Message from 

the Principal

COVID-19 Update

On Tuesday evening we made the difficult decision to close the School for the duration of the seven-day lockdown announced at 7pm by NSW Health and scheduled to commence at midnight - a decision made to protect our students, staff and families in the face of a significant health crisis developing in the Central West.

With the announcement of several sites of concern in Orange and districts, this closure is precautionary in the face of growing evidence of local transmission of COVID-19. Kinross Wolaroi School has a large school community of more than 300 staff and 900 families from all over NSW and interstate. This means we have a large footprint in the local community as well as a reach that goes deep into the State’s regions. It is most important to us that we do not play any part in spreading the virus locally or to vulnerable regional communities. With the Delta variant spreading rapidly across Australia, schools have often been named as transmission sites and this has been of further concern to us. With over 300 boarding students living in a residential setting, our School has been identified as a higher risk setting for transmission of the virus ever since the pandemic began.

As the School is not linked to any cases, the decision to close for the lockdown period gives us the opportunity for the orderly return of boarding students into the care of their families. It also ensures that our boarders and their families will not need to navigate a lockdown zone and the attendant isolation requirements in order to see each other. 

While the NSW Government made a further announcement late on Tuesday evening that schools would stay open, we feel our decision to close is the right one for our context. Our hope is that this will be a short lockdown that quells the current outbreak and leads to a timely return to campus. If so, we will have played our part. The Delta variant’s transmissibility presents a very different challenge to the one we faced in 2020. In regional NSW we have been lucky to date but the rapid onset of the current outbreak shows how quickly the situation can change. The health, wellbeing and safety of students and staff always remains our primary concern.

Clearly there is still a long way to go before life gets a little easier and the risks of contagion are greatly reduced. Vaccination for the greater majority of the nation and indeed the world appears to be the answer. We have seen in recent days we must continue to exercise caution as the Central West community has been exposed to the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.

It was such concerns that motivated the School to restrict attendance at our recent Musical, The Addams Family. The decision was a most difficult one to make and one that caused considerable and understandable disappointment. As a large boarding school we have a significant responsibility to our regional community and to our students and families. As we have seen there were positive COVID cases moving through our community on the days of the performances which could have easily resulted in a spread of the virus. 

Yesterday you would have received your information in support of our Remote Learning program which commenced today. The handbook and support information outlines the structure of the School day as well as expectations for students during our period of remote learning. If you have any questions please reach out to your class teachers or mentors who will be able to assist you.

The Addams Family

The Musical was performed last Saturday night before the families of the cast and crew and was magnificent. We have such a fabulous reputation for excellence in the domain of musical performance and this production of the Addams Family has enhanced this considerably. My most hearty congratulations to the cast, crew and staff on their superb contributions to this wonderful production. So much work, dedication, skill, talent and perseverance was shown by all involved and they should all be incredibly proud of their achievement. A special thanks to the staff involved – Miss Alex Dunkley, Mrs Catherine Litchfield, Mr Seb Key and Mrs Helena Rollo – your ability to inspire and guide our students to excellence is outstanding.

Vacation Activities

We had a number of School activities take place over the holiday period and I am most grateful to our staff who led these and their efforts to ensure all the COVID safe protocols were implemented. Our performers were tirelessly preparing for the Musical, Textiles students working away on their major works and our Cadets seeking rank undertook Promotions Courses.  During the first week a very successful ski trip took place but unfortunately the second ski trip scheduled towards the end of the break was cancelled due to the risks it presented during the pandemic.

Study Camp was switched to remote delivery during the middle week to ensure all our students had access and our Sydney based students were not excluded. 

May I sincerely thank all staff who so readily gave of their time over the holiday period. Your generosity and dedication to our students is greatly appreciated.

New Appointments

Mr Tim Jones – Junior School Sports Co-ordinator and PDHPE Teacher

Mr Tim Jones commenced as the Junior School Sports Co-ordinator and teacher of PDHPE, commencing this Term. Tim was most recently employed by Rugby School in Thailand as the Prep Boarding Housemaster and PE Teacher. He has also undertaken the role of Director of Sport for the School. Prior to this Tim spent six years in the UK at the Oratory Preparatory School, Reading where he had numerous roles, including the Head of PE, Housemaster and Sports Coach.

Tim completed his HSC in Bathurst and has a Bachelor of Exercise Science from Charles Sturt University. He also has a Graduate Certificate of Education from Buckingham University and is soon to complete his Master of Education with the same university. 

Miss Holly Triggs - Science Teacher 

Miss Holly Triggs joined our Science Faculty from the start of Term 3, 2021.

Holly came to us from Orange High School where she has proven herself to be a gifted practitioner. Prior to her move to Orange, Holly taught in Queensland at Our Lady’s College in Annerley. 

Holly has a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and a Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) from the Queensland University of Technology. She has a major in Human Physiology and minors in Clinical Physiology and Cell and Molecular Biotechnology.

We welcome back Ms Marnie Grogan from her Maternity Leave. Marnie returns in her new role as Leader of Staff Development. We express our sincere thanks to Mrs Suellen Young who was a wonderful support to staff in the role over Terms 1 and 2. Marnie will also be teaching a Senior Business Studies class. 

Mr Paul Tierney continues his Long Service Leave for Term 3 and Mrs Lisa Savage also remains on Medical Leave for this Term.

Senior School Resignation

Ms Alicia Van den Bos - Science Teacher 

I have received notice from Alicia van den Bos informing me that she wishes to resign from Kinross Wolaroi School, effective from the end of Term 3 of this year. Alicia has advised her daily commute has become quite challenging and is impacting on her young family.

Alicia commenced at Kinross Wolaroi School in 2013 and has been a dedicated teacher of Science in the nine years she has been at KWS. Alicia has been a significant part of the KWS Cadet Unit and will be missed by the staff and students of Kinross Wolaroi School. 

Congratulations

Rowing success

We were delighted to hear that at the NSW Annual Rowing Dinner held in Sydney at the commencement of the holiday break that Miss Alex Cropley and Mr Andrew Gannon were named as the NSW Schoolgirl Coaches of the Year and that Kinross Wolaroi won the Under 16 and 17 Overall Championship trophy as the leading School or Club in the division in NSW.

Our Year 12 Australia representatives Bella Scammell and Freya Neville were both awarded NSW Rowing Scholarships at the dinner. A fitting reward for all they have achieved in recent years.

Touch Football success

Lilly Clarke (Year 8) has been selected in the CIS 15 Girls Touch Football side, and Josie Clarke (Year 11) has been selected in the CIS Open Girls Touch Football side.  Both girls will compete in the All Schools carnival to be held in Mudgee early September. 

Josie Clarke has been selected in the Touch Football Australia National Youth Squad. This requires attendance of a training camp August 7-8 at Runaway Bay, QLD. 

Oxford University success – former student, Codey Swadling 

I recently learned that ex KWS student Codey Swadling has graduated with Distinction from the University of Oxford in Classics – MSt in Greek and Latin Languages and Literature. Codey is the first in his family to attend University and has paid special tribute to Kinross Wolaroi School for providing him with a world-class education in classics. I have shared Codey’s post with our staff, and in particular his Latin teacher, Mr Peter Stevens. Peter has clearly had a profound impact on Codey’s life.

Congratulations Peter, clearly you have had a profound impact on Codey’s life and no doubt upon scores of others too!

Codey’s Linkedin post can be seen below: