Well done to all students who received awards for collecting Green Cards so far, and for those who have received a 'Student of the Week' badge, for displaying behaviour coinciding with our school values. 

Photos from Monday Assembly:

Science Competition Winners and Participants:

MultiLit Participation Certificates:

Students of the Week!

Kindergarten - Umar Umarov

Year 1 - Ibrahim Halabi

Year 2 - Zara Ergun

Year 3 - Burak Kale

Year 4 - Lale Kara

Year 5 - Hale Caliskan

Year 6 - Sena Ergun

Students from Years 2 to 6 participated in the Turkish General Knowledge Competition held at the school. Years 4, 5 and 6 had a chance to compete against each other, followed by Years 2 and 3. Questions included topics around Turkey’s culture, history and geography. Students were excited and supported their team by cheering them on.

The competition winners were given prizes and rewarded with donuts to share with their class. Well done to all participants!

Maarif students are continuing with their ScopeIT lessons on a weekly basis. ScopeIT Education instructors have awarded Scoper Star Awards to students from each class. Well Done students!

To celebrate the end of Term 2, all students were invited to wear their pyjamas to school. Our Student School Leadership Team decided watching a movie in their pyjamas together with having popcorn would be fun, so we agreed! They all had a fun filled last day of term.

In Term 2, My Hoops Basketball conducted weekly basketball lessons for Maarif students as part of their Physical Education Program. Students learnt the importance of communicating with classmates as they worked in teams. My Hoops t-shirts were given out to the Best Listeners as judged by the coach. All students were given a My Hoops Basketball 'School Sports' certificate for their participation.

Here are some photos with the Coach Bruce Bolden (American former professional basketball player).

Different Materials

As part of our science topic “Material World”, Kindergarten have been discussing the different materials around us. We have identified things that are made from wood, wool, fabric, plastic, glass, and cardboard.

Students were given the opportunity to make an animal made from one of the above materials. They did a fantastic job! This was followed by delivering a speech to the class explaining what material they had used to make their animal, well done students!

Mrs Ulku Turkmen

Kindergarten Teacher

Will you count me in? 3....2....1 

Year 1 in Creative Arts have been learning about dance and the movement of our bodies. Students enjoyed learning about the different locomotor and non-locomotor movements of our body. In groups they created a 15-step dance and performed it to the class. Year 1 learnt the importance of creation, performing and appreciation of dance. Well done year 1 on your amazing group work and participation in this unit of work!

Year 1 Teacher

Chairs please come back!

The year 2 chairs went on strike and left a letter for our students. This was to hook student’s attention and get them excited about writing a persuasive letter and it really worked. Year 2 students all wrote a letter to the chairs asking them to come back.

Material World

In science this term Year 2 have been learning about how materials are used for a purpose. As part of this unit Year 2 have been designing their own products and testing them out. Here are some pictures of the products they have been making.

Mrs Dilek Isanc

Year 2 Teacher

My Hoops

Students have thoroughly enjoyed learning essential basketball skills and drills during our Physical Education lessons this term delivered by My Hoops. Each week, students were challenged with new and exciting activities to help develop their dribbling, passing and shooting skills. It was wonderful to see Year 3 working as a team during games while encouraging and motivating one another to try their best.

Ms Amel Mehana

Year 3 Teacher

Drama Time!

Students of Year 4 have great acting skills and they demonstrated that in their drama lesson last week where they constructed their own script along with their group members and performed in class. It was entertaining and interesting to see variety of acts.

I like to move it move it!!

Students were engaged in dance activity for Creative arts where they follow the steps as per shown to them. They were really enjoying the session.

Scope It!

In Science and Technology, students are gaining knowledge about coding using the program Scratch. They are learning different skills on how to code and broadcast the message across different characters. The students really enjoy these sessions and look forward to attend every week.

Mrs Samira Asad

Year 4 Teacher

Migration in Australia

Throughout the term, Year 5 students have been engaging in History and English lessons to learn about migration in Australia beyond the colonial era. Fortunately, Maarif students come from such culturally diverse backgrounds and were able to make many impactful connections. Students interviewed a family member of their migration story to Australia, learned about the policies in Australia enabling them to write an exposition supporting the continued migration and wrote a catalogue poem to highlight the opportunities and wonders in Australia. The final touch of their major work over the term was to create a ‘suitcase’ with photos of sentimental items they would take if they had to flee their country. This term’s work has given the students the opportunity to truly discover their own cultures, the heartfelt stories of their family’s journey to Australia and to showcase their own connection to Australia as the place they call home. Students had the opportunity to invite Mr Uzun and Dr Yaseen to view their work; this was a proud moment for Year 5.

Mrs Olivia Peach

Year 5 Teacher

Location Location!

Year 6’s have been on full swing moving on to the final week of the term! It has been an enjoyable term of learning and getting to know each other and we cannot wait for term 3 already!

This week, we decided to challenge ourselves with the concept of compass directions by utilising online learning tools. Students interacted with each other and used higher order thinking to solve and identify particular locations on the screen by utilising compass directions. Here are some images of students learning through interactive online tools!

Students have been studying Australia as a Nation for history this term and the way in which it has developed over time. We focused on migration stories in particular to help us understand how individuals migrated to Australia and the reason as to why. For this, students were requested to prepare migration stories to present during class time. With a lot of interest in their history, students interviewed migrant family members taking physical, emotional and cultural aspects into consideration and prepared a wonderful and emotional speech on their migration stories where we were informed about the different ways and reasons families moved to Australia. Here are some images of students presenting their migration stories after interviewing families:

A big congratulations to the following students this week for receiving awards:

Bronze award:

• Isaac Akdas

Gold award:

• Busra Ciyim

Miss Asli Arici

Year 6 Teacher

For Years Kindergarten, Year 3, Year 5 and Year 6

Kindergarten

Kindergarten students learnt the different types of shapes with the help of their 'shapes book'. They explained the shapes of some classroom items and made a colourful turtle as an art & craft activity.

Year 5

Year 5 students prepared Powerpoint presentations about their holiday plans and presented them to their peers. They made sentences about what they are planning to do during the summer holidays. Some students used their own photos from their previous holidays.

Year 6

Year 6 students prepared Powerpoint presentations about their daily activities using adverbs of frequency to describe how frequently they do the activities.

Mrs Şeyma Akdemir

Turkish Teacher

For Years Year 1, Year 2 and Year 4

Year 1

Last week in Year 1 we talked about our daily life. They also learned to say everything they like and dislike in Turkish. They did writing exercises with small whiteboards and increased their Turkish interaction by doing lots of drama activities in the classroom.

Year 2

We did a ‘Year 2 weather presentation’ drama. How is the weather in Australia and Turkey? How to talk about the weather? What do we do according to the weather? We learned the answers to the questions. We had a chance to sing songs and nursery rhymes. We also talked about healthy and unhealthy foods and played games.

Year 4

Year 4 learned general information about Turkey last week and made preparations for the Turkish competition. They also improved their Turkish reading and writing proficiency by completing their studies in Turkish books. Groups of Year 4 students performed their own scenario scripts.

Miss Esra Pamuk

Turkish Teacher

Kindergarten

Kindergarten have learnt the meaning of being patient, and that we as Muslims should be patient all the time. They had a chance to practice their Arabic Letters and also learnt to be patient while playing the "Arabic Letters memory game". They also played Arabic Letters playdough on the last day of term. They had lots of fun trying to make all the letters they learnt out of playdough. 

Memory game:

Arabic Letters Playdough:

Year 2

Year 2 students revised all the surahs and duas they have learnt since starting at Maarif. Mashallah the students were able to remember them all. Please keep listening to the surahs so your children don’t forget them over time.

Year 2 also played an activiy where they had to guess the correct 'Islamic Phrase'. I provided a senario on the smartboard, for example "what do you say before you eat?", and the students had to hold up the card with the correct Islamic phrase. Below are some photos from this group activity.

Year 3

Being the end of the term, students had the chance to revise all the surahs they have memorised thus far. It would be sad to see them forget what they have learnt, so if your child has not started praying salah, I would highly recommend that parents encourage their children to start these school holidays. This allows your child to repeat these surahs more often.

Students have also learnt many things Allah wants us to do such as, respecting parents, being good to relatives and neighbours, being truthful and not laughing at others. Some students had a chance to explain to their class something Allah wants us to do with an example of how this can be done. Well done students!

Wishing everyone a safe and healthy holiday break inshallah.

Ms Gulcan Aksu

Islamic Studies Teacher (Years K, 2 and 3)

Year 5 & 6

Dear parents,

Year 5 and Year 6 had their excursion to Gallipoli Auburn Mosque on Tuesday 15 June 2021 with Mrs Reyhan, Ms Mohammed and Miss Aksu.

The students were very excited about the visit. First they had their lunch in the hall then had a tour with Mr Ergun the tour guide. They learnt about the history of the Mosque and benefited from the talk that was delivered by Mr Ergun.

The students had a chance to go inside the Mosque to look around and pray Duhur prayer. The students really enjoyed the visit.

Have a safe and good Holiday.

Ms B. Mohammed

Islamic Studies Teacher (Years 1 ,4, 5 and 6)

School Fees

A reminder to Parents and Carers that Maarif is a private school and the contributions made provide opportunities for students to participate in a variety of different learning experiences. It is a requirement of a student’s enrolment that school fees are paid by Parents/Carers and failure to pay fees may result in the student’s enrolment being withdrawn. Scholarships are available to families who are suffering financial hardship and we encourage all Parents/Carers to apply for scholarships if they are struggling to pay school fees.

Children learn and develop best when they have strong, loving, positive relationships with Parents and other Carers.

That’s because positive relationships with parents and carers help children learn about the world – whether the world is safe and secure, whether they’re loved, who loves them, what happens when they cry, laugh or make a face, and much more.

You can build a positive relationship with your child by:

• being in the moment with your child
• spending quality time with your child
• creating a caring environment of trust and respect.

There’s no formula for getting your parent-child relationship right. But if your relationship with your child is built on warm, loving and responsive interactions most of the time, your child will feel loved and secure.

Being in the moment: how it supports positive parent-child relationships

Being in the moment is about tuning in and thinking about what’s going on with your child. It shows your child that you care about the things that matter to them, which is the basis for a strong relationship.

Here are some ideas for being in the moment with your child:

• Show acceptance, let your child be, and try not to give directions all the time. If your child wants to pretend the building blocks are people, that’s OK. You don’t have to get your child to use them the ‘right’ way.
• Notice what your child is doing and comment on or encourage it without judgment. For example, ‘Are the big blue blocks the shopkeepers? And is the little red block going shopping?’
• Listen to your child and try to tune in to your child’s real feelings. For example, if your child is telling you a long story about lots of things that happened during the day, they might really be saying that they like the new teacher or that they’re in a good mood.
• Stop and think about what your child’s behaviour is telling you. For example, if your teenage child is hanging around in the kitchen but not talking much, they might just want to be close to you. You could offer a hug or let them help with the cooking, without needing to talk.

Part of being in the moment with your child is giving your child opportunities to take the lead. For example:

• Let your child lead play. By watching your child and responding to what your child says or does. This is great for younger children.
• Support your child’s ideas. For example, if your older child decides to plan a family meal, why not say yes?
• When your child expresses an opinion, you could use the conversation as a way to learn more about your child’s thoughts and feelings, even if they’re different from yours.

(Acknowledgement: raisingchildren.net.au 2021)

On behalf of Maarif, we would like to wish our students a very Happy Birthday who have celebrated their birthday during the month of June.

Happy Birthday to Students:

Berkay Dogru

Ibrahim Karaca

Musa Aydiniz

Elif Kale

Yavuz Caliskan

Rukiye Akdogan

Cinar Hasgul

Zeynep Demiryurek

Taha Aslan

Atakan  Birer

Evren Ozturk

Adem Lok

Aliya Ozbaglar

Mansur Uzun

On behalf of Maarif Staff we would will like to wish our students and families a safe and happy holiday break.

We hope to see students back to school on Tuesday, 13 July 2021.