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Weeks 9 - 10 Term 2 2020

NewsletterFortnightly

Message from CEO

Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatu-Allahi Wabarakaatuh

We were fortunate on Thursday to have our Federal Member for Werri-wa, Anne Stanley MP, visit us and dis-cuss a range of issues with our Com-merce students.

Topics of discussion included the fu-ture of education, nuclear versus so-lar energy, women in leadership, Ms Stanley’s pathway to politics, upcom-

ing opportunities for our students in the future, Badgery’s Creek Airport, COVID-19, existing Government pol-icy and the difference between a pol-itician and parliamentarian.

Our students and staff really enjoyed the opportunity to discuss current issues and everyone appreciated Ms Stanley’s ability to provide a bal-anced view of politics.

What an incredible first half of the year, with bushfires, flooding, COV-ID-19, online learning and returning to school all contributing to what in my 29 years of working in education, has undoubtedly been the most chal-lenging Semester ever experienced.

Our whole UG staff have handled these challenges exceptionally well. I am proud of our school’s response and how we have been able to adapt to every situation. Most importantly, we have maintained our core focus of educating students.

I would like to wish all our students, staff and UG families a lovely, relax-ing and safe holiday break. See you in Term 3!

Kind regards

Aaron BoydCEO Unity Grammar

Spiritual Message As salam alaykum wrwb,

To be compassionate is more than to feel sympathy or show concern for others. To be compassionate is to feel deeply for another person as they experience the ups and downs associated with life.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” Care and compassion will enhance your relationships and developyour character as a Muslim because you will become a more empathic and helpful person

When you show someone that you care for them, you instantly bring relief and peace to that person.

May Allah make us among the caring and compassionate.

Have a wonderful break.Sh Arshad KhanHead of Islamic Studies

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Weeks 9 - 10 Term 2 2020 Junior School

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Message from Junior SchoolAssalamu Alaikum,

We have reached the middle of the year and it had been quite the journey for our

students and their families. Our students have proven to be resilient and adaptive

in the face of challenging and unprecedented times.

In Science and Technology, our teaching and learning programs and assess-

ments have continued to evolve through our commitment to upskill teachers on

a year-long journey with a specialist consultant, who is assisting us in ensuring

that our programs are contextually relevant to our students and focusing on

developing the scientific and technological skills students need. Our students

have been involved in designing and producing solutions to real-life problems

through investigations. They have been encouraged to think and act like scien-

tists in their pursuit to solve problems.

Additionally, students across K to 6 have enjoyed a variety of technological tools

in their lessons including solar cars and robots, with some grades representing

their knowledge and understanding through coding.

I wish all families a happy and safe holiday. We look forward to an exciting and

productive Term 3.

Ms Eaman BadauiJunior School Science &Technology Coordinator

This week Year 6 have participated in Peers Leaders Training. The training will

help students develop leadership skills to facilitate the Peer Support program to

Grades K-5 in term 3. Peer Support helps students develop positive relationship

and responsibility for self and others. Peer support also benefits Peer Support

leaders by increasing levels of self-esteem, confidence and positive feelings

that they are doing good. In our two-day training we learnt the necessary skills

to be a peer leader next term. The activities were practical and required a lot

of group work. Year 6 are very excited to run Peer Support next term and look

forward to passing on our knowledge and skills to younger students

Ziad Ykmour - Faith Prefect

Student Voice

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Assalamu Alaikum,

Today we had the pleasure of hosting our upcoming 2021 Kindergarten students and their parents in our Kindy Screening Day. Our little ‘future leaders’ enjoyed some light refreshments while keeping busy building structures with building blocks and colouring a display of amazing masterpieces. We were delighted by the turnout and cannot wait to have your sons and daughters join us next year. We look forward to updating all the applicants of the application outcomes by the end of Week 1, Term 3.

Kind regards

Mr Muhamed SaeedBusiness Development Manager

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Weeks 9 - 10 Term 2 2020 Junior School

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PDH VALUESAssalamu Alaikum parents and guardians,

Year 2 students delivered a message regarding the impor-tance of maintaining our health, well-being and environ-ment. Students passionate presentation about real world problems including obesity, pollution and unhealthy eat-ing habits helped students understand these factors influ-ence people all around the world.

As Muslims, we follow the teachings of the Quran and the example of prophet Muhammad (Salallahu Alayhi wa sal-lam) to help us tackle these important factors. For exam-ple, Muslims are taught to drink a third of food, a third of drink and a third of air to help reduce over eating.

It is very important to look over these factors to help us understand about how to maintain a balanced lifestyle and incorporate these factors into Islamic teachings. Mustapha Mobeen, Hanan Moussa, Fouzan Khan

Learning SupportAssalamu Alaikum Warahmatu-Allahi Wabarakaatuh

Unity Grammar’s Learning Support Team has focussed on intensive

reading sessions this year for students from K-2. Initially providing

one-on-one sessions via ZOOM to year 1 and 2 students during

Online Learning. The positive feedback from parents was very

valuable and overwhelming.

However with the return of Face to Face Teaching: Ms Rana, Ms

El-Biza and Mrs Akkari have reverted to group sessions occurring

4 times a week.

The MiniLit program being used has had much success in the

past and will continue to benefit many students again this year

to enhance their reading skills through explicit, systematic and

evidence-based strategies and interventions. Within small groups,

students work on sight word recognition, phonics, phonemic

awareness, reading fluency and comprehension. This is all done

by scaffolding the children to set them up for success in a positive

and nurturing atmosphere.

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Junior School

Year 2 students have been working productively during their comprehension and guided reading sessions. Students have shown great engagement when working in their allocated groups as they are able to assist each other in reading and understand the targeted comprehension skill.

Year 3 students have been working on an integrated unit of work in Writing and CAPA this term. Students created Dot Art and wrote expositions about the influence of indigenous history and how it shaped our country.

Kindergarten have been refining their sentence writing skills by learning how to utilise the UGC editing code to edit their work.

Year 1 were rewarded for all their hard work in class and for their online learning.

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Junior School

Year 6 Peer Support Training was held in week 10. Students developed skills in teambuilding and leadership whilst having fun.

Year 5 students have been studying the novel ‘Boy Overboard’ as part of Thematic Unit for this term. Students completed an an-alytical inferencing chart based on their favourite character from the book.

Year 4 students recently dissected a flower in Science and Technology. They also used coding to animate a bee pollinating a flower.

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Senior School

Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatu-Allahi Wabarakaatuh,

Term 2 of 2020 has been one of the most tumultuous terms on record with the impact of COVID-19 on our world, our community, our families and our stu-dents. We are fortunate at Unity Grammar, as we have been at the forefront of using these challenges to create unique learning opportunities for our students, rethinking traditional ways of delivering content and developing student skills by encouraging us as educators to use our creativity and expertise to develop unique learning opportunities.

Ms El-Gashingi and I have been very busy this term launching a Deep Learning program for Year 9 Commerce students to learning about Promoting and Selling techniques. We initially started the program on-line using our online learning platform whilst students worked from home. Students completed psychometric tests which allowed them to understand themselves better and allowed us as teachers to skilfully allocate them to learning teams according to personality traits. Students then decided a team environmental project that they wished to solve around the school. It has been amazing to see our students grow in confidence as they solve real world problems as part of their learning and then Promote and Sell them to their target market. They have had to research, liase

with professionals in their field and use various technologies while working as a team; all 21st century skills essential for higher education and the workforce. It has been a delight seeing them grow in confidence and skill as they solve complex problems as they have fun. We would like to thank the various contributors to project including school caretaker Mr Fadi Lozi, Teaching and Learning advisor Ms Ruqqiya Dean, and Learning Technology advisor Ms Kate Lee, Sheik Arshad and Sheik Walid for their Islamic guidance, Mr Osman Karolia for providing inspiration and a link to community organisations such as Brothers in Need, and Operations Manager Mr Zaher Merheji, and Head of Senior School Mr Zoabi for approving their initiatives and providing guidance and support.

Year 10 Commerce students have also had a busy term learning about Political Involvement. As part of this unit they wrote to their local member of parliament to discuss issues impacting on their lives as young people. As a result, we had Anne Stanley make contact with us and ask to meet with our students to share her political experiences firsthand. Commerce as an elective prepares students for their real world by allowing them to understand their rights and responsibilities as well as providing a tangible link to the outside world.

Year 11 Business students have also had a busy term learning about Human Resources processes. They undertook several role plays such as the interview process and how employees usually deal with change while providing them and opportu-nity to learn while having a few laughs.

Year 12 students have been learning about Finance within Business Studies. Students completed team puzzles learning about the advantages and disadvantages of debt and equity. They also participated in a finance workshop with our Alumni students Souhail El-Esber and Serene Khalaf who are both studying accounting at university. They taught students how to use excel within finance to seamlessly calculate financial ratios. These skills will assist students in the workforce and for university next year.

Ms Roset KhairCoordinator – Business Studies, Legal Studies, Economics and Commerce

Message from Senior School

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Weeks 9 - 10 Term 2 2020

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Senior School

Year 9 Geography

Students have been learning about different biomes this year; helping them understanding the factors that impact on success-ful plant life. To consolidate their learning all students had the opportunity to plant various winter vegetable and herbs in the schools garden area.

Year 9 Commerce

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Senior School

Year 11 Business

Year 12 Business

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Weeks 9 - 10 Term 2 2020

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Senior School

Year 11 Biology

Year 11 Biology students explored the Mt Keira Rainforest as part of their Year 11 Depth study assessment. The students were involved in collecting data and analysing the relationships within the rainforest. The Year 11 Biology students were amazing scientists and undertook each task with curiosity.

Students working on modelling immune responses against pathogens.

Year 12 Biology

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Senior School

Design and Technology

The Year 11 Design and Technology students have been working really hard on their mini MDP’s (Major Design Project). They had the opportunity to showcase their final projects to the executive staff. The projects included: a multi-use chop-ping board, convertible/compact workstation, rotating bookshelf, floor student workstation, floor laptop stand, desk lap-top stand, mobile trolley, toolbox, jewellery box, wall-mounted drill station, accessories frame and a chess table.

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Senior School

Community Engagement

Term 2 has been a busy yet productive time for Unity Gram-mar and involved a number of initiatives that allowed our students and staff to be involved in local communities and those abroad. This included;

- Raising $14000 for the 72 orphans we sponsor in six coun-tries with Human Appeal International thanks to our stu-dents and community sponsors/partners.

- Co – hosting a Zoom online iftar with Amity College and producer Jane Jeffes to replace our annual iftar due to Cov-id 19 restrictions. Guests included students/families from both schools, religious leaders including our own Sheikh Arshad, a Catholic priest and a Jewish Rabbi, former Soc-ceroo star Craig Foster, Mr Jihad Dib MP, mayors from three councils, our CEO Mr Boyd and Amity Executive Principal Mr Deniz Aydogan

- Providing volunteers for a weekend food hamper drive for the elderly and those in need with Lighthouse Community Support.

- Volunteering at Australian Muslim Times (AMUST)

- Providing 75 sleeping bags, 75 blankets and 90 beanies to the Exodus Foundation to assist the homeless and fami-lies in need this winter. A collaboration between an Islamic school and a Christian church.

- Having Unity Grammar represented at an international online conference of Islamic schools and school leaders from 50 countries hosted by the World Muslim Communi-ties Council and it’s founder HE Prince Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chancellor of the UAE University and Chairman of the UAE Board of Education. Our engagement with both Muslim and non Muslim communities locally and internationally was warmly received.

www.unitygrammar.com.au1800 4 UNITY

70 Fourth Ave, Austral, NSW 2179

www.unitygrammar.com.au

1800 4 UNITY

NewsletterFortnightly