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Look! We Have Come Through!

27 November 2020

The end is nigh (of 2020 that is), and this newsletter is the last for the year. What a year! Without comparing our challenges with those of earlier generations, as D H Lawrence put it in a classic poem after the end of WW1, We have come through!! Not unscarred, but we have come through and are still standing and moving forward. This moment is one to thank every single member of the Glenaeon community for their good will, and hard work. We have come through together and demonstrated the resilience and community spirit that Glenaeon stands for. My personal thanks go to all staff, students and parents for your support through this most trying of years. Our Executive team for Risk Management has carried the core responsibility for emergency management and I pay tribute to their collaborative work over the past nine months of the pandemic:

  • Deputy Heads of School Dani Finch and Elizabeth Nevieve,
  • Preschool Director Peggy Day,
  • Operations & Facilities Manager Chris Scrogie,
  • Finance Manager Rohan Wijesinghe

Educational Executive members Brigitte Tietge-Rollans (Daily Coordinator) and Catherine Pilko (Castlecrag Senior Teacher) have served the school to ensure all our day to day processes have continued unabated despite the severe pressure of the pandemic. All our staff members have gone the extra mile above and beyond the call of duty, and I thank each and every one.

Christmas Festivities:

COVID-19 has had an impact on our Christmas festivities, so our traditional and much-loved Carol Service and Shepherds Play have been cancelled. In their place the following will occur at the Middle Cove campus for students and teachers. Unfortunately, our COVID controls mean that parents are unable to attend, so we will be recording and distributing parts of the following:

 

  • Christmas Gala Concert on the Oval: Wednesday December 2nd 9.30am

 

The Spring Festival was such a success in the round on the oval that we will be hosting a Christmas end of year event with the same format. It will be an opportunity for all the music ensembles to perform, as they have been starved of opportunities throughout 2020. Students from Class 3 to Year 11 will be seated in the large circle format and we will enjoy music with a Christmas flavour. Performing will be:

 

  • All Class and Year ensembles from Class 4 to Year 8: Strings, Woodwinds and Concert Bands
  • String combinations from high school: violin trio and cello duets
  • Glenaeon Big Band
  • Glenaeon Jazz Combo

There are 25 items on the program, almost all with a Christmas flavour. We are so sorry parents will not be able to join us, but in the outdoor setting, you will probably be able to hear us in Roseville.

  • Christmas Festival: Tuesday December 8th through the day

In place of the Carol Service there will be a number of short assemblies (similar to the Winter Festival) in a carol service format with two or three year groups in each. There will be readings, an Advent wreath with candles and some beautiful carol singing (COVID controlled of course).

Farewell Joy Day

The end of year marks the end of Joy Day’s association and key supporting role in Parent Education at Glenaeon: see later in this Newsletter. Joy has a long association with the school. Her son Max graduated from our Year 12 in 1999 with a stellar result in Mathematics, an ability which went on to earn him a University Medal from the University of Sydney and then a PhD from the University of Oxford. Joy’s four step daughters with husband Malcolm Day (a long term Board member of the school) all graduated from Glenaeon.

Over the past eight years Joy has volunteered an immense amount of time in contributing ideas and organising energy to our Parent Education program. Along with Mary Heard and Catherine Pilko, Joy prepared each term’s program with care, insight and understanding of what was needed to support our parent community. She was foundational in establishing Raphael’s Rooms, our adjunct therapeutic program, and in 2019 she almost singlehandedly carried off our Waldorf100 celebration day at Castlecrag. Joy’s immense passion and dedicated action for Steiner education in general and Glenaeon in particular has inspired countless parents and teachers. I will personally miss Joy’s infectious enthusiasm for new ideas and perspectives that could contribute to a better and wider understanding of what the school stands for.

Joy, we thank you and wish you all happiness in the next phase of your life. I cannot imagine you motionless, so look forward to seeing you bring a grandchild or two to Playgroups, and continue your association with Glenaeon in some other, less demanding ways. Thank you!

End of Year

  • Issue #13 of AEON our school magazine will be delivered home via your eldest enrolled child by the last week of term: please enjoy a good read of the articles chronicling our journey this year.
  • Reports for Class 3 to Year 10 will be issued by email in the last week of term. If for any reason you do not receive one, please contact the Middle Cove office.

Wednesday December 9th is the last day for students and there will be communication from teachers regarding activities and clean up for each year level. Teachers have professional learning days over Thursday and Friday (10th and 11th) concluding with our staff Christmas party on Friday evening. The School office at Middle Cove will close on December 23rd and reopen on January 11th 2021. Term 1 will commence on Wednesday January 27th.

May I wish all families a fulfilling Christmas period and a restful break over the summer. See you in 2021!

Andrew Hill
Head of School