International Maarif Schools of Australia eNewsletter

Dear Maarif Families,

Welcome to the new school year! While 2022 has started a little nervously, here at Maarif we are excited and eager to get into learning.

Teachers are well rested, prepared and raring to go for another busy year. This year we warmly welcome a number of new staff into the Maarif family. I am sure that our parents and children will make them feel welcome and understand what makes our school community a special one. Welcome to Mrs Adeba Qasim (High School Coordinator), Mrs Maryam Faisal (Kindergarten), Mrs Ayse Yildiz (Year 2), Ms Kianna Kianian (English/HSIE Teacher), Mr Rojier Eliah (Math/Science Teacher), Ms Emma Morgan (Music and Visual Arts Teacher), Ms Zeinab Youssef (PDHPE teacher), Dr Neriman Coskun (High School Turkish Teacher), Mr Muhammad Ordukaya (Religious Studies Teacher). I also congratulate Mrs Reyhan Er for her promotion from Head of Curriculum to Primary School Coordinator.

One of the great things about a new year is the opportunity of a fresh start. We set goals for ourselves and how we want the year to be. Throughout this year our children will be delving into the values of our school and we welcome your stories, reflections, photos and experiences of school life at Maarif.

Thank you to the families who completed the parent survey at the end of last year. We wish to remind parents that at any time we are available for questions about your child’s learning and progress. So please do not hesitate to email, ring or talk to us to set up a time to come and have a chat with or without your child(ren) present.

At Maarif our main communication channels to parents are: Fourtnightly Newsletter, Sentral Parent Portal, School Facebook Page. Our newsletter, which is the main source of communication with our community, is emailed to our parents and distributed via the channels stated above. Don’t forget to make sure that you have the SENTRAL PARENT PORTAL app on your phone, and that it is active and functioning. If you have any issues please email Admin at admin@maarif.nsw.edu.au. It is the responsibility of parents to read any notes or communications and refer back to them when you have questions. Our staff are often repeatedly asked many questions which have already been communicated, please ensure you re-read these notes before you call the school.

Thank you to all of our families who are following the process of surveillance testing on Monday and Thursday morning before sending children to school. We know that some in our community contracted covid over the break and recently. NSW Health advises that 28 days after the initial positive test, that you may start testing. Surveillance testing is a measure put in place to give early warning as children can be asymptomatic or present with very minimal symptoms. It is highly effective if everyone is doing the right thing. Please remember that any positive tests MUST be reported to the school - please don't be afraid or worried (this information is used purely so we know what we have to do to ensure the safety of all - not just children and staff). You will also need to notify your positive case with Service NSW using the app or website. Please contact us if you need any support - we are here to support in any way we can - without judgement.

Students and staff are encouraged to wash or sanitise their hands regularly. All our indoor areas are occupied with the Winix ZERO+ PRO 5-Stage Airprufiers which is the most powerful air purifier, designed to thoroughly filter the air in classrooms and offices. With a unique, comprehensive 5 stage filtration system it can effectively clean air in large classrooms. World-leading air filtration for airborne pollutants and allergens including Dust, Pollen, Pet Dander, Smoke, Mould Spores, VOCs, Household Odours, Bacteria and Viruses. Our schools continue to use enhanced cleaning processes. Target areas include high-touch areas, hard surfaces, door handles, lockers, light switches and handrails in stairways and areas where students and staff move through regularly.

I also warmly welcome all the new families joining Maarif this year and hope that your time at Maarif is a special one. Next Monday we look forward to welcoming our high school students and families to our school.

Best Regards,

Dr Zeynep Yaseen

Principal

Maarif_Family_Bulletin_1.pdf

Maarif_Family_Bulletin_1 _pdf 2.83 MB

drive safely slider - South Orange Country Day School

Safe Driving and Pedestrian Behaviours

Parents are asked to be considerate and patient during pick-up and drop-off times. All our surrounding streets are very active and require traffic to keep moving due to buses and the ever-flowing traffic on Gellibolu Parade and Percy Street, especially in the afternoons. Parents are asked to follow these practices:

Keep the flow of traffic going by moving on quickly.
If you cannot park and someone is not leaving within a few seconds, YOU MUST MOVE ON.
Pedestrians also have a responsibility to be safe. Walking behind or in front of moving cars is dangerous. Parents are asked to model responsible pedestrian behaviour.
Park in the parking bays across the school and walk to the school to collect your child.
If a school bus is coming up the street behind you, keep moving unless you are parking immediately.

We understand that these times of the day are frustrating, however, we must work together to ensure the safety of the children and all road users. Thank you.

Well done to the students who have been selected as 'Student of the Week' during our Monday morning assemblies. These students are selected for academic achievement and for modelling our school values.

	Week 1
K1	Hazel Mete
K2	Elifsu Ciftci
Year 1	Adem Rafiq
Year 2	Teoman Seyrek
Year 3	Fatemah Niazi
Year 4	Jada Saddiq
Year 5	Atakan Birer
Year 6	Amina Strik

Letter fun play

Kindergarten students did a magnificent job making letters and shapes using the playdough. They are revising and practicing the a-b-c’s daily to set the foundation for reading and writing skills. This activity also gave them the opportunity to revise their fine motor skills.

Letter recognition is important in Kindergarten because it enables beginning readers to figure out how printed text is associated with the spoken language. The sounds of many letter names are closely related to the sound the letter sounds. Well done Kindy!

Mrs Ulku Turkmen and Mrs Maryam Faisal

K1 and K2 Teachers

We’re going to have a bright year!

A massive welcome to 2022, I am excited to be teaching Year 1 this year and I am looking forward to sharing snippets of our learning journey throughout the year. Year 1 has had an amazing first week back at school. We have been focusing on building strong relationships and establishing classroom rules/ expectations. I would like to say a special welcome to our newest members of the Year 1 classroom: Elif Dari and Ibrahim Abass.

In our Year 1 classroom, we have been revising our alphabet letters and sounds in English. Students participated in a range of activities which included identifying the sound and name of each letter, using a catalogue to create a collage of images for a specific letter and practicing their letter formation. In Maths students danced to 100 as our morning routine and practiced different ways to represent numbers.

Year 1 students enjoyed drawing self-portraits and writing about a family celebration. This week we read Fang Fang’s Chinese New Year picture book by Sally Rippin. This created rich discussions about different celebrations that are celebrated around the world. Year 1 students identified celebrations that they have within their family. Students then wrote about the celebration explaining special things they do on the day with their family.

Here is a photo of Year 1 students with their ‘here comes grade 1’ crowns and glow sticks representing our excitement for the bright year ahead:

Miss Rooba El-Sayed

Year 1 Teacher

Numbers game

This week Year 2 students have been exploring place value and recognising that numbers can be represented in various formats including, numbers, words, and symbols.

To foster their understanding, we played a mental warm up game called ‘I have, who has?'. This game is played in a group where each child receives a card. They were encouraged to identify the number represented with the MAB blocks and the number on the bottom of the card. Once identified they are to say, “I have 58, who has 24?”.

Each student then looks at their card to check whether the MAB blocks they have represented the number 24. The game continues until everyone has had a turn. The year 2 students enjoyed this game, and demonstrated their ability to interpret MAB blocks and the numbers they represent.

Mrs Ayse Yildiz

Year 2 Teacher

First Day of Year 3

Year 3 have had a great start to the 2022 school year! We have enjoyed learning about one another through a range of different activities. We also welcomed some friendly new faces into our classroom this year. A special warm welcome to our new students Miray, Arin, Safiya, Saif, Junaid and Elif. We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead ?

Year 3 students were excited to learn how to arrange four-digit numbers in ascending and descending order. Students participated in a group challenge where they were given different numbers and had to line up in either ascending or descending order without speaking to each other.

Ms Amel Mehana

Year 3 Teacher

Welcome to Year 4!

Welcome to the 2022 school year! I hope you have had a healthy and happy start to the year after quality time with family over the summer school holidays. Year 4 students started their year with enthusiasm and excitement. I also want to give a warm welcome to our new students and their families; Jada, Ali, Sarina and Alaaddin. They have made a smooth transition with the wonderful support from all the other Year 4 students.

Student spent their first week introducing themselves to each other and spending quality time to understand the class and school rules. They were all presented with a pencil case with some necessary stationary as a welcome gift by me. Student were all excited and I am glad to see them all happy and smiling.

Mrs Samira Asad

Year 4 Teacher

Getting to know Year 5

Year 5 are buzzing with excitement for another school year at Maarif. The children have welcomed our new student so warmly and I look forward to seeing them all soar this year. Each student brings a uniqueness to a class, and it was important to get to know Year 5 individually. What better way to do this than for them to create an ‘All About Me’ poster? Not only did we all get a closer look at who makes up the dynamics of the class but we also got to know more of their personality, family, funniest jokes, favourite food, music, song, holiday destination and so much more. We are off to a flying start!

Mrs Olivia Peach

Year 5 Teacher

First Week of Year 6

Welcome back to the new academic year of 2022!

I hope that you all had a wonderful break with your family. This year is a very important milestone for our Year 6 students who are now the leaders of our school at Maarif. Students are very excited to be supporting each other, as well as welcoming our students in Kindergarten, by assisting them during recess and lunch in settling in. I would also like to extend my warm welcome to our new students Amina, Reyhan, Mariama, Halil and Ismail.

Students took part in a yarn activity this week where students were required to pass the yarn to each other and introduce themselves whilst holding on to the line. This demonstrated the ways in which we are all connected to each other in one way or another in our classroom, although everyone is special in their own way, we acknowledged that we are a team and we show respect and care for each other.

In the coming weeks, our school will be electing Captain and Vice Captains of the school alongside with Prefects. School captains have a number of major responsibilities. Their primary responsibility is to represent the student body in a well manner accompanied by Maarif values. Students in Year 6 will be required to present speeches and a voting system will determine who our captains will be in the academic year of 2022 and they will be presented with their badges during assembly in Week 6. I encourage students to attempt in being part of the student leadership team. Those students will be provided with guidance by the Year 6 Committee teachers in order to assist in their application and speeches.

Mrs Asli Tekirdaga

Year 6 Teacher

Maarifte ilk gunum! (First day at Maarif)

The most important day of a person's education is the first day of school. Maarif ‘s youngest members showed their smiley faces in the frame ‘First Day at Maarif’.

Holiday Memories

Holidays are a special time for us to come together as families to re-connect, enjoy each other’s company and reflect on many good memories of the past.

In Turkish lesson,Year 3 and 4 students had the opportunity to reminisce about memories of holiday or family times that brought them joy and contentment.

Mrs Şeyma Akdemir

Turkish Teacher

Selamun Aleykum and I wish you a very warm welcome back to school! Inshallah this year your child will be learning about their Religion and memorising verses from the Quran on a weekly basis. We are sharing just some of the amazing things our students have been doing during their Islamic studies lessons.

Allah is our Creator!

Year 1 students are learning that Allah is our creator and the One who made everything. After listening to the lesson on how Allah is the Lord of the worlds, has no family and has no body like us they were given an activity to complete in pairs. On a blank a4 paper they made a list or drew things which Allah created. Students then came up to the board to tell their peers what was on their list. Well done to Sumayah and Koray for having the longest list!

Year 1 enjoyed watching Zaky video called ‘Allah Created Everything by Zaky’

Link to Zaky Video

Year 1 students had some time to play the salam game outside. Similar to the game ‘duck duck goose’, they sing in rhythm ‘when I see my friend, I say Assalamu alaykum’ then choose a friend which they need to tag.

Ms Gulcan Aksu

Islamic Studies Teacher

We are memorising a Surah from the Quran!

Assalamu Alaikum wa rahmetullahi wa barakatuh,

All praise be to Allah (SWT) and may peace and blessings be upon His beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW), his family, companions and to all those who follow him.

In Islamic Studies Qur’an memorisation Year 4 students are reciting and memorising Surah Al-Ma’un. They’re listening to the Surah and memorising one verse a week by repeating the verse after the verse is being recited on the YouTube video. At the beginning of the term in week one, Surah Al-Ma’un with its pronunciation and translation including the video link with its QR code was handed out to students to take home for practising. I highly recommend that our Year 4 students practise memorising and reciting the verses at home.

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said, "If anyone recites a letter from Allah's Book he will be credited with a good deed, and a good deed gets a tenfold reward. I do not say that ‘Alif-Lam-Mim’ are one letter, but ‘Alif’ is a letter, ‘Lam’ is a letter, and ‘Mim’ is a letter."

Keeping this in mind our students try their best to read and memorise the Qur’an.

We pray that Allah (SWT) allows our students to keep the Qur’an in the centre of their lives and let the Book of Allah be the light of their hearts.

Mr Muhammed Ordukaya

Islamic Studies Teacher

We are learning to read the Quran!

Dear parents,

Welcome to the first term of the year, In Shaa Allah we are going to have a safe and great term. I will be teaching Quran to all classes, if you have any question, you can send me message via school portal or in person at school.

Kindergarten students are learning how to read and write one Arabic letter each week in an interesting way.

Year 1 students are learning the Arabic letters with short vowel Fat-ha. This is the link that you can use to teach your child at home.

Page 16 short vowel Fat-ha

Year 2 students are learning the Arabic letters with short vowels (Fat-ha, Kasra & Dhammah).

Using this link to practice how to read the Arabic letters correctly, pages 20& 21.

https://itqaanseries.com/qrme-book/

Years 3 & 6. students are learning the Arabic letters with Maad letter Yaa, using this link on page 28.

https://itqaanseries.com/qrme-book/

Please help your child with his/her learning, thanks for your cooperation.

Ms B. Mohammed

Quran Teacher

High School Sports

Years 7 and Year 8 participated in a fitness bootcamp workout due to wet weather indoor sports arrangements. The students participated in many tough exercises including lunges, burpees, sit-ups, squats and lots more. There were lots of laughs and smiles as the students were all challenging each other. The students also participated in mini games which they found really fun.

In the coming weeks our school will be holding fundraising events and activities to raise money for students to use the PCYC facilities during wet weather.

To kick off our fundraising events the first fundraiser will be Jersey Day on Friday 25^th February 2022. It would be wonderful to see all students wearing their jersey.

Please remember to pack a hat, water bottle, antiperspirant roll on, and sunscreen each day in your school bag.

Thank you

Miss Zeinab Youssef

PDHPE Teacher

Sport lessons are given by Ms Zeinab Youssef on the following days. Please make sure your child is wearing thier sports uniform with sports shoes on this day:

Wednesday and Fridays

Year 7 and Year 8

Creative Arts in High School

We have hit the ground running in high school Creative Arts! Year 7 students can articulate the difference between ‘sound’ and ‘noise’, and how we can use both in our own compositions. They have also started investigating the elements of art, line and colour, and have applied this new knowledge to their own artworks.

Year 8 have begun to delve into the musical world of the ukulele, learning how to play and strum C Major and A Minor chords in the song, “Hey Ho” by The Lumineers. They have also learned about the unexpected history of the ukulele and listened to a few outstanding ukulele players. In art, Year 8 are consolidating their understanding of the elements of art as it is applied to Indigenous Art. We found it particularly interesting how Indigenous Australians have such a strong connection to their country and land, much like we have to Turkey!

Ms Emma Morgan

CAPA (Creative and Performing Arts) Teacher

The Student Corner is a dedicated space for students of any year level to showcase their unique artwork and talents!

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

January Birthdays

Emirhan GERMAN
Eren HURRIYET
Elisa OZDEMIR
Alaaddin DALKILIC
Sarina STRIK
Sumeyye SONMEZ

February Birthdays

Amelia KHAN
Ela SEVINCEK
Sumayah OSMAN
Abu Bakr KANJ
Erkut ODABASI
Safiya ABBAS
Adam HAOUCHAR
Aylin KICE
Ali DBOUK
Zeyno HASGUL
Mariama IBRAHIM

Celebrations and food

We love to celebrate our students at Maarif and accept that some families may want to share the special occasion of their child’s birthday with his/her class peers. As a school, we embrace this opportunity, however, would like to enforce a strict policy of not bringing in food or other edible item for these one-off occasions. It is important we cater to all students including those who have severe allergies by monitoring this closely.

If you would like to celebrate your child’s birthday, we would suggest an alternative to food and we thank you in advance for supporting the health and wellbeing of all students.

Dont forget your Hats!

All students are reminded to wear their hats during recess, lunch and sport. Please also remember to send a water bottle with your child every day.

Labelling

Please ensure that all personal items (clothing, lunchboxes, bags, etc.) are clearly labelled with your child(ren)’s name. Each year there are numerous items of clothing, especially hats and jackets that have no names or identification in lost property.

If there is no name, then we have a difficulty finding the owner.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Term 1, 2022 for High School Students	Monday 14 February to Thursday 7 April 2022
School Captains and Class Prefects speeches	Monday 28 February 2022
School Clean Up Day	Friday 4 March 2022
School Captains and Class Prefects announced	Monday 7 March 2022
National Day of Action against bullying and violence	Friday 18 March 2022
Harmony Day	Tuesday 22 March 2022
Last Day for Students Term & Students Iftar	Thursday 7 April 2022
Parent - Teacher Interviews	Friday 8 April 2022

Maarif_Academic_Calendar_2022.pdf

Maarif_Academic_Calendar_2022 _pdf 2.21 MB