Principal

Aaron Cox

Principal

I don’t know how, but we made it! 

Covid threw everything at Kingswood during Term 1 and we managed to just survive. Despite those complications, we managed to have many positive experiences for our children, including ice-cream days, a movie night, Early Act raising money for flood victims, 4 nights of school concerts, parent teacher interviews, buddy sessions, water safety days and much, much more. Everyone is now exhausted and in need of a break.

Kingswood staff have bent themselves into pretzels to ensure the teaching and learning continued as best we could with the cards we were dealt. With zero extra human resources available, we managed to continue to teach with the least amount of disruption for our children epitomising, ‘we are here for the students’. I would like to thank everyone for demonstrating we ‘thrive in a team culture’.

Woody Retires - It’s Time to Say Goodbye

As Woody’s official countdown to retirement begins, Woody will depart school for the final time on Friday. I thought it appropriate to share Woody’s story with the community. I have managed to piece together this historical recount of his time here at Kingswood by staff who were here many, many, many years ago when he first arrived.

Woody, our school cockatiel, flew into our school yard back in 1999, landing on Georgia’s hat. He was domesticated enough to allow himself to be scooped up by our concerned staff. Our two office ladies, Glenda Swinton and Cheryl Martin, looked after Woody as we desperately searched within the community for his owner. Back in those days we created handmade lost and found posters for the community, we contacted the local vets and put messages into our school newsletter. Unfortunately, no one stepped forward to take Woody.

Kingswood Adopted Woody and a naming competition was held. David in 6S won the naming competition by drawing links to the school’s name – Kingswood – wood – Woody. In his early years here at Kingswood, he would regularly fly around the admin building. He loved being in the library and would regularly sit on top of a paper mâché caterpillar.

Over the years, Woody has been lost twice whilst carers moved him to their vehicles. Once he was found by the Jeans family and the other, he was found in Eagle Court by a couple who knew he was the famous ‘Woody the cockatiel’ from Kingswood.

Over the years many different families have taken responsibility for Woody on weekends and over school holidays. We really do need to thank these families profusely for their dedication to Woody’s wellbeing over the past 23 years. He has built an extremely positive bond with his current family.

When Woody is with them, he is consistently out of his cage flying freely around their house. He sits on their shoulders and puts his head down inviting them to scratch his head. He is as happy as can be in this environment.

Our current foster family is so enamoured by Woody that they have searched for some time to buy a cockatiel that looks just like Woody. I am pleased to say they have a wonderful 4-month-old cockatiel. Together with Woody, they both bring great joy to their family.

After some reflection, I am now convinced that Woody has provided many years of joy, comfort, and distraction to our children. He has sung loud and clear for our students and at times is a little silly in his cage. But ultimately in his twilight years, I believe he is more than entitled to permanently enjoy his time together with a family that loves him very, very much. We shall see Woody move into retirement on Friday after so many years as a Kingswood staff member. This decision is in Woody’s best interest and I would doubt anyone would begrudge Woody more freedom in his twilight years.

Connections! Concert

Thank you to Narelle Vella for bringing together our Connections! Concert series in 2022. A wonderful achievement to do this in Term 1. There are too many people to thank for their tireless efforts and going above and beyond, all in the name of providing our students ‘a place to shine’. In hindsight, this was a massive, massive undertaking considering the shortages of people in specialised support fields and Kingswood staff. A huge thank you to all for going above and beyond!

School Review

Over Terms 2 and 3 we will be undertaking our 4 yearly school review. Right from the beginning of Term 2 parents will be invited to take part in focus groups to gather your opinions and thinking. Please keep an eye out for these invitations. Forums will hopefully be predominately held at night and at school to encourage open conversation. When the invitations are pushed out, we hope you’ll be able to join us.

We wish you all a safe and fun filled holiday and we look forward to seeing you all back here at the beginning of Term 2.