As the year draws to a close, we are proud to say this has been one of the most significant and exciting years in the schools 124-year history.

For NEGS, 2018 has seen the dawn of a new era for sport and our recent alliances.

Some of the states top sporting bodies and generous support from philanthropic donations has made our dreams of creating a world-class regional sporting hub a reality, principal Mary Anne Evans said.

In November we announced we would begin work on the NSW NEGS Regional Sporting Complex, a new $1.5 million multi-purpose facility that will benefit not only the students but the entire New England community.

This will see a state-of-the-art synthetic hockey field built to Federation of International Hockey standards, a rugby field, athletics track, nine netball courts and two tennis courts resurfaced with artificial turf.

The sporting complex will be among the best multi-sport venues in the region, providing NEGS athletes with a cutting edge facility for daily training and competition.

This memorable occasion also coincided with the announcement that in 2019 NEGS would implement three major player pathway programs supported by state sporting bodies including NSW Rugby, Hockey NSW, Netball NSW, and the UNE Lions, Mrs Evans said.

As teachers, we believe that school is about broadening knowledge, providing enduring experiences and allowing students to absorb everything that a bespoke education like NEGS has to offer.

This year, we have filled the hearts and minds of our students, and our burgeoning reputation has seen strong growth in enrolments for 2019.

We have filled classrooms with ceramics and robots, violins and bottle-fed baby lambs. We have sent students overseas to Cambodia, China, Canada and South Africa on Round Square trips and exchanges, competed at EKKA, IGSSA, Australian Interschools, Melbourne International and in Malaysia and New Zealand for Equestrian.

We have hosted Hockeyroos stars Georgie Morgan and Kate Hanna and welcomed Australias first rally champion and Old Girl Molly Taylor back for a wonderful Valedictory Day.

NEGS has also enjoyed a full program of music with our junior school boys and girls performing at IPSHA along with a number of twilight concerts, performances at the Armidale Eisteddfod and workshops with visiting performers, throughout the year.

Outstanding is a word often used to describe the calibre of teaching staff at NEGS.

This is especially true of NEGS transition teacher Catherine McCann,who earlier in the year was the recipient of a National Excellence in Teaching Award, and was one of 12 selected from a field of 1450 of Australias top educators.

All of our academic cohorts have gone above and beyond this year and supported the expansions, the changes and all of our exciting new developments with passion and grace.

NEGS is 125 years young next year. This significant milestone is all the more poignant as we reflect, and then celebrate the bright future of our wonderful school.