Mary Street, NORTHMEAD, 2152

Phone: 9639 8448 email: thehills-s.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website: www.thehills-s.school.nsw.edu.au

Principal and Deputy Principal’s Report

17 DECEMBER 2018

SCHOOL REPORTS GO HOME

19 DECEMBER 2018

LAST DAY OF TERM FOR STUDENTS

21 DECEMBER 2018

LAST DAY OF TERM FOR STAFF

28 JANUARY 2019

AUSTRALIA DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY

29 JANUARY 2019

STAFF RETURN – STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY

30 JANUARY 2019

FIRST DAY OF TERM FOR STUDENTS

Newsletter No.12

14 December 2018

What another great year it has been at The Hills School. We are so immensely proud of all of the students and all that they

have achieved throughout the year. Staff at The Hills School greatly enjoyed teaching the students and we have already

begun planning for new and exciting opportunities and experiences for 2019. While the end-of-year can naturally be an

extra busy time for us all, this time of year provides us with additional opportunities to get together as a school community

and celebrate a wonderful year of learning and community.

The Celebration of Learning is one of the absolute highlights on our yearly calendar. What a joy it was to see our whole

school come together with many parents, carers and community members to celebrate and acknowledge the great learning

and achievement of our students. It is wonderful to see the students take so much pride in their own learning success and

to also see the students openly celebrate the success of their peers as well. Thank you to Dalia for your great organisation

of the event, thank you to the staff for your assistance in the preparation, and thank you to the students for your terrific

achievements that we were able to come together for and celebrate.

Another special event has been the Year 12 Graduation which was held on Wednesday night at Springfield House Function

Centre. We had the opportunity to formally farewell nine of our amazing students. The room was bursting with families,

friends and staff, all filled with tremendous pride and a common desire to say ‘Well done’ and ‘Congratulations’. Thank you

to you and to the families of our graduating students for your involvement and contribution to the life of our school. It has

been truly fantastic having the graduating students at The Hills School, many of whom started Kindergarten here. It has

been equally wonderful having their families as part of The Hills School community. We will miss you all greatly, but wish

each and every one of the graduating students every success and happiness in the future. Congratulations and all the very

best to Nicholas, Navieen, Cedric, Fawwaz, Zach, Krithik, Zane, Matthew and Kyle.

School reports will be sent home next week. Teachers have spent many hours writing and coordinating student reports so

that the progress students have made can be recognised and celebrated. We encourage families to view the reports with

their children and together celebrate the wonderful learning and achievement.

As this is our final newsletter for the year, we would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all parents and carers for

your ongoing partnership as together we strive to provide quality, meaningful and engaging learning opportunities for all

our students. Thank you to all the staff who provide frequent and amazing examples of going ‘above and beyond’ to help

maximise learning opportunities and experiences and to provide support for our students and families. Well done to all of

the students at The Hills School for your positive attitude and commitment to learning. We love being a part of, and seeing

the wonderful learning that takes place on a daily basis. We wish everyone in The Hills School community a very Merry

Christmas and a safe, Happy New Year.

Peter Gurrier-Jones Neale Rudland Principal Deputy Principal

Gura WC Wanda Chan (Teacher) Eunice Yap (SLSO)

The highlight of Term 4 has been the Special Olympics Program where Brady, Matthew, Max, Siara, Netra and Kiddi

participated in lots of fun physical activities. They learnt how to walk along the line, put a ball on a target spot and kick a ball

as far as possible. In Week 7, Brady, Netra and Siara received special awards at the Celebration of Learning Assembly. In

addition, Brady won a Year 6 ‘Active Travel’ poster competition run by the Live Life Well @ School Program. He received a

$300 prize for the school and an individual prize. In Week 8, we participated in the Life Education program - ‘My Body

Matters’. This program concentrates on the importance of personal hygiene, choosing foods for a healthy balanced diet,

benefits of physical activity and sleep and ways to keep safe at home, school and in the community. All students were

engaged in this wonderful learning activity. Well done everyone on your achievements in learning this term!

Gura DT Dean Triffitt (Teacher) Leanne Armstrong & Kathryn Jollow (SLSOs)

Gura DT had a great Leisure Week, relaxing, learning, socialising and going on outings. One highlight of the week was going

to Featherdale Wildlife Park where we saw crocodiles, koalas, wombats, wallabies, as well as a variety of bird species. We

were also able to hand-feed kangaroos, sheep and goats! We enjoyed being outdoors in the sunshine, eating a delicious

BBQ lunch with the other classes and listening to the beautiful wildlife. Another highlight was our visit to Auburn Ten Pin

Bowling where we had fun knocking over the pins and even getting a few strikes. We would like to say a big thank you to

Yura TD for being our class buddy and also to our volunteers, Joanne and Karen.

Nura AP Andrew Petersen (Teacher) Glenn Hall (SLSO)

We have finished off 2018 as busy as we started it, making our Christmas woodcraft items and then having a great time

during Leisure Week. The students have worked hard during the term and are ready for a well-earned break. We would like

to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Nura PD Peter Dawson (Teacher) Matt Aguirre (SLSO)

This term has been busy for both students and staff. A highlight for the boys in Nura PD has been all the fun activities we

participated in during Leisure Week. We visited lots of interesting places such as the Blue Mountains, Clontarf Beach,

Windsor, Philip Ruddock Water Park and Lake Parramatta. On the last day we celebrated Paul’s 12th

birthday at Lake

Parramatta. Well done Stephen, Rhun, Aaron and Paul for putting in a big effort and making it such a successful week! We

wish everyone a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Nura DK David Thomas & Katie Groth (Teachers) Coral Boyle & Merryn White (SLSOs)

Our class had a fabulous day celebrating George’s birthday at Enzo’s Restaurant in Northmead recently. One of our goals

this year was to improve our social skills in the community when visiting busy places, so sharing a meal at a restaurant was

going to be a great test. All the students displayed excellent manners and really enjoyed their time being together to

celebrate George’s 15th

birthday. We ate lots of delicious food and then we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to George before he cut

the cake and opened his presents. Time flies when you are having fun!

Nura PH Paul Hughes (Teacher) Melissa O’Brien (SLSO)

As the school year draws to a conclusion, the students and staff continue to experience some life learning opportunities. The

highlight of this term has been a wonderful three day excursion to Canberra. Students were absolutely brilliant as they

engaged with five very different environments. If you had an interest in dinosaurs (as some of our students did) the Dinosaur

Museum was the place to be. Day two began with time at the National Zoo and Aquarium where we were able to casually

wander through and see wildlife from all parts of the world. A visit to Canberra is not complete without time at Questacon

and all the students were captivated by what they were able to see and do. Our final morning was spent at the Australian

Institute of Sport, an opportunity to feel like athletes as we interacted with equipment and visited the facilities. A truly

memorable three days! A huge thank you to all those who made Canberra possible and special praise to the students who

were fantastic and made us so proud! Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas holiday from Nura PH.

It has just been announced that Peter Gurrier-Jones is one of the Top 50 Finalists in the Global Teacher Prize, established by the Varkey Foundation. The Global Teacher Prize recognises and celebrates the impact that exceptional teachers have around the world – not only on their students, but also on their communities. Peter is one of only two Australian teachers to make it through to the Final 50. This is a tremendous achievement. When commenting on what it meant to make it through to the Final 50, Peter stated that his nomination was a sensational acknowledgement “of the work and love of all the teachers, support staff, families and community who help kids at The Hills School learn and succeed”. The Top 10 finalists will be announced in February and the final winner of the award will be announced in Dubai on Sunday 24 March 2019. Making it through to Final 50 also provides a great opportunity to help others know and learn about our

wonderful and amazing students. We wish Peter all the very best for the final rounds of the award process. Congratulations!

P&C News

to the following students from all your friends at The Hills School:

Matthew, Paul, Zach,

Thehan, Jaisleen, Miguel

& Dakshya

It is hard to believe we are at the end of another school year and for the graduating students and families it is their final few

days at The Hills School.

The Year 12 Graduation Ceremony was a beautiful evening celebrating and acknowledging the contribution these students

have made to our community and the staff who have had such a positive impact on their wellbeing. We wish these students

all the best in their post school endeavours.

It has been a busy year for the P & C and I would like to thank the Executive Committee, Gonz and the Transport Committee

and our Canteen and Uniform Coordinator for their dedication in helping everything to run smoothly.

The P & C are so very fortunate to have a brilliant band of volunteers who help Jo in the Canteen and as a community we are

very grateful for your continued support.

The Bunning's BBQ's continue to be a wonderful fundraiser and we again have a very loyal group of leaders and volunteers

that make these days so successful. Thank you to each and every one of you for being so willing to give up your time to

ultimately help the students.

A final thank you to a very special person - Jenny Harris. Jenny has over her 13 years at The Hills School, been heavily involved

in ALL aspects of P & C and school life. Jen you have made such a positive contribution to our school and you will be dearly

missed.

We wish everyone a safe and peaceful break. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Michelle Gough Pratibha Bhanushali Marjie Capple

President Treasurer Secretary

and

= HAPPY HOLIDAYS

We would like to wish all the staff students, parents and carers

a wonderful Christmas and

a happy New Year. May you be blessed with love and laughter during the festive season.

PETER GURRIER-JONES

ONE OF THE TOP 50 FINALISTS FOR 2019!