ICOSA NEWS

In This Issue

Message from the

Chairman

Message from the

Principal

Senior School

Year 8

Year 7

Year 6

Great outdoor

Camp

Year 3/4/5/6

Year 2

Message from the Chairperson and Principal 15th December 2016

Dear Parent / Caregiver

Asalamu ‘alikum

We are very pleased to report to you the positive and reassuring news that our public funding has been secured.

The Federal Government wrote to us this week to confirm Commonwealth funding arrangements for 2017.You will remem-

ber that in September the Federal Government wrote to the College asking us to explain why our funding should continue.

The College Board and Management have since September been in constructive talks with the Federal Government and

we have satisfied its requirements. The Commonwealth has been reassured of our:

Stringent financial policies and practices

Effective governance arrangements with suitably qualified and experienced people in key positions

Independence and satisfying our obligations as a not-for-profit undertaking

Good record keeping practices and policies so that there is a clear record of accountability about financial and other decisions

On a separate point with the South Australian State Government, we have been advised by the Education and Early Child-

hood Services Registration and Standards Board that our College satisfies all of its requirements for registration as a school

Newslet ter Week 9 Term 4 2016

in South Australia. The areas that it assesses include curriculum content, student

health, safety and welfare and the corporate structure of the School.

We clearly are on the right path for a bright future. We are in the process of organising

an induction program for all teachers at ICOSA, which will enhance their skills and talents

to provide quality education for our students.

Additionally, we will soon be holding a parents’ workshop to help us refine the vision of

the school. We want this to be a joint project where every concerned parent has the

chance to express their views about the future vision of the school.

Call for parent nominations

We are very keen to attract strong nominations from parents and the wider College

community to be a part of the leadership and direction of the College on College Board

sub-committees.

These are the:

finance

education

parent advisory

human resources

the old scholars and alumni

risk and audit and

marketing sub-committees, which advise and inform the College Board.

Newslet ter Week 9 Term 4 2016

These are extremely important activities in the life and growth of our College. They help ensure that we are relevant to your

needs and aspirations, and everyone else in the Islamic College of South Australia, both now and for the future.

Nominees must have relevant tertiary qualifications and / or extensive experience in the area for which they nominate. When you nominate, please attach you CV and a one-page expression of interest that sets out your experience and capacity to con-tribute. Nominations close on Friday 6

th January 2017. Please send your CV and a one-page expression of interest to:

admin@icosa.sa.edu.au

Thank you for your loyalty, incredible support and patience over the past year. The year 2016 tested us all and will make us

an even stronger and better school.

We look forward to seeing you back in 2017 as we continue our drive to provide a great education for your children in a caring

Islamic setting.

Wassalam

Professor MOHAMAD ABDALLA Dr LYNDA MacLEOD Chairman Principal

Message from Principal

As this will be my final newsletter article I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students, staff, parents and the

wider Islamic College of South Australia community for their support over the past 15 months. 2016 has been a challenging

year in terms of securing the College’s future. As the article from the Chair of the Board, Professor Abdalla that accompanies

this article indicates we have come a long way. The College is in a much better position in December 2016 than it was in

December 2015 when we received notice that the school would need to close because the State and Commonwealth Gov-

ernments were withdrawing their funding.

Not only has the school managed to meet almost all of the very long list of requirements for each level of government and

registration but the College will begin 2017 with a significantly increased enrolment and it began in 2016. This is in no small

part due to the massive effort of the teaching staff in general but the leadership team in particular. My enormous gratitude

goes to Hanan Dallah, Azeem Ali, Carolina de Leonardis, Janine Sutton, Jay Mitchell, Khalid Yousuf, May Ezz, Wahed Khan

and Qasir Khan. The combined efforts of the sub- school directors, the SACE coordinator, the director of religion, business

manager and ICT manager have ensured that the school is in a very stable position.

It has been my absolute pleasure to work so closely with the leadership team, the entire teaching staff, the wider College staff

and all parents and community members who have engaged with me and supported me over the past 15 months. I will miss

you all greatly.

I wish you all a happy and safe summer holiday and I wish Islamic College of South Australia the very brightest of futures.

Farewell and good luck!

Lynda MacLeod

EdD, Med Studies, BA, Bed, Grad Dip Ed (Secondary), Grad Dip Social Sciences (Child Development), Grad Cert in Educa-

tion (Studies of Asia), MACEL, MACE, JP.

Year 10 Arabic students excursion

Assalaamu Alaikum Dear Parents and Caregivers,

It was a great experience for our Year 10 Arabic students when they applied the theory they learnt in the Arabic classroom

about ‘Food and Culture’.

On Wednesday 7/12/2016, the students visited the Arabic restaurant ‘Jerusalem’ and enjoyed the Arabic cuisine while

speaking in Arabic as a reflection on their classroom learning.

It was an excursion of learning and fun.

As the end of year approaches, we reflect on the achievements that we accomplished in 2016 and start looking forward for

a happy and successful 2017.

I wish our school community, parents, students and staff a restful and enjoyable Summer break, in shaa’ Allah.

Senior School Director

Mrs Hanan Dallah

Year 8 English Action!! The Year 8 English Class has studied the movie "Hugo" this term and learnt about the first films and their film techniques. They decided to put their own movie and acting flair by producing 5 minute movies depicting the early 1900 mov-ie making effects. Have a look at their efforts whilst filming on campus. Ms Dounas

Year 8 Mathematics

In accordance with the Australian Curriculum (ACARA), students have learnt to solve everyday problems in-volving rates, ratios and percentages. This includes carrying out practical activities such as measuring dimen-sions of an assigned area and drawing its floor plan to scale as well as reading maps with the given scales. In coordinate geometry students learnt to plot linear relationships on the Cartesian plane. They have learnt how everyday situations can be shown as lineal relationship and drawn on such Cartesian planes. They practiced solving linear equations using algebraic and graphical techniques. Students have also had more practice in mental Math so that they can apply such strategies in their everyday situations. Overall, students have made great strides in acquiring proficiency in mathematical skills.

Ms Edah Ithnain

Year 8 Arabic students

Congratulations to the high achievers in year 8 girls and to all students for completing another year, I wish everyone success in 2017. For Arabic students worked on a booklet based on the different places in Mecca, in their computing lessons each student selected a specific place in Mecca to research about and presented their findings to the class. During class lessons students worked on their booklet " the places in Mecca". Many elements were worked on in this booklet; these included: translating the script, reading the text, analysing the text, and also answering the booklet questions. Thank you to all the students who worked hard throughout the year and a special thanks to Anwar and Shaghaf for assisting the beginners in Arabic with their work and helping them achieve high this term. Wish you all a restful happy holiday. Wassalamualaikum Mrs. Al Robaiy

Year 7 Girls

Asalaamu Alaikum!

Subhan Allah! We’ve come to the end of this fabulous year, 2016. The year 7 Girls were totally engaged in various learning pro-

grammes the whole year around.

The two programmes that need special mention are the ones that they experienced in the 1) Adelaide Central market and 2) Urr-

brae wetlands.

The Central market learning programme exposed the year 7 girls to real life situations, budgeting skills and healthy eating habits.

While the Wetlands learning programme enabled the girls to indulge in hands on experience with macro organisms, sophisticated

telescopes and laboratory techniques under the supervision of experts. On the whole I believe the girls have amassed enough

knowledge to face year 8 with much self-confidence and pride. I wish them all the very best in the years to come.

Ms. Christina Bella Rodrigues

Year 7 Girls Peace Home Group

Pirate Adventure by JP Classes "Ahoy There Me Hearties!” The JP Classes went on a Pirate Adventure on Wednesday 7th of December. The children put on their pirate hats, patches and telescopes to go and find the hidden treasure and golden coins. X marked the spot and Abaz found the treasure chest hidden in the high school grass. All day, games and crafts and treats were to be had. The little Pirates were ecstatic. Cheers Captain Dounas

Year 6 Science This term, Ms Ashby's Year 6 Science class have been learning about different types of energy. We learned that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred or transformed (the First Law of Thermodynamics). We toured the school looking at how appliances used one type of energy, but emitted another, for example a comput-er screen uses electrical energy, and this is transformed into light, heat and sound energy. The class then moved on to learning how circuits work. They constructed different types of switches, and used screwdrivers to "rewire" plug sockets. We had lots of fun with our hands-on activities - especially designing wa-ter turbines. We definitely have some budding engineers and electricians in our class! Ms Ashby - Ms Ashby

ICOSA CAMP CREW

Week 8 of Term 4, off we went with our 55 students to Mylor Adventure camp and many adventures did we have. The best part from the teachers point of view was the encouragement our students constantly gave each other when trying new challenges and just how excited and happy our students were. A great way to finish the year. We thank all our parents and teachers who have helped support our camp and especially the generous teachers who gave up their time and sleep to go on adventures with our students. Photos will be available as we are just collating them. Please email details and we can send them through.

PRIMARY DIRECTORS

When we reflect on this year, we believe we have accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. We have been privileged to work with a great team in the primary and thank them for their support, dedication and hard work in achieving our most important goal of educating our students, your children. We also want to thank our families who we also could not have achieved what we have this year and are very appreciative of the time you have put into supporting your children and our school. One of the highlights that comes to mind is that cold rainy day of our Pop Up Garden Busy Bee, when so many parents turned up to move over 4 tonnes of soil, sand and many metres of bench to creative a lovely area for our students to play in.

Academically we have been very excited to see a huge improvement in our Science results and also have had our best literacy year ever. Our children are reading more and at a higher level and this in turn is having a positive effect on all other subject areas. In ICT this was our first year implementing coding. First we updated our own skills and then we implemented, shared and learnt with each other and our students. Quite an achievement for many of us. We have almost completed our year now and we wish you all a safe and happy holiday and of course as Directors and teachers we must add:

Janine Sutton and Carolina De Leonardis

Contact Us

Islamic College of

SA

22 A Cedar Avenue

West Croydon SA

5008

PO Box 147

Kilkenny SA 5009

Tel: (08) 8340 7799

Fax: (08) 8340 9988

admin@icosa.sa.edu.au

Visit us on the web at

www.icosa.sa.edu.au

ICOSA DEVELOPS FUTURE INTELLECTUAL AUSTRALIANS