Last Friday saw the start of the annual transition program for the four new Kindergarten classes who will be joining us in 2019. This is always an exciting time for the children, their families and the teaching staff. The students quickly settled into their classrooms for some fun activities with their new classmates and it was wonderful to see how confident and relaxed they seemed within minutes of their arrival. The teachers were very impressed with them all and there was even some reluctance from some to leave when the end of the session came, all too soon. Whilst the children were having a great time in the kindergarten classrooms, the parents had the opportunity to hear from our guest speaker, Dr Kristy Goodwin. Dr Kristy spoke about the challenges of parenting children in a digital age and gave some excellent insights into some of the issues and important considerations for parents in managing their child’s ongoing engagement with technology. She also held a session of all parents of Junior School students earlier in the day. This is a vitally important issue for all parents and I would encourage you to take the time to access the digital summary of Dr Kristy’s talk using this link.
On Friday 7 December, we will be holding our orientation morning for all students who will be in Years 1 to 6 in 2019. As we did last year, students will spend the first part of the day with their 2019 classmates and, where possible, their new teacher. Parents will receive written notification of their child’s teacher for 2019 on the same day. The feedback from this morning last year was very positive and we hope that once again this orientation morning will help students to go into the holidays feeling more relaxed and excited about the forthcoming school year.
As we near the middle of the term, I would like to take this opportunity to update you on Junior School staffing for 2019. I am delighted that we have been successful in appointing some excellent teachers for the Junior School ready for a 2019 commencement. We will be welcoming Mrs Melissa Wardell, Mrs Virginia West and Mrs Alison Garner to the Junior School teaching team and are very excited about the wealth of teaching and learning experience this will bring to the School. We are nearing the final stages of our formal recruitment process and look forward to sharing with you further appointments over the coming few weeks.
It is with both sadness and gratitude that I announce the retirement of Mrs Jenny Phipps. Jenny has served with passion and commitment over such a long period; (23 years) teaching our youngest ‘Hills Grammarians’ and as such has had such a significant and long lasting impact on the School and its students. The entire Hills community is indebted to Jenny and we appreciate all that she has done on their behalf.
Please also join me in farewelling Ms Alexandra Cook and Mrs Virginia Gahan, who have been a pleasure to have in our classrooms, sharing their love of teaching and learning with our students and the wider School community. We thank them for their service and their dedication to Hills and wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.
Mark Yeowell | Head of Junior School
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