Hello, and welcome to the fifth of my monthly Principal's blogs. I will be sharing a new blog post on the first Friday of each month and in this post, I will provide an update of the school’s development, family information night, potential documentary, and our schoolhouse emblems.
Early Childhood Music Education
I am excited to launch a complimentary 5-week Early Childhood Music (ECM) program at many of the local preschools, set to commence later this month.
Muswellbrook Childcare Centre
Tilly’s
Little Kindy
Aberdeen Preschool
Denman Children’s Centre
Richard’s vision for this school was to implement a quality and sequential music program, and I hope to include an ongoing ECM program to expand upon the K-12 vision even further, making it a preschool-12 vision.
With research proving that most musical “aptitude” is set by the age of 8-9 years old, early childhood music is so very important for young children and is a wonderful way that the Richard Gill School can support the local community through providing this service. This ECM program from 2021 onwards will create a mentoring opportunity for local early childhood educators and will be provided at a very fair price to local families wishing their children to be involved.
School Development
We are excited to have finalised our schoolhouse names and designs. Please see the emblem for each of our schoolhouses, named after local National Parks, below.
A set back to the completion of the new Muswellbrook Shire Council premises at Campbells Corner has pushed our construction commencement date to mid-October. With only an 8-week construction program, this still allows us more than enough time to complete Stage 1 prior to the 2021 school year, with most works (possibly all) to be completed before Christmas. This will have little to no impact on the development of the school, but will mean our Student Orientation program tentatively scheduled for November/December will likely be located in the multipurpose hall (current Council Chambers).
See a sneak peak of our Stage 1 internal development plan below, which continues to evolve.
Recruitment
Our recruitment process continues, and I hope to announce our inaugural classroom teacher in next month’s blog.
Enrolment
Enrolments for 2021 are now being accepted, with 8 children already confirmed for our Kindergarten class in 2021. Please do not delay in returning your enrolment form. Our prospectus, enrolment form, and fee information can be found here.
I recently distributed materials relating to preparing for Kindergarten directly to all our prospective parents. A reminder these, as well as syllabus and curriculum Information (NESA) can also be found on the website on our Family Resouces page.
Documentary
Recently I have been contacted by a documentary filmmaker who is interested in capturing the school through its development phase into the first year of teaching. It is too early to know exactly how this may look, or even if it will definitely go ahead, however, I don’t think it’s ever too early to be excited about a potential film being made about Richard Gill School!
It was a pleasure and a privilege to be involved in a briefing session for some emerging research being conducted by Dr Anita Collins and her team about music education. It was wonderful to connect with music educators, researchers and policymakers from across Australia to discuss the challenges and opportunities for music education in the future. Watch this space; I look forward to sharing the report with you as soon as it published.
Family Info Night - at Richard Gill School
I have set the date of Wednesday, September 2, 6-7 pm for our first face-to-face “Family Information Night” to be held at Richard Gill School - 157 Maitland Street Muswellbrook (current Council Administration Building, in the Council Chambers). Stay tuned for follow up information regarding registration for the event, which will be conducted by closely following all necessary COVID procedures, as is becoming the new normal.
Final Thoughts
Finally, I do hope that everyone is staying well both physically and mentally through these strange times. For me personally, music has always been a safe retreat to find comfort during uncertain times. My advice to all is, delve into some treasured music from your past and discover just how important music is for the mind, body and soul.
Yours in Music,
Chris English – Principal, Richard Gill School