Senior School News

Senior School Snapshot

The final days of the Year 12 students

Wednesday 18 October saw the culmination of a year of hard work by a group of dedicated and hard working parents, students and staff. The Year 12s had their final day as a Koonung student.

The day began very early, 7:30am, where nearly 300 students, their parents and staff all gathered to enjoy a delicious breakfast, kindly donated by Bread Street Bakery. There was a real buzz in the room with students reminiscing and recounting the many stories of things that they had been up to over the years. The breakfast came to an end just before 9am but not before the much awaited Time Capsule was opened and the many memories came flooding out. It always amazes me with the variety of memorabilia that the students pull out of their envelopes. This year one student opened their Time Capsule to find that they had put $6.20 in there in case they needed bus money. Great forward thinking, it’s just unfortunate that we no longer need money for the bus.

After breakfast and the group moved on up to the hall for the final assembly for the Class of 2017. The assembly was a great celebration of the past 6 years at Koonung. The assembly saw the senior band play for the last time, the Senior School Captains speak of their time as Koonung students, farewells from the Senior School Team and the whole cohort was presented to the Principal. The assembly was a great end to their time as a KSC student.

That night, many staff and students, along with their families, gathered at Leonda by the Yarra for the Valedictory Dinner celebrations. The event was the product of many weeks of planning and preparation by a small group of students, staff and parents. Many thanks to Katrina Bacon for her hours of work to have the venue presented so well for the Year 12s and their families. It was fantastic to see the students enjoying themselves as they were able to recount stories of the past and share the memories with their friends and families. The food was delicious, the speeches were memorable and the dancing was energetic!

The following Tuesday was yet another early start, the highly anticipated Celebration Day! We had many students dressed in various attire, from UP! To Cat Woman and John Snow also made an appearance. The egg & bacon breakfast was a hit. Many of the students had a novel mode of transport with the appearance of 27 OBikes on the netball court. I think the highlight of the morning was the eventual realisation that some of the students had hidden a number of small alarm clocks throughout the school, all set to go off at various times. We have spent many hours following the sounds to discover 9 clocks so far. (We have been reliably informed that there are many more out there!) Well done!

To the Class of 2017

You have all worked very hard to get here, you should all stand and be proud of what you have achieved so far and keep working to that final exam, keeping in mind all the way that succeeding in the exams are not ultimate prize. You have much more to achieve, exam results are only a stepping stone to the ultimate goal and for each of you that will be a very different and personal achievement. You will all get to where you are going, eventually, but not necessarily along the same path. It is not a race to the end, as long as you know where you want to go you will eventually get there. Remember that you must set yourself the goal and leave nothing in the tank on your quest to achieve.

I would like to say thank to the class of 2017. You have been a fantastic group to work with this year and we have shared some great achievements and frustrations, some laughs and some tears but all in all you have done your best and made our time in the Senior School office enjoyable.

Thank you and keep in touch.

Fiona Kyrkou

Senior School Manager