Principal's Address

Dear Families of Killester,

It was wonderful to welcome back our Year 11 and 12 students this week, despite their slight hesitation at the start of the red carpet, we celebrated with great fanfare their return to face to face teaching. The attendance level has been incredibly pleasing and we thank all students and their families for their preparedness to engage in schooling with our newly established COVID protocols. This fortnight has provided us with an opportunity to observe the ways in which students move through the College and interact with each other. These observations and reflections will ensure we are able to adapt and monitor how our protocols are working in action. 

We are very mindful that the impact of COVID has reached well beyond the classroom and have made the decision to create a longer period of transition for changes to the College Uniform. Students may wear their summer or winter uniform for the remainder of this term. White socks are to be worn with the summer uniform and navy socks or stockings are to be worn with the winter skirt. The exciting addition of the College pants has been adopted by many of the senior students. Students may still wear their brown shoes for the remainder of 2020. By the commencement of 2021 all students will be expected to be in black shoes with the compulsory College socks. 

As our work on the Passion Projects draws to a close I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our students for the way in which they have embraced this new learning. The results from the projects have exceeded even our expectations with our students creating the most exciting and inspirational work. One key learning for us to take away from this very unusual time has been the confirming of the capacity our students have for extraordinary work when they are guided to follow their own passion. A few examples of the work involve one student making protective equipment for hospital workers, weighted blanket designs for those with autism, a new plan for our Kennedy Hall refurbishment, plus a myriad of others too numerous to list here. The students will have an opportunity to showcase their projects when all year levels return to school, this will provide us all with an opportunity to learn from each other and celebrate the wonderful achievements of the project work. 

As you will be aware our College calendar has had to undergo significant change for the remainder of the year. We will be publishing changed dates and rescheduled event information in the coming weeks.

My thanks continues to all staff at the College who continue to work in an inventive way to ensure the delivery of our wonderful curriculum for all students at Killester.

Ms Sally Buick

Principal