Acting Principal Message

Christie Scoble

Hello everyone,

Kildare is always a vibrant, busy place and the last two weeks have been no exception. Last Friday, we celebrated Founders Day with a College Mass. Thank you to Christine Savage, our Leader of Mission, who led a team of teachers and student leaders to create a reflective and engaging celebration of the Eucharist for us to experience. It was an opportunity to reflect on our founders, Nano Nagle and Edmund Rice, who both saw education as a way of overcoming disadvantage. The charisms of the Presentation Sisters and Christians Brothers are still reflected in our work today, where we have high expectations for the learning of all students.

Another highlight this week was the Year 12 Hospitality Dinner, where students demonstrated the culmination of two years of skill development by providing a high quality dining experience for parents and staff. Thank you to Penny Mackay, our VET Hospitality Teacher, whose expertise, dedication and passion has taken our Hospitality classes to new heights. All of our HSC Hospitality students this year achieved their Certificate II qualification. Thank you also to Chris Wendt for his continued support and leadership of the VET Department.

Learning pathways continue to be a focus with Year 10 students receiving their subject allocations for 2019 on Wednesday morning. The lines generated managed to achieve a 96% success rate based on student subject selections. Any students who wish to discuss their subjects for next year are encouraged to speak to an Executive team member.

Year 8 students have also submitted their subject selections and will be given their allocated subjects shortly. The wide range of subjects being offered is reflective of our desire for students to explore a diversity of interests.

Year 11 students commence their Preliminary Examinations next Monday. This exam period will be a good check of student progress in the Stage 6 course. It will also provide students with an opportunity to reflect on their study habits and exam preparation techniques. Some students may be feeling anxious leading up to these exams. Parents can assist by reminding their child that these exams are a practice for the HSC year and ultimately are a learning experience. Feedback from teachers will help students to fine tune their learning strategies to maximise their success in the future. These exams will conclude on Thursday in Week 9 and students will return to normal classes on Friday 21st September.

Year 12 students are continuing to focus on learning growth for their final weeks of secondary schooling. Every lesson counts, with teachers providing a targeted focus on individual learning needs and improving responses to exam style questions.

We welcome back Rod Whelan and Alison Sutton next week after their period of leave. I would like to thank Caitlin Fahey, Tom Pulver, Christine Savage, Kel Woodhouse and Damian Quinn for their professionalism and support on the executive team over the past four weeks.

All the best,