Jackie Ellis

The news of the renewed lockdown and the return to distance learning was very disheartening. While I tend to be unfailingly optimistic I must admit that listening to the Premier’s news conference announcing the reimposition of these measures resulted in a very brief tantrum! We all draw energy and positivity from our daily interactions and […]

As we draw to the conclusion of Term 2 it is apt to reflect on what has arguably been the strangest term in memory. This term, we have been tested in very different ways and have faced the uncertainty of life in a pandemic, the extended distance learning period and then the careful return to

The King David School was recently announced as a finalist in the Australian Education Awards for our outstanding student wellbeing program. While we will have to wait until the awards ceremony to find out if we will be crowned as the winner, being shortlisted is welcome recognition of a vital aspect of our educational offering

I recently read a great tweet by American comedian, Alyssa Limperis, which simply stated, “Crazy how Monday was 4 years ago”. Like much good comedy, the art here is catching and expressing the collective mood. It really does feel like the volatility, uncertainty and pace of constant updates is leading to a climate where many

At a professional development session I once attended, the presenter showed an approximately 100 year-old photo of a room and asked the audience to guess what it was. The room was reminiscent of a university lecture space. It had tiered wooden bench seating and what appeared to be a teaching table in the middle of

The start of Term 2 is ordinarily an extremely busy time when we find ourselves moving from ceremony to ceremony to commemorate the yomim – Yom HaShoah, Anzac Day, Yom Hazikaron and then Yom Ha’atzmaut. While the circumstances are radically different, this year is no exception. Providing meaningful opportunities to engage with these occasions has

Winston Churchill is credited with the famous quote, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” This week, when observing the many varied, rich and meaningful learning opportunities undertaken across the School, I was struck by how our educators have innovated so effectively in order to maintain a sense of community, and the integrity of

An oddity of Classical Hebrew is the lack of a word for the term “history”. While contemporary Hebrew appropriates the European word, Classical Hebrew utilised the term “zikaron” or memory, as an approximation of the concept. I say approximation because the notions of memory and history are conceptually very different. History presents a veneer of

During the COVID 19 crisis we have relied heavily on video conferencing technologies to maintain education, work and social connections. In a recent Zoom meet which included participants from around Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the USA, I was struck by just how incredible it was that each of us