From the Leadership Team
We Grow Through Adversity
Welcome back everyone to Semester Two, with a special welcome to a number of new students and parents. It has been wonderful to hear stories about family travels over the holiday break. We certainly have community members who have ventured far and wide.
As you know, I travelled to France to finalise a sister school agreement with Saint Joseph La Salle College in Toulouse. Gill and I then had 12 days on the Greek islands. We were delighted to run into a couple of Kilvington families and other people we know on our journey. It is a small world.
I want to thank our Academic Dean of LOTE, Lucie Dickens, for her concerted effort and persistence which has enabled Kilvington to develop a key partnership agreement with St Joseph La Salle College. St Joseph is a K-12 school of 1400 students, strongly academic and rich in technology offerings amongst other things. Toulouse is a world renowned technology hub and the home of Airbus, a tour of its manufacturing site is a must. St Joseph is a very good fit for Kilvington and will provide students with rich learning opportunities and experiences in the years ahead.
While away, it was great to have time to read up on some Greek mythology and Roman history, and stand where Socrates and the Apostle Paul addressed crowds. I also thoroughly enjoyed reading a book titled Beyond Belief by leading social researcher and commentator, Hugh Mackay, and valued the space to mull over words from the book Gratitude in Education which I have referenced before and is relevant to Semester One’s character word – ‘Gratitude’. The following quote stood out:
“a grateful person can be characterised by how they deal with adversity…grateful individuals are not naively optimistic, nor are they under some illusion that suffering and pain are non-existent. Rather, these persons have consciously taken control by choosing to extract benefits from adversity, with one of the major benefits being the perception of life as a gift” - Emmons and Shelton.
This semester we will focus on ‘Grit’ which can be defined as the combination of high persistence and high passion for an objective – a very important trait for our students as they embrace the many challenges during their education and personal journey at Kilvington. You can read more about ‘Grit’ on K Blog, where you can also measure your own level of grit!
Annual Concert
This year’s Annual Concert will be held at Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University, Clayton on Friday 12 August from 7.30pm. Tickets will be available from the Kilvington website from Monday at 9.30am.
Staff
We welcome Mr Matthew Allanby as a new French language teacher, and Ms Melissa Gregory as a Music teacher.
Mr Sasha Stella, Academic Dean of Performing Arts, has resigned for personal reasons. We wish him all the best in the future.
Junior School Development
During the holidays, excellent progress has been made with the development of the Junior School amenities and staff resource area. The completed works will include the addition of new boys’ toilets and a complete upgrade to the existing girls’ toilets. Completion is expected by 11 August.
The upgrade to the ELC kitchen and staff space is also under development and completion is expected by 29 August. For safety reasons, it is essential that students and families do not enter any building site.
We are making good progress on The Green refurbishment and I will provide you with updates as they come to hand.
Level Crossing Project
The Level Crossing Project is on track and while it has created inevitable issues for us all, the project management team has done an exceptional job to remain sensitive to our safety needs.
Please remember that traffic is one way south along Katandra Road and parking is limited to the area between Oakleigh Road and Leila Road only. Trucks will continue to travel along Katandra Road as they transport soil from the tracks to EE Gunn and other locations. Truck drivers have been briefed to take particular care when travelling past the School. But it is essential that Junior School parents are vigilant when driving, parking and dropping off their children.
I look forward to an outstanding second semester and, as always, I feel blessed to be part of this inclusive and exceptional community.
Jon Charlton, Principal