From the Principal

Dear families of Killester,

The reflection I have chosen to share with you today comes from St Francis de Sales:

Gentleness is strength, but it is disciplined strength for the benefit of others, for the good of the family, community and society. It is concern for others, especially the weak and the vulnerable. It is putting our agenda on hold to meet the needs of others. Gentleness calls forth self-discipline, self-restraint, self-control, other-centeredness and real humility. 

St Francis de Sales: Introduction to the Devout Life

This reflection comes from a longer piece discussed at length at a meeting of Principal's in KEM schools across Australia that I attended this week. We individually, then collectively talked about the ways that we are called to walk with others adopting our motto of strength and kindliness...gentleness. The challenges so many are facing at the moment call us all to walk with each other in very different ways. Our community is tired but I remain incredibly proud of the ways that we continue to walk with each other.

Students, parents and schools have received the 2021 NAPLAN results this week. We are very pleased to report that there are many positives from these results.   For Year 7 2021 we were delighted to observe that the group is above the state average in both literacy and numeracy and that all students have experienced considerable improvement from Year 5. This is very reassuring given that they had experienced significant disruptions to the way they accessed the learning in 2020. For Year 9 2021 we are pleased to observe that the majority of students achieved significant to very significant growth in literacy and numeracy since Year 7. Both students and their teachers should be commended for this achievement. Again this is very reassuring because while we followed government recommendations to focus on literacy and numeracy in 2020, we  also chose to balance learning with wellbeing. This may have been a contributor to the levels of growth we are seeing, and the fact that no student experienced reverse growth.

The five year growth trends also show that Killester College students continue to sit above state averages. As we study this data in more detail a more extensive report will appear in the Newsletter in Term 4.

We have received information this week about the plan set by the Victorian Health Department for a vaccination blitz for senior students. Further information will be forwarded to families tomorrow. 

Many members of staff have been involved in the interview of Grade 5 students wishing to join our Killester Family, it has been an absolute joy meeting families who are wishing to be be part of all we do here at Killester. I thank all of the staff involved in this very important process and look forward with great excitement to welcoming new families to our blessed community. 

This week has seen the launch of our Wonder Program for 2022. We had over 150 families join our online launch during the week and all students in Years 7 and 8 attended an assembly to hear all about this incredibly exciting new program. All information including a link to a FAQ document created after the online launch can be found on the College website.

Again I extend my prayers to all families who have loved ones overseas at the moment and for those impacted by the virus here in Australia,

Yours sincerely,

Sally Buick

Principal