ICU READ April - ISIK College

Dear Parents, Students and Friends of ISIK College,Principal's MessageI would like to extend my warmest Term 2 welcome to everyone in the schoolcommunity. I hope you had a restful, relaxing and peaceful term break. I alsohope that all our student 'newcomers', have now had plenty of opportunity tobecome well-adapted into our friendly and warm environment. Term 2 has itsown significance for everyone. Year 12 students will encounter their first officialserious assessment with the midyear examinations while Year 7s and 9s will besweating and swotting for their NAPLAN tests in May.“I myself came alongand instantly fell in lovewith the magnificentviews...students whoregularly participate inthese camps willappreciate their value”“we held a minute’ssilence to remember allthe honourable soldiers”I would like to extend mydeepest appreciation toour PFA members formaking one of ourdreams come true. Theyhave initiated an Ebrucourse, a traditional artestablished during theOttoman era. Ebru willbe taught by Mr AlperErdem (graduated from 9Eylül University,Academy of Fine Arts,Izmir and has worked inthe craft of china inKutahya/Turkey forseveral years). It is verypleasing to see ourparents' greatenthusiasm for makingsure this special culturalart continues here inAustralia.As Term 2 is also the season when many families choose to take overseas trips,it is vital that parents and guardians read and familiarise themselves with ourpolicy regarding students' long-term absences. The information can be found inthe 2009 Student Handbook.During April, our Year 12 English teacher, Ms Anne Mitchell, took with her 37Year 12 boys and three senior staff members on a trip to Canberra. Thankfully,everyone (including Ms Mitchell) came back in one piece after a very successfultrip to Australia's capital.Also, our Pastoral Care Department took boys from various year levels on acamp to Jumbuk Park in Morwell. I myself came along and instantly fell in lovewith the magnificent views. Of course, it was a very successful study camp too,especially for the year l2s. I am sure students who regularly participate in thesecamps will appreciate their value and remember them as some of the mostfruitful periods of their lives. Whenever I see how much hard work our teachersput into shaping our students' characters, I feel a strong sense of pride in myschool, not just as its Principal, but as a member of its community. Building finecharacters is the most needed of ideals for today's world. I am sometimes askedwhat it is about our educational philosophy that makes our school so differentfrom many others. Without prejudice to any other school, I have to say that theanswer is very simple: we just love our students.Another highlight this month was our Humanities Department taking a group ofstudents to the Shrine of Remembrance for ANZAC Day commemorations. Hereat school, at Friday afternoon assembly, we held a minute's silence to rememberall the honourable soldiers who lost their lives during the battle at Gallipoli in1915.Also, our young Physics Olympiad team had their first camp together withstudents from our Dandenong campus and Sule College. It was a greatexperience for our students to share their knowledge with 'other' physics-mindedstudents and to engage in friendly competition with them. Professor AkhtarKalam, Dean of Science, Health Science and Engineering at Victoria University,was kind enough to visit and address our boys in order to encourage them ontheir challenging journey.Before I conclude I would like to remind everyone about Mothers' Day. Let'sonce again make this day a memorable one for our mums. Don't forget “Heavenis under the feet of our mothers”.Enjoy your newsletter.ICU Read 2