The Knox School

Hello and welcome to my new blog.

I am so excited to be able to embrace this technology and keep you informed about the exciting things that happen each day at our School.

I am so proud of The Knox School on so many levels.  It is a happy place; a place where young people can be themselves and excel in so many ways – in their academic studies, sport, performing and visual arts and much more.

I would like to welcome you to tour our School at any time. You will find a beautiful campus teeming with confident and happy students.  Call our registrar on 8805 3814 to arrange a visit or begin by browsing our website, www.knox.vic.edu.au and see these things for yourself.

I hope you come back and read this often;  so many exciting things happen at our School, I want you to know about them as soon as they do.

Suzanne McChesney
Principal
The Knox School
Wantirna South, Victoria, Australia

Suzanne is travelling to Birmingham, England, to speak at an International Education Conference. She is then journeying on to China to visit our sister school, the Nanjing Foreign Language School.

Hello from rainy london.

Even though I travel a lot, I never cease to be amazed at how we can cross the world in 24 hours. Only a day ago I was enjoying the sunny weather of melbourne and the fresh unpolluted air of the Dandenongs – now it is the hustle and bustle of London, the pollution and the crowded streets.

Home seems very attractive!

I am absolutely delighted that Krystal Tunnicliffe and Giorgia Tzar have both been selected as Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars for 2010. 

The University of Melbourne’s Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program is an academic enrichment program designed to support high-achieving students. The program is named in honour of the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne: Professor Kwong Lee Dow.  The Program offers high-achieving Year 11 and 12 students the opportunity to engage with the University through an extensive program of events and activities.

The University of Melbourne received over 1600 applications from all over Victoria, so this is a fantastic achievement.    Congratulations to both these wonderful young people.

What a wonderful evening we enjoyed last night at the Upper Middle School function.

Such a balmy summer’s night made the event in its outdoor location quite perfect.  Apart from the barbeque catching alight, the evening was without incident and the food prepared by the year 10 hospitality students was delicious.

It was good to share the evening with so many parents who were clearly enjoying themselves and had to be asked to leave at around 10pm so that security could lock up!

Friday night was a most enjoyable evening at the School.  The Year 10 students gave a music recital which was hosted in the auditorium, transformed into a restaurant-cabaret.  The Year 11 hospitality students under the direction of Mrs Sadler and fill-in chef Mr Henderson, served a wonderful dinner.

Watching students perform gives a whole different perspective and it is wonderful to see how so many of them have gained confidence through the expression of their musical talent .

All round it was a great night thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended.

This is always a stressful time of year for our senior students who began their VCE exams with English last Friday.

The combined nervous energy was tangible at the commencement but fortunately the paper was viewed favourably by most and so the collective sigh of relief at the end was evident to all.  This is the culmination of many years of hard work and while the derived score that will arrive in anxious hands in December is important for tertiary placement, it is by no means a predictor of success in life.

We, of course, wish every student the best of luck and hope that they achieve their goals.

Presentation Night is a very special night in the life of the School. It is a night to farewell our graduating Year 12s and to celebrate the achievements of the year. Last night we did just that and in a truly spectacular manner. Thanks to the creative energy of Barrye Dickinson and the tireless work of the music and performing arts staff, the School  and its work was showcased magnificently.

As Principal, I approach such nights with a certain amount of nervousness, conscious of the need to be the best that we can be and wanting also to embody in my speech the values of the School and what it stands for. Each year I am amazed as the standard of what is presented seems to get better and better and I have yet to be disappointed.

I am very proud of my students and my staff and all that they achieve. I hope that all who attended last night feel similarly.

This weekend was spent in sunny Brisbane with the Tournament of the Minds Teams.

It was a very enjoyable time and ended most successfully with our Social Science Team winning Honours. This is the first time we have won Honours since 1992. Our Language Literature Team performed very well but was unplaced.

Chris Hilton, Stephen Kearney Dana Tymms, assisted by Jake Baxter from Year 12, worked tirelessly all weekend to ensure the smooth running of the event for our students.  Sandra Bresnehan was a shopper extraordinaire and provided all the food for the team.  We enjoyed a great BBQ on Friday night.

It was a terrific weekend with a great outcome.

I read with some sympathy the reports of “muck up days” gone wrong which of course the media love to focus on.  Our year 12s finished in a spirited but sensible manner and the final breakfast and procession through the guard of honour created by the rest of the school was well done. 

It was sad to see them finish but I was proud of the mature way in which they ended their final days at The Knox School.   Presentation Night will be an opportunity to farewell them in a very formal sense.

What a busy weekend!  We began on Friday night with the Valedictory Dinner and what a superb night!  The students behaved perfectly and had a marvellous time as did their parents, the staff and myself.

On Sunday the Senior Art Show opened, accompanied by a wonderful outdoor concert which featured our senior musicians including the very talented VCE music group.  Although it was a chilly evening,  it was pleasing to see parents and students arrive with picnic baskets and chairs to enjoy the music and to look at the art work.  Another enjoyable Knox event!

This week Maria Kavouris leaves us to commence maternity leave.  Maria started at The Knox School when she was five years old and after completing her Teacher training returned to us as a teacher.

While it is wonderful to celebrate the arrival of a new baby, it is also sad to see someone leave the School after such a long time. I am always thrilled to share the joy that our young teachers experience with the arrival of a new child. It is such a precious time and one that passes all too quickly. It only seems like yesterday that my son was born but in fact it was 32 years ago and that seems to have passed in a nano second!

Taking joy in our children and raising them to be healthy positive adults is our most important task and I wish Maria and Theo all the very best as they embark on this journey.