Principal's Message

Principal's Message - Linda Maxwell

Welcome to our first iNewsletter for 2018. It has been a calm and constructive start to the year and our 225 Year 7 students have settled in very well. We ended 2017 on a high note with our Year 12 students achieving excellent results. The 2017 Dux was Yiran Wang, a lovely International student from China who involved herself in a wide range of community and social issues while at KDC. Her ATAR of 98.95 was a reflection of her hard work and perseverance throughout her time at the school. Another highlight was the achievement of a perfect score of 50 in Sociology by Taahira Rajudin, which was an outstanding effort. In total, 16 students achieved ATARs over 90 and another 17 students achieved a score over 80. The overall VCE mean was 29.6, which is a very strong performance from our Year 12’s.

You will see a continued improvement in our communications with parents through the launch of our Facebook page, twice a term iNewsletters and a refurbished website. Compass continues to be a crucial platform for communicating about dates, events, student progress, learning tasks and reports. Please check your child’s latest progress reports and make appointments to see teachers at our upcoming parent teacher interviews.

We have welcomed several new staff members this year but I would particularly like to draw your attention to our new Student Welfare Coordinator for senior students, Victoria Sobh, and three new House Leaders – Ewen Burt (Blue), Nick Hooper (Red) and Robyn Bewley (Green). They have settled in very quickly and positively and are rapidly getting to know their students and families. It is also with sadness, but great pride, that we farewell Belinda Parini. She has been appointed as Assistant Principal at Coburg College. Belinda has been at KDC for 13 years and has been an enormously energetic and gifted PE teacher and curriculum leader. We wish her well in her new role and know that she will be a fantastic addition to her new school.

Finally, we are well on the way to finishing the canteen refurbishment and the next big project is the renovation of the library. Concept drawings are being finalized and we hope to have this finished by the end of this year. Our School Council elections have just been held and we congratulate Stuart Miller and Sam Biundo as continuing members and Hannah Andrianopoulos as a new parent member. We would also like to thank outgoing parent member Sasha Mallia for her tremendous contribution to our Council, particularly her expertise in school finances.

Just to finish, I must share with you the great pleasure I had yesterday in attending our annual Council awards ceremony where a huge range of wonderful student achievements and contributions were recognized. This came after a positive, uplifting Harmony Day where we celebrated the huge range of cultures that make up our KDC community. We had many ‘firsts’ yesterday, including songs in Swahili, Albanian, Fijian and a beautiful Sri Lankan dance performance. Our multi-cultural make-up and celebration of diversity continues to one of the strengths of our college.