Principal’s Message

Dear Parents and Students,

We have had a very prosperous start this term with the grand opening of our refurbished gymnasium. Dramatic renovations have resulted in remarkable changes such as timber flooring, new change rooms, a fitness room, new heating and cooling systems and echo blockings on the walls. The investment was well worth it, our students are very engaged by the space and their feedback has been very positive. We have new projects and buildings in the pipeline. More information is on its way.

We would like to congratulate our student Reem El Daouk, who won the Coles Community Bag Design Competition late last year. In total, around 1000 entries participated in the competition and we’re thrilled with the quality and range of the submissions. We are delighted to inform our community with the news. Reem’s winning bag will feature on a Community Bag to be sold at Coles over the next six months. The range of Community Bags will be sold at Coles and will help to raise funds for four different community organisations and I’m pleased to say that the sales of the Community Bags designed by Reem will help to raise funds for Clean Up Australia. In recognition of my student’s fabulous achievement by Coles, Sirius College will receive a $5,000 cheque to allocate to a sustainability project and Reem will receive a $500 gift card. Good on you, Reem. You’ve made us very proud.

On the 25th of April, our students attended the ANZAC Day Ceremony held at the Shrine of Remembrance. On the previous day, students organised 2,000 rosemary sprigs for the program. I would like to send a special thank you to Mrs Gordana Janev for her great efforts in such a limited time. Thank you to the other staff members and students for their contribution. The program was an excellent chance for students and staff to reflect and remember those who fought for our country, Australia and also who fought for their respective countries. This was not a hate war. Turkish people never saw Australians as an enemy however destiny took its part. During the war, an eternal friendship emerged between Turks and Australians. Therefore I would like to remind our community of Ataturk’s message in 1934, “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now laying in the soil of a friendly country. Rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and Mehmets. They lie side by side here in this country of ours. Now they are our sons as well”.

I would like to congratulate the farming students for their project based learning. One of the project aims is to connect farming with other subjects by selling farm products and handling money (Business Management). They are now working with year 12 students. Students have already started selling their products and in doing so are supporting the Year 12 Pastoral Care Well Project, already making more than $500. Please support our students by buying fresh products every Friday after school. There is a variety of vegetables as well as eggs. Good on you, girls.

Term 2 is proving to be a very busy term. We have NAPLAN and mid-year semester exams. NAPLAN exam is organised by the government as a standardised assessment. It measures students’ academic levels. It is important for us to learn our students’ levels and develop strategies to further assist them. All students are expected to be at school on the 15th, 16th and 17th of May.

During week 3 we held parent teacher interviews. Interviews are 5 minute meetings. This being the case, we have received feedback that some meetings went overtime which resulted in organised meetings being cancelled. We encourage parents to remind teachers about their appointment time. These meetings are only 5 minutes, but that does not mean that you cannot see the teacher again. Parents are welcome to make appointments with teachers to talk about their child’s progress in detail at other times as well. Please organise your appointment with your teachers.

Lastly, I would like to congratulate my lovely Year 10 and 11 Science Challenge students and their teachers Jamie Astill and Sumaia El-Sayed on their efforts in preparation for the Genius Olympiads in USA. Students have studied during school and the holidays. Their efforts are not going unnoticed. New York City awaits you; our hearts are with you. Good luck!

I would like to finish with a quote from Aristotle.

“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet”