IN THE NEWS
Daystar Appoints New HOS and MHS Principal
T
his fall, Daystar will be welcoming a new Head of
School and Middle & High School Principal！
Earlier this year, the Daystar Leadership Decision
Committee unanimously selected Ms. Gaye Rawding as
the next Head of School of Daystar Academy, starting
July 15, 2019. She will succeed Elizabeth Hardage, who
has overseen a period of tremendous growth for Daystar
Academy during her three-year tenure.
of school development (new schools through to mature
schools) will be a tremendous asset for Daystar. She
is committed to this position for the long term and we
believe she is the right person to lead Daystar to achieve
our vision of becoming China’s premier bilingual K-12
school.
Our incoming Middle and High School Principal, Mr.
Daniel Williams was also unanimously selected by the
Daystar Leadership Decision Committee. Similar to Ms.
Rawding’s appointment, Daniel’s appointment is the
culmination of a comprehensive, international search,
involving key stakeholders in our community. Both Ms.
Hardage and Ms. Rawding were consulted and involved
in identifying the five short-listed candidates.
For the past eight years, Daniel has been working in
Suzhou in two of the city’s top international schools:
Suzhou Singapore International School and Dulwich
International High School/Suzhou. At both institutions,
Daniel has achieved numerous milestones. They include
significantly improving students’ academic performance
and examination results that he was directly responsible
for, as well as overhauling and implementing key systems
to optimize student-centered experiences and student
learning. He is a passionate educator who cares deeply
about his students and his colleagues, is a team player,
and a lifelong learner. Daniel is deeply committed to
bilingualism, and to China.
Please join us in welcoming Gaye and Daniel into the
Daystar family. We believe they will be exceptional
leaders for our school’s bright future!
Gaye’s appointment as our next Head of School
represents the culmination of a comprehensive,
international search, with extensive engagement with
all stakeholders in the community as well as numerous
references for short-listed candidates. At the conclusion
of this comprehensive process, it was the unanimous
decision by the Decision Committee that Gaye is the
right candidate to lead our school into our next phase
of development.
Gaye is uniquely qualified for this position. She has
led educational projects in China for five years and
understands the unique challenges and nuances of
bilingualism and bicultural programs. She shares similar
values and aspirations to Daystar; values that have
guided her decisions as an educational leader. Her
breadth of experience, spanning geographic regions
(North America, China, Middle East), different age
groups (Elementary through High school), and stages
7