Hello, and welcome to the twenty-eighth of my monthly Principal's blogs. It has been an action-packed month. In this post I share the huge array of wonderful activities the students and staff have engaged in, Early Childhood Music, Bus Turning Bay, Kindergarten at capacity and more.

Update

Today sees the end of Week 6, Term 3 at Richard Gill School. Our students have engaged in a wide range of learning activities throughout August, including Book Week, an author visit from Nicola Bolton, excursions to the Library and Art Gallery, guest music teaching from the wonderful Danielle Abbott at the National Music Teacher Mentoring Program, a Magic Show on resilience from Joel Howlett, a puppet show about Waste Management from Muswellbrook Shire Council, and more!

Staff have also partnered with local visible learning organisation, Where There’s a Will, and we’ve welcomed new volunteers into our school who have been so valuable. We’ve also seen the finishing touches of our 3rd classroom commence completion, with our glass sliding doors recently installed. Today staff and students are encouraged to celebrate Jersey Day, which aims to raise awareness about organ donation. See more information here.

Early Childhood Music at Muswellbrook Pre School

At Richard Gill School, sharing music and delivering structured music education is part of our core philosophy. We also believe giving opportunities to children to enjoy and learn music from a young age is critically beneficial to their learning and development - and lots of fun! For these reasons we like to find ways to share music with the community outside of school grounds which is why recently Mr English conducted a series of Early Childhood Music sessions for children at Muswellbrook Pre-School, which were well received.

MS Readathon

Throughout the month of August we had 7 students at RGS sign up for the MS Readathon, raising money for multiple sclerosis. Congratulations to these students, their families, and donors for exceeding our fundraising goal by over 300%! We are so proud of our student’s efforts. What a wonderful result. There is still time to support this great cause simply visit the RGS Fundraiser page.

Bus Turning Bay

The school is currently embarking on a fundraising quest to allow the completion of a safety access road to accommodate large bus access to the front of the school. As our student population continues to grow, we are eager to ensure access via our carpark and via bus transportation is as safe as it can possibly be.

We are grateful to Bengalla Mining Company who has already contributed $10,000 towards the completion of our Bus Turning Bay from their Community Development Fund. We will continue to keep you up to date with the progress of the project and our fundraising goals.

Enrolment

We are excited to announce that our Kindergarten class for 2023 has reached capacity and families can now join the waitlist. What makes this such encouraging news is that the community of Muswellbrook are recognising the importance of a musical education!

Enrolments for Richard Gill School are always open. Our prospectus, enrolment form, parent info and fee information can be found here.

Media

Good news for the musicians, and of course all the Richard Gill School students; “Researchers find link between learning instrument while young and improved thinking skills later in life” Read article.

St Anmorè Festival of Music

Richard Gill School students are excited to be preparing to perform at the St Anmorè Festival of Music to be held in Stanmore, Sydney, on Saturday November 5. The festival was created in honour of Richard Gill, and is a free-to-attend, open-air style event featuring a diverse range of musical performances. We would love to see you there!

From all at RGS, we hope you enjoy a warmer month ahead as we embrace the beginning of Spring.

Yours in Music,

Chris English – Principal, Richard Gill School

Principal's Blog 028 - Early Childhood Music, Bus Turning Bay and Kindergarten.