Jackie Ellis

At a professional development session I once attended, the presenter showed an approximately 100 year-old photo of a room and asked the audience to guess what it was. The room was reminiscent of a university lecture space. It had tiered wooden bench seating and what appeared to be a teaching table in the middle of […]

The start of Term 2 is ordinarily an extremely busy time when we find ourselves moving from ceremony to ceremony to commemorate the yomim – Yom HaShoah, Anzac Day, Yom Hazikaron and then Yom Ha’atzmaut. While the circumstances are radically different, this year is no exception. Providing meaningful opportunities to engage with these occasions has

Winston Churchill is credited with the famous quote, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” This week, when observing the many varied, rich and meaningful learning opportunities undertaken across the School, I was struck by how our educators have innovated so effectively in order to maintain a sense of community, and the integrity of

An oddity of Classical Hebrew is the lack of a word for the term “history”. While contemporary Hebrew appropriates the European word, Classical Hebrew utilised the term “zikaron” or memory, as an approximation of the concept. I say approximation because the notions of memory and history are conceptually very different. History presents a veneer of

During the COVID 19 crisis we have relied heavily on video conferencing technologies to maintain education, work and social connections. In a recent Zoom meet which included participants from around Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the USA, I was struck by just how incredible it was that each of us

“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” This line from C.S. Lewis should inspire us all to face the future with confidence. We’re living through a PANDEMIC! That is something that belongs in all caps – it is no small thing and something that we should more readily acknowledge. Our human psyche acts

Womindjeka! Last year, when the National Reconciliation Council announced the theme for its 2020 National Reconciliation Week it had no idea that what was chosen would resonate with such new layers of meaning. They chose “In this together” as a poignant message to characterise a shift in relationship with Australia’s First Nation peoples. Of course,

Marcia Langton writes that “Australia is alive with the long history of the Indigenous people, our culture and our presence. Nowhere else in the world can you see and experience the oldest living cultures of humankind.” In this column last week, I wrote to you to acknowledge Reconciliation Week and to highlight the numerous ways