From the Principal

Dear Families of Killester,

“Owe nothing to others except to love them…The law code…finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.” Romans 13, 8-10 

“If your brother who has hurt you won’t listen to the community, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.” Matthew 18, 15-20

Our readings for this week tie together a common theme, that of love; the love God has for us, our love for each other and teachings about the ways we need to ensure love sustains our communities when there has been hurt.  The first reading from Romans gives us as simple, yet explicitly true mandate, "you can't go wrong when you love others". 

The love the community at Killester expresses daily to all members is palpable, even in the midst of this pandemic, when we are physically unable to be together on site, the many ways in which members of our community find ways to show their love for one another has been inspiring. Some examples of this are the ways in which we saw so many parents attend the Year 10 online information evening on Wednesday, it was heartwarming to watch family members on the couch or at the kitchen table with a casual arm looped over one another's shoulder; another example is the phenomenal amount of work staff at the College are doing, well after normal work hours, to ensure students are able to access educational opportunities that enable them to be their best version of themselves; and yet another example can be seen in the Year 12 volunteers who have offered to run study skills/support sessions for other year levels after school. Our community at Killester is bound by love, and for this we are all truly grateful.

Onto matters more prosaic, last week we conducted a comprehensive review of all of the Child Safe practices and procedures at the College. The opportunity provided by this review were significant in allowing us to take the time to reflect on best practice here at Killester and ensure our ongoing commitment to the Child Safe Standards. The outcome of the formal review will be made available to the College in the coming weeks and I will endeavour to share these with our community via a number of different forums. 

We are all anticipating an announcement by the Premier this coming Sunday will enable us to have a greater deal of certainty about how Term 4 will look for staff and students. Once we have further information about any planned transition back to face to face learning for schools in Victoria, we will be sure to communicate our Killester plan to families. 

I invite you all to scroll through the pages of this newsletter and meet our new Careers advisor, Ms Zoe Anderson and Marketing and Promotions staff member, Ms Brigitte Read, as well as catch a glimpse of all of the amazing work that is being undertaken remotely by our staff and students.

Ms Sally Buick

Principal