Arkana College

The EOY picnics earlier this week marked the end of the school year and we wish all students, families and staff a safe and happy holidays! All reports have been distributed and school commences on Monday 3rd February for all classes PreK - Yr.6 Holiday Office Hours Office closed from 16/12/2024 - 17/01/2025 Office opens 20/01/2025 - 31/01/2025 9am -3pm (Closed for public holiday on 27/01/2025)

🏆Congratulations Team Arkana … 2024 Australian Robotics Champions🏆 EduTech National Robotics Finals ▪️1st and 3rd place (Yr 4-6) ▪️3rd place (K-3) ▪️Mr Kayal awarded robotics teacher of the year from all participating schools and several students won awards in different categories! We’ve again qualified to represent Australia at the 2025 world finals in Japan 🇯🇵 Congratulations to all students and their teachers! Special thanks to our sponsors AAG Infrastructure Human Appeal Australia Delante Accountants and Business Advisers Ultimate Security Australia MCCA Islamic Finance & Investments ICTechnology Salaam Salaam Foundation Gridware and EduTech Australia Pty Ltd for the opportunity

Arkana College are the current Australian robotics champions and finished fifth in the URC world finals in Osaka, Japan. We were thrilled to host one of our robotics sponsors, Mr Professor Talal Yassine AM and his team from Salaam Foundation Students from our robotics teams gave a demonstration of their robots and those who visited Japan shared their experiences. The Salaam team wished our team well as they prepare for the 2024 national finals at Sydney Olympic Park later this week. We thank Mr Yassine, the Salaam team and all our robotics sponsors for their support in giving opportunities to our students on the national and world stage! Salaam Salaam Institute EduTech Australia Pty Ltd

Thrilled to see Arkana College crowned Primary School Islamic School Sport Champions (Harmony Cup) based on number of GF and SF wins and appearances in a variety of sports. With 30 schools often very large schools and thousands of students competing in tournaments throughout the year this is a tremendous achievement! Congratulation to their coaches Mr Ali, Mrs Rizk and Sh Taha. A huge thank you to staff and parents who attended the Gala event to support our students and school and Unity Grammar for hosting the event.

At Arkana we enjoy celebrating the achievements of our students in and out of school. Congratulations to Mahmoud A, Muhammad K and Imaan W all from Yr 3 for their stellar efforts at the weekends Surf Lifesaving Nippers finals. Imaan won 3 gold and 2 silver medals, Muhammad a gold and silver and Mahmoud was in finals contention at all events. Similarly a big congratulations to Yr 6 student Salahadeen B who achieved a third place trophy in a very competitive Sydney wide chess competition following his national finalist achievement in Adelaide earlier this year.

Our 2024 hijab party today was a celebration of identity, faith and family with performances, presentations, and a tribute to parents. To our girls in hijab, we support, encourage and celebrate your courage and choice!

Our students, staff, parents and alumni recently participated in our Homeless Outreach Program with Brothers In Need, delivering food items to the homeless community in Martin Place. The best way to teach empathy and compassion as faith and school values is through lived experience by caring for all humanity. We thank the entire school community for donating food items and extend our appreciation to Brothers In Need for the opportunity to be a part of this program

Our recent Al Quds/Lebanon Day raised $7000 for victims of the conflict. Students and parents learnt of the significance of Al Aqsa in Islam, saw presentations on Palestine and Lebanon, enjoyed several performances and food arranged by the Parent Council. Special thanks to Dougies for donating over 200 burgers as part of the fundraising.

The 2024 Personal Interest Project (PIP) Exhibition featured an amazing array of diverse projects, including robotics, artworks, fabulous business ideas, interior design works, photography projects, computer games, Arabic games, car constructions, 3D works, and Islamic history and science works. What a tremendous effort by all students involved 👏👏👏

Social media and digital platforms can be difficult to navigate for young people. Thank you to all parents who attended our social/digital media conference for parents. Our highly experienced panel ensured all attendees were highly engaged with strategies and information. Speakers included Amira Amin, a youth worker and former Arkana student who has worked in this space for NSW Govt and UN in a program run in over 50 countries, Sulaima Samman a paediatric psychologist and Gandhi Sindyan from NSW police. Take home points ▪️Parents are in control and set boundaries with their children’s use of devices ▪️Digital devices are not meant to do child minding. Engage with your children and supervise use of devices ▪️Stranger danger online is real with predators using common sites such as Roblox, PlayStation groups and other similar platforms to prey on children as young as 5 ▪️Cyber bullying is real and continues out of school ▪️Children are losing sleep and becoming aggressive and highly anxious the more they spend time on devices. ▪️Social and digital media is impacting language and behaviour across the world ▪️Children are exposed to inappropriate content, fake information and hate speech at alarming rates ▪️Whilst there are some benefits to online access, the dangers are immense and use needs supervision Arkana College looks forward to similar information events in 2025 on a variety of topics.