As you are all aware, this year has been a special year in the history of our school as we celebrated 45 years of offering a Montessori education in the Adelaide Hills.  Turning 45 has been a significant milestone in our school’s history.  It has been a time to celebrate our achievements, reflect upon our growth, feel pride in what we have developed over the years and be grateful for the work of the pioneering families and staff who worked so hard in the early years to establish the school.  

In Term 2 this year we came together as a school community and held a lunch at Howard Vineyard to commemorate The Hills Montessori School's 45th anniversary. Past and current staff, parents, old scholars, and Life Members joined us for this special occasion. It was wonderful to come together with a diverse group of individuals representing different eras in our school's history, all celebrating our collective accomplishments over the past 45 years.

We launched The Hills Montessori School Foundation this year which is a new and exciting venture for our school.  The HMS Foundation will provide resources, funding and support through the provision of new and improved educational and learning facilities. It will also provide a way for current and past students, staff and parents to stay connected with our school through events and get togethers.

Recently we gathered with past staff at a morning tea to celebrate the school’s 45th anniversary and last week we came together as a school community at the Family Picnic and Colour Run at the Bridgewater Oval.

Looking back….… what a wonderful year it has been!  I feel very proud of the wonderful community that we are, and I hope you also feel that pride.  What an amazing and unique place we have and continue to create together as a community, for our children and young people, to learn and grow.  

Cathy France

Principal

Hooray for the Family Picnic and Colour Run! We had a fantastic time on Friday, gathering with students, families, staff and friends from our school community. Thank you to everyone who participated across the afternoon and evening. Coming together creates a profound sense of unity, fostering an essential connection that contributes to our well-being, is profoundly gratifying and a whole lot of fun!

A big thank you to Georgia Richmond and the Fundraising committee, who have organised this event two years in a row and do a wonderful job of bringing it all together. Special thanks to the parent volunteers whose efforts were instrumental in making it an outstanding success - Vanessa Baryczka and Nicole Killey who ran a successful bar and Bec Zahra who assisted in getting it organised; Che Zahra who prepped, cooked and served the most delicious paella meals; thanks also to his assistant chef Fab Bonilla; to Sascha Ferguson and Alex Winslow, our chief BBQ’ers; Tim McNamara from Hokey Pokey who organised the pop-up Hokey Pokey icecream van that kept the sweet tooths happy; and Caitlin Fry our brilliant bag piper who led the Colour Run participants to the start line. Thanks also to Tim Standing and Nick Tate who photographed the event. 

Our Cycle 4 students have created an impactful artwork titled 'Aftermath,' which delves into the profound impact of bushfires, and has been shortlisted in the Adelaide Festival Create4Adelaide competition.

The exhibition spans diverse forms, from visual arts like drawing and photography to written, musical, and filmed pieces. Focused on climate activism, this inaugural event empowers young voices against climate change. 

Now, our Cycle 4 students need your votes for the 'people's choice' award, with winning artwork featured in the 2024 Adelaide Festival. 

Experience the video installation, 'Aftermath,' by visiting create4adelaide.au, and feel free to cast your digital vote before December 6th!

Navigate to the 6th page of the competition (by clicking ‘Next’), where all the video installations are located. If successful, Cycle 4 will have their work featured during the Adelaide Festival, running from February 29 to March 17, 2024, at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens’ Bicentennial Conservatory.

Our Outdoor area has provided much stimulating work and play in this warmer weather. Our little Mud Kitchen has proven particularly popular to experiment with mixing the leaves, water and dirt. Many variations of the water play have presented themselves, and we have 'followed the child', allowing experiments with making 'rain' pouring water through strainers verses closed pots and taking delight in the escaping water. 

In the preschool we have been watching and observing chickens hatch out of eggs in the incubator. This has been a part of our introduction to vertebrates and birds as one of the five vertebrate classes.  

The children have learnt about the life cycle of a chicken, the parts of a bird, how to care for chicks (eg. food, water and warmth) and how to handle the chicks carefully. When handling the chicks, we made a ‘house’ with our hands to ensure the chicks are comfortable and safe. Some of the children could easily sit holding and observing the chicks for the whole morning!

 Ava S: “They are pecking out!”

Luca: “It’s so warm (feeling the temperature of the incubator)”.

Annabel W-K: “The eggs are hatching a bit more”.

Clement: “I saw a beak pop out”.

Hawk: “I can see his two wings and claws” “What colour is its eyes?” “They are black”.

This term in Cycle 1 Primary, we have embarked on an exciting journey through the solar system and its connection to understanding time. Our young learners are naturally curious, which shines through in their questions about the mysteries of the universe. 

Where does it end?

How did it begin?

But where did the ‘BANG’ come from?

What was air before it was air?

What makes water and why is it here on Earth?

Where did the moon come from and what's inside of the moon?

Which planets go where and how far away are they, can I see them?

What was before the universe?

In our quest to understand and answer some of the questions, we have learnt all about the beginning of the universe, the names of the planets of our solar system and where they are in relation to Earth and the sun. We have pondered the enormity of the sun and learnt that our big star, the Sun, takes centre stage, illuminating the planets, moons, and asteroids that orbit around it. 

The children have been experimenting with clay models to represent the Earth's orbit around the Sun, its rotation on its axis and the moon's orbit around the Earth.  We have  begun to relate it to the passage of time. Some connections from students included: “Oh I get it, just like our birthday celebrations, we walk the Earth around the sun because it takes one year for the Earth to go around the sun and we only have one birthday each year”. 

Elsie said “I learnt that the Earth spins on its axis in 24 hours”, Yushi agreed and said “we call this a day, there are 365 days in a year”, Ellis said “Yes, 365 days in a year”. Elysia said “the moon and the Earth take 12 months to go around the sun”. Corey suggested that the moon takes about a month to orbit the Earth and Alice said “there are usually 30 or 31 days in a month". 

In our Cycle 2 classroom, students have been enthusiastically engaging with our art and science units. This term, we've explored textile art, drawing inspiration from the Yarreltye Arrente artists from Alice Springs; our children have created colourful fabric applique self-portraits. Additionally, we've ventured into the world of fibre sculpture, crafting yarn sticks inspired by the Tjanpi Desert weavers. This hands-on activity took us into the bush, where students selected sticks and branches, engaging in a meditative wool wrapping and knotting process, similar to the Tjanpi Desert weavers' practices.

Through light investigations in science, we have corrected misconceptions, discovering that light is essential for vision. We have learned that the moon reflects rather than emits light, and that white objects or shiny things cannot be seen in total darkness. We've also found that light can be directed around an obstacle using a mirror, and that shadows are formed when light beams are blocked.

“I’ve learnt that the moon is not a source of light. It actually reflects light”. – Mila M.

“Your eyes can’t adjust to the dark. You actually need a little bit of light to see”. – Iris W.

“You can’t see white things in the dark. You need light to help you see”. - Harry.

The Buddy Reading Program matches older students with their younger peers to promote connections between different age groups. For the older students, taking on the role of a mentor provides an opportunity to reinforce their own literacy skills. Explaining concepts and reading aloud helps solidify their understanding while boosting their confidence in their abilities. For younger students, being read to by an older peer creates a positive association with reading. It helps to ignite a passion for books and stories, setting students on their way to having a strong foundation for a lifelong love of reading.

We look forward to the continued growth and development of our students through the Buddy Reading Program. 

With the Wairoa students all back together again, the community is a buzz with a wide variety of CE, PE and Occupations options. Covering both the Wairoa middle school campus and the Yultiwirra Primary campus, students have been creative and enterprising, using different materials.

Nature Walk construction - The Nature Walk is a one-off hands-on mini occupation to be offered by our visiting Montessori friend and nature guide, Jimmy Sanderson, with help from Wairoa guides: Gabes, Rob and Pippa. Blending opportunities for map-building, trail construction, research, graphic design and contact with our young friends at the primary campus in Cycle One, this group are working to develop a nature trail for young children in the bush area off the carpark at Yultiwirra.

Productive Garden - There has been some major progress in our productive garden with the installation of a huge archway. This will provide a framework for our passionfruit vine and wonderful focal point as an entry point to the productive garden. We also have put up the chook shed - recycled from Cycle 3, thank you! 

Floristry in Creative Expression - Gabes has led a Creative Expression group in learning about flower arrangements, and their creations have looked amazing so far. Thankyou to everyone who has so generously donated flowers and cuttings for the students to have an abundance of materials to choose from.

Illuminate Enterprise Challenge - Late in Term 3 many of the Year 9 students participated in the Illuminate Enterprise Challenge which aims to inspiring young people to address our community's largest challenges, by activating them to be confident, creative and capable. The week-long event was based mostly at Adelaide University and partly online. We had three teams of four students, who worked through a process from community need, to ideas generation, to social enterprise, to business plan. They cooperated on some intense timeframes to meet hard deadlines, and were judged against multiple criteria at each stage of the process. Every student commented on how worthwhile the week was, for a great, immersive, outward-facing experience and recommended it for subsequent Year 9s.

 “This challenge will prepare you for life by learning loads of new enterprise skills although I would recommend prioritising deadlines”.- Lily

“It is an awesome chance to make a difference and become more knowledgeable about the affairs / issues of SA.” – Lucy

“A creative challenge to think outside the box.” – Lila

Games Day was a huge success with students from Cycles 2 – 4 participating in 8 different stations involving teamwork and collaboration. Games Day is an opportunity for students to meet and work with students who they would not normally work with. This year we ended our day with all the teams coming together to create enough tension on the tug-o-war rope, that we could support a student walking around on the rope. It is a joy to see the many smiles on students faces throughout the day. The following day we had a mini version of Games Day with Cycle 1 and Preschool. 

 Paul from Headspace came to Wairoa and ran a workshop with Cycle 4. The workshop engaged students in the elements that make up our wellbeing and what it means to look after ourselves. Paul talked through several strategies to recognise the stressors in our life and how we can manage these stressors effectively. One example was when Paul asked a student to juggle several balloons. When it became too much, they could ask a friend to help juggle the balloons which represented life’s stressors. 

 Cycle 3 have been participating in Judo. These sessions have been led by Masa from UniSA Judo Club. Masa has taught the students about the origins of Judo as well as the etiquette and philosophy behind Judo. Masa has taken the students through a range of Judo activities such as learning how to fall, roll, and move with grace. 

Cycles 1, 2, and 3 have been outdoors in the fresh air developing their tennis skills during our PE lessons. Students have been covering the basics of forehand, backhand, serving and learning how to score. 

Wairoa students have been refining their skills for ultimate frisbee and field hockey. Students have developed their individual techniques and played several modified games to increase participation and success. 

The Hills Montessori School will be participating in the Stirling Christmas Pageant this year being held on Sunday 3rd December from 11am. The parade commences on Druid Ave, Stirling and makes its way to the Stirling Oval for the Fair and Market.

This year is the Pageant’s 30th birthday and the theme for 2023 is: The Spirit of Christmas. Our school’s interpretation of this is ‘Peace’.

All children (and adults) participating on the day are asked to:

· Wear a white t-shirt & 

· Either white or navy/denim bottoms. 

Children will be asked to carry a white dove (these are being made by the pageant committee & volunteers and will be distributed on the day). 

The cost for participating will be $5 per child which will cover cost of materials (adults who wish to walk do not need to pay but will be required to wear a white t-shirt and white or navy/denim bottoms). 

For pageant entry, REGISTER HERE - includes a link for payment.  Please register by Friday, 24th November. 

On the Day - Sunday 3rd December : 

· Please have your child/ren at our float on Druid Ave by 10:30am sharp (instructions on exact meeting spot will follow)

· Sign your child/ren in when you drop them off (even if walking with them) 

· Children will need to be signed out by a parent/guardian at the collection point on the Stirling Oval after the pageant. 

We look forward to participating in this great community event with you all & proudly representing our wonderful school. 

From the 2023 Pageant Committee 

Experience exquisite music surrounded by art and history as you meander through Adelaide’s iconic galleries, museums and creative spaces on North Terrace. With over 28 pop up concerts showcasing 40 musicians, this is a free event that includes a unique tasting menu of both chamber music, as well as music from around Australia and the world. 

Part of the day long program is DEM MOB who are performing at the South Australian Museum Front Lawn at 11am. Hailing from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, hip hop group DEM MOB are the first rappers to perform and record in ancient Pitjantjatjara language, challenging expectations and becoming community role models along the way. DEM MOB will perform an outdoor performance on the lawns at the South Australian Museum.

To see for full program for On The Terrace visit: CHAMBER MUSIC ADELAIDE - ON THE TERRACE