good to finally be back with hands-on, face-to-face learning. Although each year level is doing something different in their Music lessons this term, we are building on our musical knowledge from last year. Some of the topics being covered by Years F-6 are learning to play particular instruments; use treble clef notation skills; to craft our own instruments; and to digitally compose our own music. It brings me great joy to watch our students gain confidence in their ability to read, write and play music.

Mrs Sarah Hateley
Music Teacher

LOTE - Arabic

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

Dear Parents/Caregivers:

A warm welcome back everyone, to 2022 year.

Over our first five weeks ‘of Term 1 we ran different activities aiming at reviewing and developing the reading fluency, comprehension, listening, speaking and writing Arabic skills of our children.

For Year 1 students, we started introducing the Arabic alphabet with short sounds.

We appreciate parents’ efforts and their cooperation in helping us build and strengthen our children’s connection with the Arabic language.

Warm regards
Mrs Ola Abdelmonem

LOTE - Turkish

Merhaba / Hello

In Turkish, we have been learning about the Turkish alphabet and greetings. Our students are practicing on introduction dialogues, to enhance their vocabulary and speaking skills. Using their work book, they practice their writing and reading skills.

I am sure that it will be a great learning experience for them.

Warm regards
Mr Ahmet Sonmez

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