Message from the

Director of Co-curricular

Our Co-curricular Program

The Co-curricular program at Kinross has been integral to the school from its inception. The generosity of its staff and the vision of our predecessors has ensured that the programs that we run rank with the best in the country.  Our teaching staff has always formed the backbone of what we offer and given the students another pathway to build positive, ongoing relationships with their teachers. In more recent years, the diversity of our offerings has meant that we have had to seek co-curricular staff from beyond the gates of the school, whether they be parents, KWS graduates, university students or members of the local community. This is certainly a much bigger challenge in a regional area, such as Orange.

The strategic intent for Co-Curricular programs for the immediate future states:

CC involvement is integral to our school. We believe the provision of a well-balanced and developmentally appropriate CC program enhances the holistic learning opportunities for all students. The school expects a full commitment to the CC program and it is our intent to support all participants in fulfilling this expectation.

There are two significant areas that I believe need to be addressed to ensure that we can fulfil our strategic intent, Masters in Charge and The Athlete Development Unit. In giving an overview of these two areas, I am not neglecting Cadets and Performing Arts. I believe they have already established a sustainable model that can be emulated by our sporting endeavours.

Over the last two years, there has been significant work done on establishing a more sustainable model of sports administration. Whilst we have had well qualified, dedicated and experienced staff in charge of all our sports over many years, they have not necessarily had the time to manage the complexity of tasks involved in this modern age of sports administration. The challenges have continued to increase in parallel to the challenges of the classroom. The school has been developing a model where MICs have the time and expertise to support staff and students such to enhance the holistic learning opportunities for all students.

In brief, we are utilising a mixed model of MIC engagement.

The first tier of this model, involves teaching staff appointed to MIC positions being given a time allowance as part of their contract. This is the case for Ms Jade Georgiou who is MIC for Touch Football in summer and Hockey in winter: Ms Sophie Fardell has recently been appointed as MIC of Netball and Basketball (Girls and Boys). In Football, Ms Annaliese Stammer, has undertaken the role of MIC Football (Boys and Girls). We are currently recruiting teaching staff to fill the roles of MIC Cricket and MIC Water Polo and hope to have these in place shortly.

The second tier of this model involves non-teaching staff being appointed to MIC positions as their sole responsibility. Highlighting the efficacy of this model has been the appointment in 2016 of Mr Kim Taylor as MIC of Swimming. This has been a highly successful engagement and Swimming is going from strength to strength.  Recently, the Principal, Dr Parry, has appointed Mr Tobias Wehr-Chandler as MIC of both Rowing and Rugby. Mr Sinisa Kosarac has just completed a very successful season as MIC of Rowing, and his ongoing involvement in the Rowing program will help ensure a smooth transition for Tobias and the ongoing success of this program. Mr Richard Freeman is the current MIC of Rugby and is doing an excellent job, building on the exemplary work done by Mr Huon Barrett in recent years. Richard is an outstanding sports administrator, coach and educator and it is hoped that he will continue to be involved in the KWS Rugby program next year.

The third, traditional tier of teacher MIC has also continued successfully in other sports. In Triathlon, Mr Anthony Le Couteur; in WAS Tennis, Mr Yooie Choi; in Pedal Prix, Mr David de Bruyn. These teachers have done and continue to do excellent jobs in their chosen sports.

To ensure that we fulfil our strategic intent, each tier of the model will need to be monitored and evaluated over time.

Dr Parry also announced that Mrs Sarah Cook has been appointed as Rowing Coach and Athlete Development Coordinator. The Athlete Development Unit was first proposed at the end of 2016 and further developed throughout 2017, with the particular involvement of Mr Joe Priest and Mr Norm Moore. Sarah’s expertise and experience will provide significant impetus to this proposal.

The vision of Athlete Development Unit was to oversee the wellbeing of all students engaged in the school sports program and, ultimately, to broaden this to all co-curricular activities. Specifically, this vision is to enhance the ‘third pillar’ of a KWS education, namely ‘Athlete Development Unit’ to work in collaboration with Student Academic Services and the Wellbeing Team.

All Operational initiatives will be directly linked to the School’s Strategic Intents

• Close liaison with the SAS and Wellbeing Team
• Close liaison with the Prep Sports Coordinator
• Close liaison with the PDHPE program
• PD for coaches on fundamental movement skills
• Improve physical literacy – ‘moving to learn’
• Meaningfully engage in physical activity
• MICs on sport specific fundamentals
  • Influence all the students
  • Target specific students (elite and ‘bottom end’)
• Refer to Foundations, Talent, Elite and Mastery framework (FTem framework).

Mr Charlie Rowe

Director of Co-curricular