PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Dear students, parents and carers, 

Unfortunately, I write this in the middle of a period of learning from home and community lockdown, which is not how I like to be communicating with you all. However, hopefully with the restrictions in place we may all be able to be back on site soon. The staff at KKHS have been working extremely hard to make sure that the transition to online learning has been as easy and smooth as possible and are now working to ensure all the support that is normally in place continues online. Mr Rennex, Mr Grono, Mr Hill and the entire Tech team have been working quickly to make sure that school laptops are able to be borrowed to ensure all students have laptops and can connect to the internet. Mrs Weir, Ms Williams and Ms O’Halloran have been supporting students online with their learning and Ms DaSilva and the Wellbeing Team have been creating some helpful tips and links to support student wellbeing at this time. If you are needing any support, help or guidance then please look at the learning from home pages on our school website or reach out to our amazing teaching staff. We are also acknowledging our amazing students with our new feature KKHS STARs which you will be seeing on our social media. We are aiming to keep up some regular communication with our students and parents through email, social media and phone calls which we will be using more often the longer this goes on.  

We are trying where possible to maintain a sense of normality by moving things to an online learning environment. Our Year 11 Exams are moving to Canvas courses with students logging in to complete the tasks in a timed situation and utilise an exam timetable to replicate Year 12 as much as possible. We are also maintaining our current assessment schedules but looking at alternative tasks to support students' completion at home. Most students will also be aware of our Fitness Challenge which the amazing Lifestyle staff have created. In this platform students can follow instructions to complete a range of physical activities and can log this to add points to their year group total. The KKHS staff are also getting involved so there is some serious competition going in. If you need any information on this, then please contact Ms Gavenlock or your students Lifestyle teacher. 

As we approach the end of Term 3, we are obviously placing some of the usual celebrations for Year 12 on hold but are hoping that we can reschedule some of these in Term 4 once the scheduled HSC exams have finished. I would also like to personally thank and acknowledge our incredible school captains Riley Jones and Lillian Stewart and Vice Captains Ryan Ostermann and Lucy Bacon. This group of students have been exceptional leaders and I am hoping we get to formally acknowledge them at our graduation assembly in Term 4.  

Finally, we have some staffing news to update you all on; Mr Rennex, will unfortunately be leaving KKHS to take up a new position at Kotara High School, as a result, Mr Jacobs will support the Technology Team to continue the high standards in technology. We wish Mr Rennex all the best at his new school. Mr Buswell will also be taking some leave from KKHS to support the development of a transition program at Hunter Sports High School. Again, we wish him all the best. In more staffing news, just this term; Ms Brady has accepted a permanent Head Teacher position at KKHS and will continue to support Stage 4 and our Year 7 students to ensure they make a positive start to high school. Ms Golding was successful in gaining the Head Teacher English position so will now lead the amazing English and Quest faculty in their project planning and high expectations in HSC subjects. And finally, on a personal note, I would like to let you all know that I was successful in gaining the role of permanent Principal at Kurri Kurri High School. As most of you would be aware, I have been at KKHS for a long time in various roles and am extremely proud to take on this new role and new challenge. I definitely would not have been able to do this without the support of the Senior Executive; Ms Somerville, Ms St Hill, Ms Wilson and Ms Edwards. The students that continue to attend KKHS are totally unique and special, and I am excited to continue to support the school and students in their pursuit for personal excellence.  

I hope you are all staying safe and taking care of each other during lockdown and learning from home. Please contact the school if there is anything we are able to help with.

Alan Hope