Rising to the Challenges of 2020

We are very proud of the achievements and progress made at the Lion Library this year.

We have worked diligently at creating initiatives which address the school’s strategic priorities and as a result we have made significant impacts on teaching, learning and wellbeing. The library team has creatively addressed the challenges 2020 has presented and made some timely alterations and adjustments, to continue meeting the needs of staff and students.

We have added 735 new books to our collection and the school community continues to benefit from the many resources and links found under the ‘Learning’ tab on the Killara High School website.

The Lion Library is indebted to the library assistants Mrs Khoo and Mrs Emmerson who keep the day-to-day operations running smoothly and are always diligently supporting our staff and students.

Samira Chami

Teacher Librarian

Wrapping up the 2020 Library Challenges

This week the Lion Library celebrated the end of the 2020 challenges with a challenge completion ceremony attended by the recipients, the library team and the senior executive.

The challenges have had a significant positive impact on staff and students and have helped to promote a positive reading culture. We are grateful to Mrs Hanna for her efforts and assistance in promoting and driving these challenges over the course of the year. Collectively we:

- knitted 141 squares and made 5 blankets for the charity, Wrap with Love, and

- read over 1500 books!

The following challenge participants were awarded a special award and a book voucher to purchase a new book to read as part of our new 2021 reading challenge.

- Reading Challenge outstanding participation Saskia Pullar (7), Gabriella Mancini (7), Angie Ho (9),

- Reading Challenge high participation Charlotte Ward (9), Sejal Sinha (8), Diya Gambhir (9)

3rd prize Xi Xi Liu (7)
2nd prize Kate Hooton (9)
1st prize Samuel Yip (9) Samuel read over 77 books!

Knitting Squares and Word Challenges:

The student who helped us knit the most squares was Katie Sutherland (10) who diligently attended our Wednesday knitting club on a frequent basis.

Our challenge to learn 20 new Aboriginal words was won by Josh Simone (7) who got almost every question correct in our lunchtime Kahoot quiz.

Congratulations to all of these students.

Promoting Reading in 2021

Sign up for the ‘Read 21 Books in 2021’ Challenge - this week The Lion Library Team, in collaboration with the Literacy Team and the English faculty launched our next reading challenge. You may register online using the link below to read 21 books from the 1st December 2020 until the 1st November 2021. Drop in to the Lion Library for more information or to register in person.

Premiers Reading Challenge 2020

A number of Killara students participated in the Premier’s Reading Challenge in 2020, and were awarded with a certificate from the Premier of NSW, Gladys Berejiklian. A number of these students have been participating in the PRC every year since kindergarten. These students will also be presented with a PRC medal at an up-coming assembly. Congratulations to all the students who participated.

Pop-up Libraries

We had a successful stocktake of our older and outdated resources this year, which gave us the opportunity to buy new versions of our well-used classics collection, purchase new resources with an Indigenous perspective and to move our culled stock over to our Pop-Up library shelves. The Pop-Up libraries will be distributed in different locations around the school next year, giving students and staff with limited time greater opportunities to take home a book to read.

Senior Research Lessons

Killara’s exceptional teachers have been preparing their senior students for their up-coming research assessments by working with the Teacher-Librarians to conduct academic research lessons. Students are given specialist advice and tips to help them locate reliable and current resources from many different online sources. From our academic database, to the State Library of NSW and other reliable news and media sources, these students should be well-armed to face any online research task with confidence.

University Practicum Placements

Killara High School has had a long tradition of collaborating with universities in order to provide placements of practicum teachers with our staff.

However, during 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this restricted our ability to provide opportunities for trainee teachers being placed at Killara.

Fortunately, we were able to provide a handful on spaces during this year, but planning is underway at the moment to ensure we can provide a number of placements for practicum teachers from a range of universities in 2021.

The Annual Youth Forum

Each year, a number of our students participate in an annual Youth Book Forum. This is where a group of students from different schools, come together to form a panel, to discuss the Children’s Book Council of Australia 2020 Short-listed books for Older Readers.

This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the forum took the form of a one hour ZOOM meeting in the Lion Library. Together with Ravenswood and The King’s School, four of our year 9 students and two of our year 10 students participated in the forum. Our students availed themselves very well during this forum, discussing and expressing their opinions in this forum with clarity and composure. They were a credit to our school.

The History of Killara High School and 50th Anniversary

In 2020, Killara High School was to celebrate 50 years of being on our school site. (Killara High School actually commenced in 1968 and 1969 with our first cohort being ‘boarded’ at Turramurra High School while our school was being built.) Plans were underway to celebrate this important milestone in our school’s history. However, due to the COVID-10 pandemic, celebrations could not go ahead.

All was not lost! On our Killara High School website, a segment was organised for the history of our school. This is a work in progress, but so far, the following areas have been listed:

The beginnings of KHS
North Sydney Technical High School and Killara High School – a historic connection
KHS ‘Firsts’ – a historical look at the times that KHS has commenced an event, activity, an achievement etc., for the first time
The Decades – a chronology of KHS history – commencing from 1968 – 2020
School community focus areas: these are thematic histories of particular parts of our school’s history, e.g. Building Development, Landscaping of KHS, Languages, Music and Musicals, the P&C Association, Sports, Visual Arts etc.

Killara High School has a rich heritage, and a proud tradition that is worth celebrating! Please take a look at the history component of our website. If you are an ex-student or ex-staff member, and have any information and or images to contribute, please feel free to contact Francie Campbell, one of the Teacher-Librarians. Permission is also being sought to publish writings, artworks and reports written by ex-students that are in our Archives collection – often cited in The Green Years , the KHS newsletters, and various newspaper articles.

Francie Campbell

Teacher-Librarian

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