"In the name of Allah the most gracious the most merciful.

• The Hon. Laurie Ferguson, Federal Member for Reid and Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services.
• The Hon. Barbara Perry , Minister for Local Government, Minister Assisting the Minister for Health (Mental Health and Cancer)
• Mr John Burgess – General Manager for Auburn City Council
• New Liaison Officer of Auburn Police
• Mr Anwar Harb – Chief Editor of An Nahar Newspaper
• Mr Antoine Kazzi - Chief Editor of the Arabic El-Telegraph Newspaper
• Mr Joe Khoury - Chief Editor of the Future Newspaper
• Distinguished guests
• Parents, members of Al-Faisal College Staff and our delightful students. 

Peace be Upon you.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all on behalf of the Chairman of the Board of Al-Faisal College, Managing Director, staff and students.

We are gathering here today to celebrate, acknowledge, encourage and reward our hard working students for there great efforts, achievements and performances.

Our role at Al Faisal College is not only to educate young people but also to equip them with skills, knowledge and values. Our intention of educating our students is to prepare them to become effective and responsible citizens in the Australian society, taking into account of moral, ethical, spiritual and social considerations and to promote a fair and just society that values diversity.

In April this year, Mr. Ferguson wrote to us inviting our school and encouraging our students to participate in a new national competition to show Australia what they think about Climate Change. The competition expected students to use their creative talents and express their thoughts about what does climate change mean to them.

To develop our students' awareness of environmental issues, all students from years 3 to 6 participated in the competition. We are very proud to announce that Younis Menkara from Year 4 received the Highly Commended Award for his entry. Congratulations Younis for your great performance. It is a pleasure and honour for Al-Faisal College to have Mr. Ferguson here to present the Award to Younis.

Many thanks to Mr. Ferguson for devoting his time to attend this assembly. Mr Ferguson has always been a great supporter to our school and attended many occasions and functions to share with our students their happiness and joy.

Al-Faisal College students have participated in many events, I would like to mention some of them.

For Mathletics Program – After successful participation in the Mathletics program in 2008, we ranked in the top 8 schools in the national competition and we were featured on the WB kids program on Chanel 9. The participating classes won free subscription for the program for their efforts for the rest of the year.

This year one of our students Ammar Khan in Year 5 won a medallion during World Maths Day for coming 3^{rd in Australia.}

In May the Titans NRL Teams conducted a Mathletics Challenge in which students across Australia competed. We ranked as the top school, and Muhammad Yaseen from year 5 went to Queensland with his mother and Mrs. Ghannoum our Primary Deputy Principal, and competed against other students from across Australia. He managed to secure the first position. Our school was the overall champion school in Australia. Our years 5 and 6 classes ranked the First, Second and third position, which was a fabulous achievement.

During Literacy and Numeracy week, our students secured special recognition after ranking the top 3 for each section in the competition.

For environmental issues - our SRC students have taken an active role and participated in the Waste Watchers program and Clean Up Australia Day. Their efforts were recognised by Auburn City Council. As we won the School Environmental Award and the Waste Reduction Award.

Our hard work and commitment to environmental issues still continue, as 6 of our SRC students will be able to participate in the Henry Parkes Primary Schools Citizenship Conventions.

On the 9th of November at NSW Parliament House students from various schools will meet to discuss the theme, looking to the future. How can young people in a democracy help our society make better choices and find better solutions.

Last year we had a large number of students who participated in the Premier's Reading Challenge. Many of them achieved gold certificates and 4 boys from year 5 were invited to attend the celebration where they had the opportunity to meet the NSW Premier, The Hon Nathan Rees and the Minister for Education The Hon. Verity Firth, other diplomats, ambassadors and Authors.

It is also pleasing to see many of our students using public libraries during the holidays and several children have received special recognition for completing summer reading programs.

For sports - our year 6 boys football team, made it to the grand final and they were runners up in the Terry Lamb Competition. Next week the students will have another opportunity to participate in the mixed boys and girls OZ Tag competition. The school has also nominated the team for Auburn Council Sport Award. In previous years individual students received highly commended awards.

Our students are encouraged to participate in Public Speaking Competitions in Arabic and English.

Community leaders and representatives are also invited to talk to our students. Constable Julie Jones, Youth Officer in Auburn Police visited our school to address students in the Primary and high school.

The fire brigade officers visited our year 2 students and spent time with them.

For charity and donations, our students are encouraged to become involved in the community events. During the Victorian Bush Fire Appeal our school raised $5000 and sent it to the Red Cross to people affected by the bush fire. We received a letter from the Prime Minister, the Hon. Kevin Rudd expressing his appreciation and thanks for our donation.

Also our school supports the Heart Foundation, Diabetics and Cancer Foundations by sending our donations to these organisations. Last year, 2 students from our school in Kindergarten and Year 3 were able to collect and raise $7000 for the Cancer Foundation. These students received an Award from Auburn Review at a ceremony in the presence of the Hon. Barbara Perry.

We also supported the MS Society by encouraging students to participate in the MS Readathon. One of our students participated in the MS Mega Swim.

For Academic achievements, Last week we received our NAPLAN Test results for years 3, 5, 7, 9. The results were pleasing and our students also participated in the competitions run by the University of New South Wales for English, Maths, Science and Spelling.

Students in the primary and High School participated in the Young Leaders Programs run by the NSW commission for children and young people where they had the opportunity to meet other students from different schools.

Finally, I would like to thank the Hon. Laurie Ferguson for attending our assembly today. I would like to express our gratefulness to the Australian Government and the Prime Minister for the great support we have received.

Our thanks to Auburn City Council for their co-operation and assistance.

Thanks to our member of parliament Mrs. Barbara Perry, Auburn Police and Auburn Library.

Special thanks to our distinguished guests, School Board, Managing Director, parents, staff and students of Al Faisal College.

Last but not least many thanks to our Deputy Principals, coordinators, members of staff and students who organized this assembly.

May Allah Bless You and bless Australia.

I wish you all the best."