Hello, and welcome to the thirtieth of my monthly Principal's blogs. In this post I discuss our race towards the end of the year, upcoming performances, and plans for 2023. Oh, and Happy Birthday Richard! Our very own Mr Gill would have been 81 today, and we think fondly of the immense contributions he made to music and education throughout his life.
Richard Gill, 2005. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/AAP
Update
With only 6 weeks of the school year remaining, the children appear to be growing right before our eyes. We are looking forward to finally celebrating Grandparents Day next Wednesday, having postponed twice due to a Covid-19 outbreak that saw absences rise across the school the week previous.
World Teacher’s Day
World Teacher’s Day was celebrated on Friday October 28. On behalf of the school, the board, and our families, we’d like to wish a big, happy World Teacher’s Day to our wonderful classroom teachers Miss Presland, Mrs Sherringham, Mrs Clement, and our incoming Mrs Stanford.
St Anmorè (Stanmore) Festival of Music
Stanmore Festival 2019 - Image by Kris Egan
Tomorrow morning bright and early at 6am our children and their families are heading to Stanmore! We are so excited to perform at the festival as representatives of Richard Gill School.
For all your last-minute timetable and other event information, visit St Anmorè Stanmore Festival website.
We hope you can come and participate in the opening march from 11:30am, commencing at the Gill household, followed by the opening formalities at which the students will sing our school song composed by Nigel Westlake. Following the formalities, watch us perform a short program at the St Michaels stage from 12:30-1pm.
Upper Hunter Christmas Spectacular – Saturday December 10
Richard Gill School are excited to combine with Upper Hunter Voices for their debut performance at Muswellbrook Showground for the Upper Hunter Christmas Spectacular on Saturday December 10. The school will sing 3 short pieces as RGS, followed by a combined choral ensemble performing 3 Christmas themed pieces at approximately 4:30/5pm. The event is free of charge thanks to incredible local sponsorship and PowerFM, and will commence at 3pm, with fireworks to conclude the evening at approximately 9pm. We hope you can make it!
Enrolment
Enrolment is open to Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 students in 2023, and a waitlist is in place for Kindergarten 2023. To enrol or join our waitlist, please contact the school.
Enrolments for Richard Gill School are always open. Our prospectus, enrolment form, parent info and fee information can be found here.
Donations
Thank you to the QLD Orff Association who have donated a bass xylophone to Richard Gill School.
Thank you to one of our incoming Kindergarten families, the Melichar’s, for donating a wonderful, brand new, timber cubby house for our playground.
Media
As always, we do our best to closely follow music education advocacy pieces in the media.
Below is a link to my personal blog summary of the recent Positive Education conference. Thanks again to the Where There’s a Will foundation for sponsoring my attendance at the event, as part of 41 delegates from the Upper Hunter.
Re-Connect – Key Takeaways from the National Positive Education Conference 2022 – by Chris English
And an interesting article on the benefits of learning Music
If you want your child to be more resilient, get them to join a choir, orchestra or band – By The Conversation
At Richard Gill School, we start every day with whole school singing and do daily music lessons. All our children are by default part of our school choir, and various music ensembles throughout their music lessons. Our musical offerings will be expanded in 2023 through partnerships with the Upper Hunter Conservatorium of Music, which we look forward to sharing in the weeks ahead.
Yours in Music,
Chris English – Principal, Richard Gill School