The rain could not stop "Rumble in the Jungle" on Saturday, July 3 at Greaves Field. Teams from ages 3 to 12 competed and had a great time. Congratulations to Coach Bennett and the PE team for their great work and organization.

Special thanks must go to the parents who cheered, coached and cared for our little athletes.

It was a great afternoon!!!

Before they left Prep School, Grade 6 wanted to hold an assembly to wow the entire Prep School. They did!!! Music, dance, wise words, Anancy, Miss Lou Bennett's humour and good-byes won the applause of every student.

Grade 6 Graduation was held on a rainy day, but the sun shined in the hearts of all participants. The choir sang, the dance club performed, Dr. Abrahams spoke and sang beautifully. Brianna Thompson delivered the valedictory address, and an unforgettable evening came to a close with the fantastic theme song of the World Cup.

Mrs. Lee's Graduation Speech

ACADEMICS
Once again we congratulate our Grade six teachers and students who have maintained high results in the Grade Six Achievement Tests...and this year has been the highest ever in comparison to the past 6 years. The overall average moved from 87% last year to 90% this year.
The average performance of our students OVERALL in the different subject areas are as follows....91% in Mathematics, ...92..% in Science, ...91.% in Social Studies, 89% in Language Arts and 83% for Communication Task. Special commendations are due to 7 students who received 100% in one or more subject areas. Nathan Dawkins was the only student to receive 100% in Language Arts, and Lauren Chin the only student to receive 100% in Social Studies. For Math, the students receiving full marks were Christian Alberga, Jacob Bicknell, Lisanne Hylton, Savannah Meeks and Peter Worton. And for Science..... it was Jacob Bicknell, Lauren Chin and Lisanne Hylton. Congratulations to all of you graduating tonight...you have done yourselves proud, your parents proud and Hillel proud.... Well done! Special thanks to their teachers, Mrs. Adam and Miss Hines, their assistants, Ms. Black and Ms. Bryan, and to Mrs. Rennalls from the Enrichment Centre, .....you believed in your students, and they did not disappoint you. This year, we entered the Lay Magistrate's Association of Jamaica National Essay Competition for Gr. 6 students, and I am proud to announce that Amanda Taylor was the recipient of a Book Prize from this prestigious competition. Congratulations Amanda!!!!Our Reading Week and Language Week Celebrations were superb, fun filled, and very informative. Professionals in these areas, as well as our parents, came out in every way, in support of these events so as to make them the success that they were.... and the students' enthusiastic involvement, was testimony to this. Our very informative assemblies ... the many field trips ... as well as the wealth of resource persons who visited our classes throughout the year, have all added to enhance the content of the rich and well-rounded curriculum that we have here at Hillel. Many thanks to all the parents who have shared their Professional knowledge in class, or who have assisted our teachers on these trips. I would like to especially thank Dr. Leon Vaughan, Mrs. Victoria Meeks, and Mr. Lenworth Samuels, Parents of Grade 6, who assisted in this way, as our students prepared for their GSAT. Our KFC Quiz Team fought hard in representing us this year, and although we did not move on to the second round, the experience was very rewarding, as it assisted them in facing the challenges of their exams. This year saw the rebirth of our Debating Club, undertaken by none other than our drama teacher, Ms. Hogarth with assistance from Mrs. Matthews. With will and determination in mind, we entered the All Island Junior National Debating Competition and reached the finals of the competition. The young debaters were superb. I must mention the Grade 5 students who started off the competition, namely Lauren Todd, Amendri DeMel and Jade May... thank you for getting us through the first round. But Lauren Gray, Amanda Taylor and Brianna Thompson must be lauded for carrying Hillel to the finals against Albion Primary. You all did an exemplary job, with such short time to prepare. We are so very proud of you. Our team won three trophies and one individual trophy. We copped first in our zone, first in the parish, and 2nd place overall, with Lauren Gray being the recipient of the trophy for the Best overall speaker for the final match. She spoke very well.....they all spoke very well. Well done girls! And thank you Ms. Hogarth and Mrs. Matthews. Staff Development The school continues to train staff as we add more interactive white boards to our compliment in the prep. The Grade 5 teachers received these phenomenal teaching tools this year and we will be adding 2 more to the Grade 6 classrooms for this coming year. Ongoing staff development exists throughout the year, and teachers are sent on local as well as international workshops and training in their areas of skills. Earlier in the year, the football coaches in the PE Dept. attended training with the Spanish football club Valencia, and our table tennis coach attended a coaching clinic. Three other staff members recently returned from teacher and Principal training in Florida. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all staff members who are presently in the process of continuous education, or upgrading themselves in any way, in order to make our staff even more qualified as we continue to improve the learning environment of our children. Let us now reflect on some non-academic areas and Special events which we are very proud of. Our students participated in a number of special events during the year. Our Heritage Week Celebrations, Carol and Hannukah Hour, Founders' Day celebrations and our special musical tribute for Child's Month with Dean Fraser and Friends, were all outstanding successes. Our students, staff and parents have much to be proud of, as once again we were able to produce events of very high standards which the whole Hillel community celebrated and enjoyed. Special commendation and thanks goes out to ALL the persons involved in the planning and execution of these magnificent events. Even our Prep School Dance, Drumming and Guitar Clubs are making waves, performing at major school events and assemblies. Our students are not only talented on campus, but also excel in other type of activities off campus, and we are very proud of their accomplishments. Lisanne, Joelle, Jada, and Brianna all excel in piano, and Fraser McConnell is one of Jamaica's top go-kart racers, competing locally as well as internationally. Sports In January a new Head of the Sports Dept. was named after Coach Konati resigned due to commitments in furthering his studies. Mr. Dexter Bennett took over the reigns, and has been working very well with his team in the Dept.
I would like to take this opportunity to laud and thank Mr. Konate, for his dedication and the hard work he displayed for his 3 years as head of the Dept.Once again this academic year has been a very successful one in the sporting arena. Our swim team entered 4 swim meets for this year and was faced with many challenges and stiff competition. Despite this, all the swimmers worked very hard and did their best. We continue to dominate the boys division, breaking records and winning the trophies for that section in all the meets we entered. Overall we won the Burger King Trophy, and came second by a very small margin in the other Meets. Coach Wendy and Coach Brown are to be heartily congratulated for their consistent hard work, not only in preparing the students through training but also in trying to convince parents of the importance of Full support in order for victory to be prevalent. Special recognition must be given to the parents of the swim team who gave their invaluable time to assist during these meets. Dr. Margaret Williams, Mr. Nadav Goren...thank you. To all the graduands who were, or are still members of the swim team...we are all proud of you. We must mention our 11/12 boys who gave our team the most points this year. A strong group of swimmers.....Yonotan and Barak Goren, Brandon Reid, Thomas John Williams, and Nathan Dawkins. Special commendation must be made of Yonatan and Barak Goren who both made the national team and took part in the recent CARIFTA games. At the final swim meet of the year, the Nestle Meet, Yonatan was named Most Valuable Swimmer of the meet, Congratulations to you both. Our Table Tennis teams must be lauded for the great improvement shown over the year and reaching the semi-finals and finals of the Oliver's Decorating Prep School Table Tennis Tournament. As Coach Daley stated, 'We have surpassed the performance of teams from previous years and continue to build a solid foundation on which future squads can be built." Special commendation must be made to Jacob Bicknell who placed first overall, and Matthias Cooman and Ashleigh Lowe who came 3rd overall in the individual championships. You fought a great fight to the bitter end, and we are all very proud of you. Congratulations to Coach Daley for believing in the team and to all the supporting parents who were there for our students, before, during and after the games. Our Football, Track and Field, and Basketball Teams all entered inter prep school competitions this year, and although not victorious at the end, it was a very good experience for our young athletes, who displayed excellent sportsmanship and did their best. These competitions also helped in building their character and spirit of competitiveness. The commitment displayed by all our coaches must be lauded. Thank you Coach Bennett , Coach Locke and Coach Konati. I must mention the honour bestowed to 11 members of our Football Squad, who escorted the Canadian Team unto the field at the Ja.vs Canada match earlier this year. I am sure the students were, not only thrilled, but captivated at being on the field during this game. Although there is no inter prep school tennis tournaments for us to enter, our students do enter as individuals. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Jacob Bicknell on how much he has excelled in Tennis, placing high up in the ranks at numerous tournaments in his age group and other age groups. I saw where his future ambition is to become a tennis Pro....well Jacob ..You are well on your way to achieving your dreams... You can do it. Our fairly new sport, gymnastics, although an afternoon activity, must not be left out, as Coach Konati entered a team from Hillel in a tournament. These youngsters did very well, winning gold, silver and bronze at various levels. Congrats to Coach and the young ones. Our IK and Sports Day were well organized and overwhelmingly successful. A very BIG thank you to the P.E. Dept. for a very successful and triumphant year. Despite the challenges you faced without a proper home field, you made it work!!!!!! Our non-sporting extra curricular activities keep growing, and this year we added Guitar Club and Debating Club to the list of over 15 activities. Chess, which has become a very popular activity, has seen our team grow from strength to strength. They have also entered interschool as well as international tournaments, and 3 students won Trophies this year at a tournament in Miami. Congratulations to Mr. Byfield I would like to thank Mrs. Lovette Bailey for her zealous efforts in creating such a wide range of activities, and for her years of service coordinating the non-sporting activities. Mrs. Bailey has asked to be relieved of this position due to other afterschool commitments, and I am sure on behalf of all the parents, I can say her efforts were very much appreciated as we try to build well-rounded students here at Hillel. Lovette....thanks again.
OUTREACH and COMMUNITY SERVICE
Once again we reached out to the larger community and participated in many activities in order to help raise funds for the less fortunate.
We teamed up with the High school and entered the annual Heart Fund Run, raising $1.3 million dollars and winning all the top prizes.
Well done Hillel! Our Christmas outreach programme, as well as several other outreach activities proved very successful, supplying goods and materials to several schools, and homes. We participated in the Race for Literacy Book Drive, which was a resounding success nationwide. Our students contributed in abundance to this great effort. Both the Prep and High school formed part of The Hillel 'Help Haiti' Foundation, which raised funds and made a presentation of $880,000 to the Salvation Army for the victims of the earthquake in January. The students were very willing to assist as they saw and felt the pain and suffering that these people were encountering.
Other smaller activities took place within the school community to raise funds for the less fortunate, and thanks to the efforts of our outreach monitors, many persons were able to smile this year. The charity project taken on by our Graduating Class, in conjunction with Food for the Poor, involved painting, landscaping and other exciting things. You will hear more about this from 2 students of the graduating class later in the evening. I would just like to take this opportunity to ask everyone here this evening to give a rousing round of applause to Mrs. Stephonie McConnell and Mrs. Nicola Bicknell who were the driving forces behind this project. This was an overwhelmingly successful year, for reaching out to the less fortunate.

Prep School Prize-giving saw many stars of academics and sport honoured before the School closes for summer break. The Table Tennis Team came second nationally and saw personal bests won by many players.

Music was the key to the final assembly of the year for the High School. Instruments, dance and voices gave the students a send-off as they awaited the beginning of final exam week.

Our Prep School Debate Team won the city championships, the parish title, and came second in the national competition; sharing the final podium with Albion Prep. Lauren Grey was awarded the prize for Best Speaker. Congratulations to Ms. Hogarth and Ms. Matthews for inspiring such great work in the first year of our involvement with this tournament.

The first IB Graduation was held at Hillel on June 3, 2010. Master of Ceremonies
Diane Chambers led the event. Music was provided by Mr. Paul Bennett.
The Guest Speaker
was the Hon. Ronnie Thwaites. The valedictory address was given by Ms. Viva Levee.