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

The “MySchool” website has been the focus of much discussion in recent times, so I may as well express a view.

If all that parents are looking for when seeking information about a School is a comparison of literacy and numeracy results, this website provides that. It does not however, tell anything about the culture and philosophy of the school, the co-curricula program and the “value add” that so many schools can clearly demonstrate.

It has already led to “league table” comparisons in the media and without doubt will result in some schools putting aside good general educational practice in order to teach to the NAPLAN test.

The Knox School compares favourably with other like Schools but this website in no way tells the true story of what this School is and the wonderful programs it offers.

As I write, I am hearing the throbbing of machinery above me as we build another floor of our Information Common, a building which houses our administration offices, our resource centre, health centre and multimedia studio.

This new addition, part of the Building the Education Revolution grant from the Federal Government, is expected to be completed later this year and will give us some wonderful space to expand our programs.

There is always something exciting happening here; it is a busy, vibrant place.

This week, three of our students were accepted as part of the Knox City Council’s Youth Forum, an advisory group which seeks out the views of young people in our area. Congratulations to Mardi Grivas and Marson and Magenta Kwan. I’m sure you will all be great ambassadors for The Knox School.

Another year begins with all the excitement and energy of a new dawn.

The holidays are always a time to refresh and reflect and much of mine was spent at the beach in South Australia. My son was home from London for a time so it was a great family holiday.

The new year is always time for goal setting and resolutions. I have given up on resolutions because they never seem to last through February,  however having goals for the year is good.  This year my personal goal is to be more concerned with my personal fitness and to this end I, along with a friend, have determined to train to cycle 100 kilometres by the end of the year.

First step was buying the bike which I have done, (a new road bike), so far we have completed four training rides starting with 20 kilometres and increasing to 36 kilometres which we did last Saturday. It is all very enjoyable and each time we do a longer distance we feel quite proud of ourselves. I will keep you posted!

I will talk about more important educational matters next blog but I am sure many of you have seen and have an opinion about the My School website.

I am delighted to share with you our 2009 VCE results.

5 of our graduates received an ENTER above 95 placing them in the top 5% of the state.  21% of students were in the top 10% of the state with an ENTER over 90 and 51% of students were in the top 20% of the state with an ENTER over 80.

Our two highest achievers for 2009 were Qian Mo Lin and Min Kyu “Steve” Kang who each received an ENTER of 97.40.   

Our median study score remained steady at 33.  

I’m sure you will join us in congratulating all our graduates.  We are very proud of each and every one of them. This is a great result for our school and clearly shows the effort put in by all students and the dedication of our teaching staff. 

May I take this opportunity to wish all our students and their families the very best for the festive season.

Last night, the students of Lower Middle School – Years 5 to 7 – gave their opening night performance of “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”.  What a wonderful production. Full of colour and excitement.  Everyone in the audience had such a good time.

The costumes and makeup were magnificent and the children performed with very obvious excitement and passion.

The producers, Sue Lane and Samantha Putrino are to be congratulated.   Good luck for your final perfomance tonight.

It is good to be home.

My trip took me to Birmingham then into China, Nanjing then back to HongKong and out to Nan Sha.  All very interesting and productive but when I arrived home in Ferny Creek the air smelled so clean and the rosellas and lorikeets were feeding on the balcony.

We have a great lifestyle in this country and sometimes it takes an overseas trip to make us appreciate what we have.

Hello from Nanjing where I have been conducting a seminar at the Nanjing Foreign Languages School for parents of students who may like to send their students to us.

We have signed a friendship agreement with this School which will facilitate both student and staff exchanges.

Nanjing is a big commercial city  – the traffic is chaotic and the pollution levels are high but the people are wonderfully warm and friendly.

Hello from chilly Birmingham where i am attending the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust/iNET Conference.
Its theme is “21st Century Schooling:  The Globalised Challenge”.

Tomorrow, I present my paper on “How schools are meeting the challenges of globilisation”.  Speakers thus far have been excellent and include:  Bob Crompton, a professional venture capitalist, Dame Stella Rimington, the first female director of MI5, and Her Excellency, Madame Fu Ying,  Ambassador for China.

The list continues. All good and very challenging.

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.