Hello and welcome to the monthly Principal's blog. In this post I will discuss our diversity, creativity, and athletic achievements including Kia Ora Youth Music Camp, Harmony Day, Swimming Carnival, Upper Hunter Show and more.
Kia Ora Music Camp
This week, our Year 4 cellists had the privilege of participating in the Upper Hunter’s 3-day Kia Ora Youth Music Camp. Kia Ora, which means "be well" or "be healthy" in Māori, is a renowned music camp that offers young musicians a unique opportunity to hone their skills and collaborate with peers from across the region. Despite residing outside the immediate area, our Year 4 students received a special invitation to attend. This camp is only a short drive from Muswellbrook and is closely aligned to our educational philosophy.
Students started the first day with a combined choral session led by Dr Aleta King, before heading off with their cellos for the first string rehearsal with their tutors. They will also be participating in Jazz Dance and Ukulele sessions with their tutors over the 3 days.
Kia Ora Music Camp 2024
Edie and Izaac, Kia Ora Music Camp 2024
Ms Ellis is also assisting with the strings, and we thank Mrs Lanegan from Blandford Public School for assisting with supervision of the small schools. Tonight, the camp culminates in a spectacular Finale Concert in Scone, where our students will showcase their talents. Wishing Edie and Izaac the best of luck as they take the stage and represent Richard Gill School!
Harmony Day
On Thursday, March 21, Richard Gill School came together to celebrate Harmony Day, embracing our vibrant cultural diversity. In 2024, our school community proudly represents a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, with over one-third of our families coming from non-Western backgrounds, including India to Zimbabwe, Ghana to the Philippines, in addition to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Patience, Nina, and Rhonda for graciously volunteering their time to share their cultural heritage with our students, enhancing their understanding and appreciation of the world around them.
Richard Gill School Harmony Day 2024
Our staff are looking forward to connecting with the local culture of the Wonnarua Aboriginal people through a visit to Baiame Cave with elder Uncle Warren McTaggart booked for the staff development day to commence Term 2, on Monday April 29 (with children returning to school Tuesday April 30). Baiame Cave is a heritage-listed cave and cultural site containing unique and excellent examples of Aboriginal rock art which is highly respected by the local Wonnarua people and numerous Aboriginal nations throughout south-east Australia and the wider community of the Hunter Valley.
Staff will also be connecting with the “Cultural Cohesion” team from the Association of Independent Schools (AISNSW) throughout Term 2 to engage with strategies to support our culturally diverse community.
Easter Hat Parade
On Thursday, March 28, we held our annual Easter Hat Parade, which is without a doubt one of the sweetest dates (quite literally!) on our calendar. The parade was filled with lots of excitement as our students proudly showed off their Easter hats, which looked amazing, as always.
Our students and families go to great lengths to create their hats, and they never fail to impress! The parade was followed by an Easter Egg raffle, generously organised by the P&F, which raised $341 - including some generous donations. It's times such as these that remind me how wonderful our school community is.
Library Bags
The Library at Richard Gill School continues to go from strength to strength, thanks to the generosity of some fantastic community members and their volunteering efforts. Mrs Jane Thatcher has been volunteering in our library for a number of years now, having recently retired from St Joseph’s High School at Aberdeen. Living close to the school, Jane has taken great pride in regularly visiting and constantly improving our library, building our resources, developing our cataloguing software, putting on displays and encouraging reading with the children.
Recently another volunteer of ours, Mrs Rhonda Fry, has produced some fabulous library bags for each of our children so they can begin to borrow books from the library. Rhonda donated all of her own material (in the school colours) and worked with the children on their own personal handprint design.
Thanks to these 2 wonderful individuals, and our staff, our library is now at full strength! Our staff, children and their families are so appreciative!!
Upper Hunter Show
Our first public performance of the year took place at Muswellbrook Showground on Friday May 15. The children sounded great and worked very hard in recent weeks in numerous rehearsals with Ms Ellis who has done a wonderful job in her new role conducting the choirs. Congratulations to everyone for doing their best, persevering, and demonstrating a love of learning.
Our first public performance of the year was a resounding success at Muswellbrook Showground on Friday, May 15. The children delivered an outstanding performance, a testament to their dedication and hard work in the weeks leading up to the event. Under the guidance of Ms. Ellis, who has done a wonderful job in her new role conducting the choirs, our students showcased their talents with confidence and passion. Congratulations to everyone for doing their best, persevering, and demonstrating a love of learning.
Richard Gill School, 2024 Upper Hunter Show Performance
Congratulations also to our students for their fantastic craft displays at the Upper Hunter Show! We received 2nd place in the group exhibit theme “Under the sea” (Infants school students), and 1st place in the group exhibit 3D model “Water Safety” (Infants school students). A big thanks to our learning support staff and SLSO work placement student Mrs Jane Finn for their coordination of the exhibition. Well done everyone!
Richard Gill School Upper Hunter Show Entries, 2024
Year 2-4 Swimming Carnival
A big congratulations to all our Year 2-4 students who participated in the swimming carnival! Your enthusiasm and sportsmanship were truly commendable. We eagerly anticipate announcing the winners and place getters at our upcoming end-of-term assembly on Friday, April 12. We extend a warm invitation to all our families to join us for this celebration of our students' achievements in the pool.
Richard Gill School Swimming Carnival 2024
Enrolment
The school is currently teaching Kindergarten to Year 4 in 2024, and is now taking enrolment enquiries for Kindergarten - Year 5 for 2025.
Enrolment Discount for Kindy 2025: Those families who are offered a position, and accept this prior to July 1, will receive 25% off first-term fees for the following year.
To request an enrolment interview, please contact the school.
Kindy for a Day Program: Not sure about enrolment yet? Why not send your child to “big school” just for one day, so both you and your child could decide if the school is right for you? Taking place May 17. Find our more.
Please visit our enrolment documents page to view our prospectus, enrolment form, parent info, fee information and more.
Donations
Thank you to David Miller, member of Grevillea Ensemble with soprano Wendy Dixon, for his contribution towards our Library Fund. Thank you also Jeremy Borthwick and Sue Carson at The University of Newcastle Conservatorium for donating 24 nylon string acoustic guitars in various sizes for future RGS student use. Thank you to the Darlington family for delivering these from Newcastle to Muswellbrook for us. We know our older students can’t wait to get started!
A big thank you also to BHP for donating $9,000 towards our music program including $3,000 towards existing cello tuition for our 2 x Year 4 students through the Upper Hunter Conservatorium of Music, the purchase of 2 x ½ sized cello’s at $2068.80, and the purchase of a clarinet, trumpet, trombone, flute, and saxophone to prepare for our prospective Stage 3 Orchestral Program.
School Improvements
During the school holidays our grounds contractors, AM&JD Contracting, will be installing a new front fence to completely enclose the front of the school grounds, improving the safety of the children in and around the carpark area.
Preliminary construction and demolition works are also taking place in the currently unused rear areas of the school as we begin to scope out the shape, size, and design of future classrooms for our growing school. As always, we welcome any contribution to our Building Fund as we plan and prepare for these works in the future. Contact the front office for further information if this is of interest to you.
Wishing everyone a safe and restful Autumn school holidays in the weeks ahead.
Yours in Music,
Chris English – Principal, Richard Gill School