What a beautiful balmy evening we had for our Carols on the Green event on Friday night. I would again like to thank Mary for coordinating this event and acknowledge her bunch of merry helpers for making everything go beautifully on the night. I would also like to thank the other families who have helped out with Community Spirit throughout the year; Aimee for arranging the school disco, Christina coordinating the lunch orders, Kristie compiling the photo book which will be distributed to all students this week, Christie and Scarlett for arranging book club, Jodie for arranging the biggest and juiciest mangos we have ever had, Lara for coordinating the Montessoirée and many others who helped bring these events together. Without a parent to link up sound systems, direct parking, sell and coordinate raffle tickets, make decorations with the children and deliver Santa in a Mac truck these events can not take place. Thank you to all who have helped through the year, you create our Community Spirit and I am so proud to be a part of RMS because of this.
This week we look forward to having our three graduating ceremonies for those students concluding Primary School and the Adolescent Program. This is such a special time for you and we look forward to helping you celebrate this occasion at our End of Term School Meetings on Thursday. We eagerly await Keira’s return from Uzes Montessori in the South of France where she has been on a student exchange this term. The Principal of this School was so delighted in Keira’s approach to teaching English and dance with the children in the school and has said she would be delighted to take on any other students for an exchange going forward. The families that hosted Keira are very sad to see her leave as she had such a positive impact on their children but we are delighted to have her back for her graduation. Keira, from the Infant Toddler Program through to Senior School you have been a wonderful role model for our school. I urge families to attend our Year 12 graduation at 9am on Thursday 5 December at the Adolescent Program to hear our Year 12 student graduation speeches. We have such a fabulous cohort of Senior Students and this will only solidify why you have chosen Montessori for your child once you hear their speeches about their time with the school.
Next year there will be some changes to our Primary classes on the Rockingham site. Our Sea Lions Lower Primary class will be separated between the Jellyfish and Starfish classes. This will allow Manmeen to move into the Dolphins class, to replace our retiring Deb, as the Dolphin’s teacher. Sarah, the Sea Lions EA, will move to the Adolescent Program in the Barna Marlak subschool. In the Adolescent Program our six Middle School advisories are now full for the beginning of the year, and we have a rapidly growing wait list for Year 7 placements. Early next year we will be asking families in Upper Primary to confirm their intention to continue into the Adolescent Program to ensure we keep a space for your child. This growth in the Adolescent Program is due to the strong retention we have seen amongst families committed to our Montessori approach. Across the entire school our waitlist is on a first in basis so please let your friends know they will need to have their application forms in early to secure a place.
I wish you a very happy holiday season and we look forward to seeing the children return on 3 February 2025.
