Open of the 2017 school year
We are delighted to have more than doubled our enrolment numbers this year, with 28 students enrolled - 11 in our new Foundation class, and 17 in our grade 1/2 class.
Every child was bright eyed on the first day, and full of excitement - not to mention all impeccably dressed in their very smart school uniforms. We didn't have to wipe a single tear even among the preps - nor among the proud parents, with camera shutters all aflutter!
We have welcomed two new teachers for our classes - Miss Claire O'Brien, a graduate of Tangara (a PARED Foundation school) and formerly teaching at Pymble Ladies College in Sydney, will be taking our Grade 1/2 class. And Miss Sofie Burger, formerly teaching in the Catholic system in Melbourne, will be taking our Foundation class. We are so pleased to have such wonderful teachers in our blossoming school community, and thank them for all the preparation they have already put into this year.
We were sad to farewell our inaugural teacher of last year, Miss Roisin Watson, who decided to return to Sydney to be closer to family at a difficult time. We thank her most sincerely for so capably leading our first class through its first year - at two different sites, and through various other logistical hurdles! A composite Foundation and Grade 1 class is no easy combination, and she tackled it with great success. She is a wonderful teacher - we hope to see her return in the future, and until then wish her all the best.
Upcoming Open Days
We are looking forward to showcasing our school at our first Open Days for 2017. Open days at Harkaway H
We encourage all families to attend in particular the Spalding demonstration - the College places a special emphasis on literacy in the junior curriculum, and is proud to employ the Spalding method, which is so effective in teaching children to read and write.
The Principal, Frank Monagle, will also make a short address, and will endeavour to meet each visitor personally.
Details:
Tuesday 14 February 2017 and Tuesday 28 February 2017
10am until 2pm
10am - Spalding demonstrationMorning tea provided
10.30am - Principal's address
20 A'Beckett Road, Narre Warren North
Please register your attendance by responding on our Contact page.
Upcoming information sessions
We will continue to hold information sessions in the home of current parents throughout 2017. These sessions are intended to be small and intimate. We welcome both those who are making their first enquiries and those who are already familiar with the school and would like to know more, or have specific questions they would like to ask.
RSVP by responding on our Contact page, or contacting any member of the School Board.
Wednesday 15 March at 7:30pm - to be held in Narre Warren.
Wednesday 19 April at 7:30pm - to be held in Endeavour Hills.
Report on Official Opening - November 2016
We enjoyed a lovely afternoon, with record crowds, to celebrate the official opening of our permanent site at Narre Warren North last November. In spite of the forbidding weather (rain began to come down in buckets a half hour before our scheduled start!), we hosted roughly 300 of our school families, friends and other supporters for various formalities followed by a sausage sizzle, and a jumping castle and face painting for the kids. The formalities included wonderful and memorable presentations from our Principal, Frank Monagle, our local councillor, Rosalie Crestani, our local member of parliament, Hon Luke Donnellan and from Damien and Tatiana Burger on behalf of the Board of PARED Victoria. We raised the Australian flag (or sent Daniel Carrick and Trent Thomas into the rain to do it on our behalf!) and enjoyed a wonderful concert from the school children, aptly led by their choir master, the same Frank Monagle!
It was a wonderful celebration - entirely appropriate for the occasion - acknowledging the contributions of everyone in our school community, and recognising all of the potential that our beautiful little school has to make a big change in our world in the future.
Footage of the various speeches will be made available on our website (in the Videos tab), and we also took the opportunity to use some footage to commission a short promotional film. We are delighted with the result - check it out here.
Media attention and promotion
We were recently the subject of an article published in several local newspapers -see here for one version and here for another - this is always welcome, as free promotion and advertising! We recently launched a bus advertising campaign, and have been delighted to spot the various buses cruising the local roads.
As mentioned above, we used footage captured at our official opening in November to commission a short promotional film, which has taken pride of place on our website - you can see it here.
We are gradually becoming well known in the area, thanks to these articles, the signage on the property and trusty word of mouth. Word of mouth is always the most effective method of promotion, so please continue to spread the word!
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Parenting tips
In a previous update, we announced the extra tab added to our website - "Parenting Tips" - featuring a series of articles with sound advice on a variety of parenting topics. We intend to include a teaser of one in each email update, with a link to the full article.
The articles are generously provided by Dr Andrew Mullins - you can see more excellent material on his site, Raised to Love: www.raisedtolove.com.
Teaching Virtues
Education in the Human Virtues as the Basis of Genuine Freedom
In Harkaway Hills College, we emphasise the development of human virtues as the basis of strength of character. Virtues enable a person to be self-directing in life - to be truly free. A virtue is a readiness in one's character to act in a particular way for a good motive. Simply speaking, it is a good habit and so is acquired by carrying out some good act with some regularity. Over time this regularity builds an enduring strength in one's character. Freedom is not mere freedom from constraints but a capacity to carry noble convictions into action. Too often we can find ourselves limited and inhibited by our own failings, ignorance or unquestioning conformity. The family, where an overriding motivation is the welfare of the other members, is the environment par excellence for fostering virtue.
Ultimately, the capacity to truly love others and to be happy is a consequence of character with a well-rounded development of virtues.
Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.
St John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis 10
