Year 7
Transition Day - Thursday 28 November, 2019
All new students who will be entering Year 7 next year are required to attend the Transition Day.
The day will include a number of activities, and opportunities for all students, both current and new, to spend time together. New students will have some assessments to ensure we can place them as well as possible from Day 1. Both these aspects will assist in class placements.
Following lunch together, the afternoon will be spent in the Secondary School for a variety of activities led by Secondary teaching staff, allowing all students to further familiarise themselves with the campus.
Only students whose place acceptance documentation has been returned are able to attend this day. Lunch will be provided, however a snack for recess will need to be brought from home. Students can wear casual clothes, including runners for a PE activity. Please return the Permission Form by Thursday 21 November. Information regarding bus stop and times will be provided on Monday 25 November, after the permission slip has been received.
Orientation Session - Thursday 30 January, 2020
As the transition from Primary to Secondary school is a major one in a student’s educational journey the Year 7 students will have a special orientation session on the morning of Thursday 30 January 2020 between 10.00am and 12.30pm which has proven successful in past years in putting our students at ease as they enter their secondary school years. This is the morning prior to the official start of the school year for all other year levels.
This session is mandatory and all Year 7 students are to attend in full school uniform. This session is for students only so parents may not remain at the College during the time between drop off and pick up. Students should bring their school books with them which they will be able to pack into their locker. Please ensure they bring a lock for their locker; a combination lock is recommended to avoid misplacing keys.
During this orientation session their Year Level Coordinator, who they will have met at the group orientation in November, will introduce them to their Mechanech (home room teacher) and learn about this program which provides pastoral care to each and every student. They will also find out their class allocation; learn how to use their School Diary as a means of tracking homework and assignments that are due; be allocated their school locker; learn their way around the Secondary School; and meet key personnel who will be responsible for various aspects of school life over the coming years. Please note: students must bring their device (tablet or laptop) with them so they can be logged on to the Scopus network, ensuring that it is fully charged up.
Project B'Yachad
Scheduled during Term 1, this program buddies groups of Year 7 students with Year 10 madrichim. Along with a range of bonding activities, the older students provide a sounding board for concerns and questions from everything about being organised to extra-curricular activities, and allow the Year 7 students to benefit from the voice of experience.
Parent orientation and social evening
A Year 7 orientation evening is scheduled for Wednesday 26 February, 2020. As there is a significant intake into Year 7, this session includes an opportunity for continuing and new parents to mingle prior to the information session commencing.
Master Talmud elective
For those interested in extension in Jewish Studies, Year 7 and 8 students can choose to join a multi-media Master Talmud class which offers stimulating discussions about a range of issues raised within the texts. This class does not require previous knowledge of Talmud.
In Year 7, students doing the Talmud stream will miss one Jewish Studies class and one Hebrew class per week, and will also need to attend one early morning class each week, requiring them to travel on the early bus.
For further information, contact Rabbi Shamir Caplan on 9834 0000 or scaplan@scopus.vic.edu.au. Registrations are due by early November.
Bar Mitzvah Program / simcha register
The College runs meaningful programs for students approaching the age of Bar or Bat Mitzvah. The Bat Mitzvah program will have taken place for girls in Year 6.
For boys, Rabbi Avrohom Goldberg is available to provide individual tuition to learn the Parsha, Haftora, Brachot and relevant prayers, as well as helping understand the meaning of the Parsha, and support for the Dvar Torah/speech. He can also assist in working out which is the correct Parsha for boys, and help find a Shul where this special occasion can be celebrated.
Boys in Year 7 are required to attend the early morning minyan for either the first or second semester (two terms) depending on their date of birth (even if their Bar Mitzvah has already taken place), where they are involved in running and learning about the service. In the week prior to the call-up, the family is invited to attend the minyan at the Shul at the Gandel Campus, Burwood followed by a breakfast.
The Parents Association coordinates volunteers who run the Simcha list to avoid clashes in scheduling Bar and Bat Mitzvah functions within a cohort. It is not compulsory to register. Please note: not all parents register their simcha, not all parents will invite the whole year level, and until 2026 the list is for all events in that year which will include simchas of other children not in the same year level, ie Batmitzvahs from the year below or possibly some Barmitzvahs from the year above. From Year 2, 2022 onwards the convenor will deal with the entire cohort, irrespective of for which years the simchas are scheduled.