The term is rapidly drawing to a close and as is often the case at this time of year, it is time to farewell a number of staff members who will be leaving Wyvern at the end of the year. Ms Malia Fineone and Mr James Morgan have made wonderful contributions as teacher interns this year. We wish them well in the next phase of their teaching careers. Mrs Melanie Bryden, our exemplary Year 5 Team Leader, will be on maternity leave in 2015. We wish Melanie and Alex every best wish over the exciting months ahead and look forward to seeing Melanie back at Wyvern later next year. Mr Sean Casham (Year 6 Teacher) leaves us after 3 tremendous years of service. We wish Sean every success in his relocation to Wollongong.

And finally, after 25 years of remarkable service to the students, parents and staff at Wyvern, Mr Stuart Brown will retire at the end of the year. Please see the article about Stuart’s wonderful career in this newsletter. Suffice to say, Stuart has made an outstanding contribution and will be greatly missed by the Wyvern Community.

New Appointments for 2015

After a rigorous recruitment process in which we had an exceptional field of candidates, I am pleased to announce the following appointments for 2015.

ICT Teacher/Facilitator

Mr Chris Patel: currently Head of Learning Technologies and Director of ICT, Thomas’ Clapham London Day School.

Class Teachers

Ms Meg Brown (Y3): currently Year 2 teacher at St Catherine’s School, Waverley.  Mrs Sara Ratner (Y6): currently CEO of The Prep School, Double Bay; previous roles include primary class teacher at PLC, Hale School and Head of Gifted and Talented of Middle School at Moriah College.  Ms Rachel Dillon (Y5) and Ms Aimee Parkinson (Y1): currently regular relief teachers at Wyvern with extensive experience in NSW public and independent school sectors.

Other Changes for 2015

Ms Cate Fryda and Mrs Debra Malkki will move into the Learning Enhancement Team.  Mrs Fryda will continue to take the lead on implementing our Building Learning Power strategies.

Annual Prize Giving

A reminder that this year’s Annual Wyvern Prize Giving for students in Years 3 – 6 will take place in Centenary Hall on Monday 8 December at 9:00am. Students are asked to meet their class teachers at the Senior School outside the Music Centre (next to Centenary Hall) no later than 8:30am wearing their summer uniform minus black cap. The conclusion of the ceremony marks the official end to the school year. Following Prize Giving we invite parents and students to join Wyvern staff for morning tea in the AJ courtyard area at the very end of the driveway.

Finally

Finally, I sincerely thank all parents for such strong support of your both boys and the staff at Wyvern this year. I also acknowledge and thank the wonderful staff team for a year of great energy and purpose. 2014 has been a year of many successes, achievements, gains, superb effort of students and teachers; our partnership with parents has been at the heart of this. I wish you all wonderful festive season.

Ian Holden
Head of Wyvern House