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Sitting playing Settlers of Catan with a group of Year 3 students after school on Tuesday, amidst a heap of others playing Balderdash, chess and pick-up-sticks in the library, it became clear that we are well and truly back into the swing of things at school. Clubs and activities at school provide further social opportunities for Carmel students to meet and play with children in other year groups. Accompanied by all the social skills of learning (and remembering) names, taking turns and how to lose gracefully (I still struggle with this one when playing board games), all of these activities provide valuable learning experiences as well as great fun with friends and peers.

Mr Lawrence has been busy setting up social activities and opportunities for the High School students, too – Year 10 to 12 students can take part in Hebrew Club on Tuesday lunchtimes and Lunch and Learn on Thursdays. For Year 7 to 9 students, Chips and Chat on Wednesday lunchtimes and Hebrew Club are available for them to socialise before afternoon lessons start. You can see all the lunchtime social opportunities across both campuses here.

The High School tefilla options also started this week and I had the pleasure of sitting in on a fascinating ‘Jewish Philosophy’ session with students in Years 7, 8 and 9 on Wednesday morning. Options included ‘What’s going on in Israel?’ and ‘Leadership – the importance of starting with WHY’. I’m looking forward to learning more from visits to these sessions and am very pleased that our students have the opportunity to choose the focus of their Jewish learning first thing in the morning.

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Dr Julie Harris

Principal