The Knox School

Hello and welcome to my 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

Welcome to 2012.

I am now back at my desk after a period of sabbatical leave, six weeks in total. It was really good to have time away from the pressure of school to do some study, to read, reflect and re-energise. Now I am ready to start another exciting year.

Our website contains the information about the results for Year 12, 2011 and they were very sound. Also pleasing has been the news that all of our graduates have been successfully placed in courses of their choice. This is even more important than the ATAR score and demonstrates clearly that The Knox School is able to educate a diverse range of students and get them where they want to go.

While I was on leave I spent a week in Siem Reap, Cambodia, partly for holiday to visit the famous temples of Angkor Wat but also to visit Kampuchea House which is the orphanage that The Knox School is going to support. This orphanage was started and is maintained through the generosity and sponsorship of donors. It houses only 36 orphans out of a possible 600,000 in Cambodia. Seeing how people are housed and how they live day to day was a real “eye opener” for me. I had not expected such impoverished conditions.

Having said that, however, the people seemed to have a real sense of purpose; were happy and healthy looking. I did not encounter any beggars. The tourist industry is what is creating so much work for the people so while I felt guilty about staying in a nice hotel, I realised that just by doing that I was helping to create jobs for many people.

It is my intention to work with my staff to bring a real understanding to our children of how privileged they are and how they must, from this position, reach out to help those less fortunate. The Kampuchea House project will help to do this.

Today I am signing off from this Blog until mid January when I return from leave.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my Blog. I have tried to make it a personal insight into the life of a Principal rather than a commentary on the events of the School which you can read on our website.

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday break and I look forward to posting more in 2012.

Well I did it! Four days of walking the Bay of Fires in Tasmania. It was a truly magnificent walk around 40km over four days. Beautiful weather, pristine white sands and turquoise blue water.

Two nights were spent at the Bay of Fires lodge, a wonderful place that is built on a hilltop overlooking the water. We even saw two whales, one being an orca. The best part was that for four days I was without phone or email contact.

For me, walking is a truly cathartic experience, especially when it happens in beautiful places. It reestablishes a real sense of wellbeing. Stress is banished and my head space becomes uncluttered and my thoughts clear.

Maybe this is not for everyone but as a Principal there are times when you question your ability to keep on meeting the huge demands of the job. You have to have ways of doing this or it is time to quit. I think I will be ok for a few years yet as long as I take my time to breathe the fresh air, value the beauty of the world and seek some periods of solitude through my walking.

One of the women I most admire is our Governor-General, Quentin Bryce. Quite apart from the amazing job that she does in a leadership role in our country, I am in awe of how she manages to look so amazingly feminine and, as an older woman, she looks incredibly fashionable and wears colour with such style. She wears the brightest and most fashionable of outfits and is an absolute role-model for the older woman so often expected to wear black, brown or in the extreme, purple. To me, age is just a number and staying fashionable and feminine and wearing bright colours is a given.

Having to be in the public arena is part and parcel of being a principal but we do not have to fit some stereotypical image of hairy legs and brogues, grey hair and cardigans.

I love Quentin I wish I could access her dressmaker!!!

Lots of students doing their final exams these last couple of weeks. So much rests on their ability to translate the years of learning into something substantial on a piece of paper. I am rather glad it is them and not me.

There comes a time in one’s life when continuing to prove one’s intelligence by writing papers and doing exams is finished. It is not something I really want to do anymore; I would rather focus my energy on helping young people to realise their dreams in the way that key people helped me to realise mine. I still have dreams to fulfil and what worries me is how rapidly time is passing… will I get it all done!

In a couple of weeks I am starting a period of sabbatical, greatly appreciated after 8 years here at Knox. It will only be 6 weeks but just to have that time to read and refresh will be wonderful. Two key things that I am doing are walking the Bay of Fires in Tasmania (on my bucket list) and visiting Angkor Wat in Cambodia (also on the bucket list). The remainder of the time will allow me to do some professional reading and thinking and I guess there will be the odd indulgent lunch with excellent wine. All good.

This weekend, being a long one, I took it upon myself to clean out some cupboards at home. The end result was that I summarised my life’s journey in a small compilation of documents that went into one envelope! Birth certificate, Matriculation certificate and a report from my Headmistress which said “Suzanne has engaged thoroughly with the sporting life of the School but in our view has not really extended herself with her academic studies.”

Then there were marriage certificates and divorce papers; cards congratulating me on the birth of my son; degrees conferred; Masters Conferred and then a Will and last testament.It is all in one envelope!!

I wonder how I will really be remembered… a bit morbid I know, but there it all is: someone’s daughter, someone’s wife, someone’s mother and smart enough to get a paper trail to prove my intelligence! It’s all in the envelope… maybe one day I will have the time to write the story that fills in the gaps.

Final day for Year 12s!!

It is hard to believe how quickly this year has gone. In fact it is hard to believe how quickly the years have gone.

Most of the graduating students were here from the start of my second year at Knox; some who came through our Junior School were here when I started. I have watched them grow and mature and it has been an amazing journey. They are all the most delightful young people: happy, caring and positive. What more should we want?

I have no doubt that they will be successful adults because they have had the best of preparation – a Knox School education!

I cannot believe that we are about to commence the final week for Year 12s. This year has gone so quickly and for many it is now the end of thirteen years at The Knox School.

Last week the Year 12s had an amazing theme day and dressed as their favourite characters. It was such fun but what made the day special was the interaction that the Seniors had with the Juniors who were just so amazed that all of these fantasy characters had made it into the School!

One of the great advantages of being a P-12 School is the opportunities it provides for building community and for the older children to interact with the younger. It creates a wonderful family feel which is very special.

I will be really sad to see this group of Year 12s depart; most have been with me for the eight years that I have been at Knox and they are the most delightful group of young people.

It has been a while since I last wrote and that is because I had a period of leave over the holiday break followed by attendance at the AHISA Conference in Adelaide. The AHISA biennial conference is always good with great speakers who challenge one’s thinking. It is just good to be able to listen to others, to pick up some new ideas and also to be affirmed in what one is doing.

Time for reflection is a real luxury for Principals but it is essential if we are to continue to develop an intelligent and appropriate vision for our schools. In today’s world there is a complete bombardment of information; an over supply to the point where rather than experience global information I believe we experience global superficiality!

Our school motto is “seek wisdom and understanding”. Well that takes time and implies a depth of consideration that is so often just not there in the world of digital instantaneous response.

My resolve for this term is to take some time each day and shut my door and have a quiet period of reflection… some “in time” meditation. Let’s see how I go.

What an exciting week it has been and it is only Wednesday!

On Monday night, I had the privilege of listening to the Year 12 Music students perform their recitals. How talented and how amazing! Each had a 20 minute performance and I was treated to song, piano, oboe, flute, guitar and drums. Each one demonstrated a high level of skill and it was wonderful to hear the end result of several years of tuition.

Last night it was the VCE assessment dinner and I along with around 75 other people was treated to a three course meal as good as many I have had in city restaurants, all cooked and served by our senior students.

In contrast, today, I have just come from the Prep and Year 1 Productions. Lots of penguins, ducks and sheep. All great fun. Amazing what teachers can do with small children!

Then the NAPLAN results arrived and it has been pleasing to see the exceptional results achieved yet again by the Knox students at Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

So we end the term on a really high note and take a break for three weeks. At least the teachers do; I will be at my desk for most of the time.

See you next term.