Our Jubilee Party

Next year Donvale will celebrate 50 years of God's grace to us as a growing school, from 90 students and 3 teachers on our first day, Monday 10 February 1975, to today, when there are more than 1600 students, at every age from Prep to Year 12, some 300 staff, a separate Year 9 campus 10 minutes up the road in Warrandyte South … and many more families waiting to send their children here.

Here's a rapid-fire look at how we've changed over the years;

And here's how many of our community recall those early days of faith and hard work:

Our year will begin with an extra special Founders' Day celebration in February - a whole school assembly, students from that first day in 1975 revisiting their journey to school in a 1979s bus, and the dedication of a History Trail, "A Story of God's Grace." The event will be video recorded and made available later in February.

During the year there will be alumni reunions for the classes of 2020, 2015, 2005 and 1995; dinners for past College Captains, past Board members and long-serving staff; musical and arts events will have a jubilee sense; and the year will end with a major Thanksgiving event for all the school community here on site. 

During the  year, too, students and families will be invited to follow a pack of cards - no, not hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades - but 50 suggestions for 50 acts of kindness, a fitting way to celebrate God's grace to us as a community, and a reminder of what sits at the centre of our school motto:

Act justly, love kindness, walk humbly with God

Now an introduction. It's high time for me to retire, and I will therefore be handing over my keyboard and other responsibilities to Janet Nyhouse, whom I am pleased to introduce through this short video clip below. She knows Donvale well, being one of those very first day students, the youngest daughter of our first Principal, Stewart Miller. She has a passion for Christian education, has spent much of her career in schools, and loves creating events!

And finally - as they used to say at the end of TV News - because it's Christmas, here is some light-hearted listening inspired by the song The 12 Days of Christmas. Written many years ago by Brian Sibley, it's narrated by the inimitable Penelope Keith.