I have been a very proud Principal this week and last, as Carmel students have again taken advantage of the many opportunities on offer and represented the School with distinction.

Some of our brightest minds travelled to the University of Western Australia, to enjoy the Da Vinci Decathlon 鈥� a gruelling academic team competition comprising ten events and requiring collaboration, problem-solving and higher-order thinking. By all accounts the day was a fantastic one and Mrs Spartalis was pleased with the teams, who had worked hard to prepare to compete against the other schools.

The IPSHA Performing Arts Festival held at St Hilda鈥檚 Performing Arts Centre show-cased a fabulous crew of Carmel Primary School children who sang and danced beautifully. My entirely unbiased opinion was that we were clearly one of the best performing schools on the night and I was so pleased to note that our performance definitely triggered the loudest applause from the audience.

On the sporting front, our Carmel frisbee teams had a fantastic day at the Statewide Ultimate Frisbee Championships. In what proved to be a first for any senior frisbee competition, Carmel took out both the gold medal for physical performance and the Spirit Award, which is voted on by all the participating schools. It is indeed a great reflection of how Carmel students can compete hard but fair. Champions and menschen.听

The results speak for themselves - Carmel's 1^st听team went undefeated initially. Then we were down 3 - 5 in the final and it took some particularly impressive performances to be 5 - 5 at full time. Carmel were the eventual winners, scoring in overtime over Shenton College.听

Individual awards were also handed out to Savion (longest Year 12 throw) and to the Team of the Championship (top 8 players across the day): Tyde, Daniel and Eliora.

I understand the rather lovely weather may soon be coming to an end, which is a shame. I lit my woodburning fire for the first time this week, just to try it out, and am relieved that it was as effective as I remembered. When the rains eventually arrive later this week, I shall try not to mutter 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 emigrate for this鈥�, rather to remind myself that it will be good for the farmers and for our gardens and that it won鈥檛 last for ever, which sometimes feels like the case in my homeland of Wales.

Shabbat shalom.

Dr Julie Harris

Principal