From the Principal

Below is an excerpt from my speech at the 2022 Annual Presentation of Awards, celebrating the achievements of our students.

Emily Dickinson, one of my favourite poets, wrote “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul. And sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.” Today’s celebration is about hope and community. We have all experienced so much in the past two and half years that has tested us as individuals and a community. As Shakespeare wrote in All’s Well that Ends Well, “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” We have faced the good and ill together and managed to achieve so much this year. We meet together as a community to celebrate and recognise not just our prize winners but each and every child and to end the year with hope and optimism.

Oprah Winfrey said that “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” I have nothing but praise for our amazing school, our beautiful students, our outstanding staff, and our supportive parents and School Council. I was drawn to Hills because of the promise of joining a close community and the opportunity to get to know the students and their families. This promise is being realised. The Spring Fair and the House Spirit Day certainly affirmed that my move to the Hills was a great decision. The staff, students and parents worked together to create a true community event for the Spring Affair. Everyone pitched in. Our students ran their own stalls and some even donated their profit to the school. PAFA and Council members directed traffic, worked on stalls, worked on the sausage sizzle, helped the student and did so much more. The laughter, the joy and the community spirit made so me so proud to belong to Hills. This pride was amplified by the House Spirit event. The teachers enjoyed the day as much as the students – perhaps too much when they were spraying slime or throwing muddy water at the students! Both events revealed how resilient, strong, and connected we are as a community. The most precious and beautiful things in life are associated with special memories and moments. We need to acknowledge this and celebrate these memories and moments as they remind us that even when we face ill together life is good.

Today will become one of those special moments to celebrate. Every time I see our musicians, singers and dancers perform words cannot express how happy they make me feel. Our resident wordsmith and inaugural poet Laureate, Maka Mbakada’s performance poetry reminds me of why I loved being an English teacher. She reminds me, as her first poem urged, to “Seize the day and sing the carol.” To the students who have achieved the awards today, we celebrate that you are shining the light on your genius. Congratulations!

The award winners and every student here today and at Hills are the beating heart of our school. Your education and journey to realise your personal best and beyond are paramount to us. Thomas Edison stated that "The greatest invention in the world is the mind of a child.” Our mission is to encourage our students to be creative and courageous and who have the entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to make an extraordinary difference to their future and the world, and value what it means to be an “Original”. One of my main goals this year was to empower our students to have a voice and contribute to what we do at Hills. The Education passport team, the Strategic Plan team and the Student Wellbeing team are contributing to many of our significant strategies at Hills. They confidently present their points of view and reveal how they are mature, perceptive and future thinkers. They are inspiring me and reinforcing my belief that education will only be extraordinary when students, teachers and parents work together collaboratively. All too often, education is done to children rather than involving them as agentic and active participants.

At Hills we aim to not only awaken passions and inspire the pursuit of learning in the classroom but beyond, enabling our students’ lights to shine and foster their potential for greatness. Academic excellence is not just about grades – it is about personal best and supporting and inspiring every child to achieve and go beyond their potential. This belief was reinforced this week when the Kindergarten children graduate and their video of what they love about school was shared. Here is an excerpt of that video to remind us all of how the present is full of joy, the future is full of hope and as a school community, we have much to celebrate.

Let's continue to celebrate our students in 2023.

Karen Yager | Principal