Principal Message

Peace as a Focus

Let us take time over these next weeks to keep in mind the people of the Ukraine who are facing an uninvited war of conquest with all the fear and violence that entails. As a school devoted to peace through our House Patrons, let us pray for them and hope for a good outcome that minimises death and suffering.  Let us also pray the world community can bring the necessary pressure to bear on the aggressor, Russia, so that they stop such actions. One needs to be hopeful.

Let us also keep in our thoughts and prayers the people of northern NSW and southern Queensland who are facing the peril of flood after significant torrential rain.

Covid Restrictions

At the end of Week 5, already halfway through the term, we  have much to be thankful for in our community at Kildare. The numbers of Covid cases haven’t been what we might have expected, though we have had some with Covid and others as family close contacts. 

Everyone’s patience and forbearance is to be applauded. We have seen so many events in the rhythm of the College interrupted and restricted due to Covid. Even our Year 7 Belonging Day, which was such a great success, had to be managed a bit differently due to Covid. We are hopeful we are emerging from these times but we aren’t there yet. 

With the easing of Covid restrictions we now have more freedoms. It’s important too to realise that Covid cases are still in significant numbers in the community, over 200 today, and the new school guidelines speak of recommendations to still be wearing masks where physical distancing isn’t possible and to be cautious of having large gatherings.

With these freedoms we see an end to cohorting outside of buildings. We still need to maintain it with home groups for the week ahead whilst we do all the administrative work required to re-organise everyone’s timetable. 

Hence I’d like to thank Mr Tom Pulver and Mr Harry Bailey for all the work they do around the administration of timetable and Compass to ensure we have the information we need. Further the support of all middle and senior leaders, along with all staff over the past months has been significant and important to keeping the learning and culture of Kildare on track. 

Ash Wednesday

This coming Wednesday we have the start of the season of Lent ,leading to the most significant point of our Church year with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Saviour. We will have a service for each Homegroup and will have the distribution of ashes. Given numbers and advice from school authorities we need to continue with smaller groupings. Our hope is that this will be even more impactful on the thinking of our students.

At the same time we will be commencing our fundraising for Caritas Australia- Project Compassion. Caritas is the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.   The theme of Project Compassion 2022 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good that we do today will extend and impact the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long-term solutions to global issues.  We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion.  We are asking each student to donate the equivalent of 12 ½ cents per day for the 40 days of Lent, donating a total of $5.00.

The amount of $5.00 over this period to assist with ending poverty, promoting justice and upholding dignity is not too much to ask for most students. We ask for your support by having an encouraging conversation with your son / daughter to place the needs of someone they don’t know ahead of their own needs as Christ and our founders teach us.

2022 Fees

Accounts were recently sent to families. If any family has not received theirs, please contact the College. Please ensure that any regular payments are sufficient to cover the annual fees. Fees are to be paid in full by 4th December this year.

Please also check that you are receiving the correct discount on fees due to the number of children enrolled in Diocesan Catholic schools. It certainly is now cost wise a very attractive option to look at Catholic schooling as a K-12 option as families are supported with discounts based on the number of children enrolled. 

The timely payment of school fees is critical to the running of the College. We are very appreciative of those who commit and follow through with regular payments to clear fees. It is a reality that sometimes circumstances can become difficult for families and I want to assure you that assistance can be available through the Diocesan Hardship Application process which we can assist with.  Rest assured please that help is available and that your situation will be handled confidentially and sensitively. If you have any questions around fees please make contact with the College Finance oOfice, led by our Business Manager Ms. Andrea Blair, who will gladly assist.

Open Evening and Enrolments

We look forward to seeing families on 14th March between 4.30pm and 7.30pm for our Open Evening where we will be showcasing what Kildare has to offer. Please go to our college website  or Facebook page to register through Compass Tix. 

We will be running it a bit differently this year with more of a showcase feel to it to be able to answer any question you might have along with guided tours. Come along and see what Kildare has to offer for your son / daughter. 

Students from Diocesan primary schools will be assured of a place at Kildare if they apply and we will then offer available places to students from other schools after that. We will be visiting Diocesan feeder schools over the next couple of weeks to meet Year 5 and 6 and distribute some information to you.  Siblings of existing students are also assured of a place as a general rule, but applications need to be made.  Please make sure you lodge an application quickly as we wouldn’t want anyone to miss out. 

Master Planning

This has been something talked about for a number of years and now the time has come to lodge an application for Government funding. Given growth projections  of us becoming a school for 1200 students we need to re-do the master plan in consultation with our community, our architects and CEDWW. The aim is to try to essentially rebuild the College replacing all buildings that are not heritage protected and in turn then renovate them for repurposing. 

Consultations are underway across parents, staff and students and there will be many of these as we progress towards the Block Grant application, due for lodgement by the end of April. We are already in consultations with leadership, staff, students and our College Council this week to start with. We will keep you up to date as we progress and there will be further opportunities to collect feedback.

Thank you for your ongoing support.