Insights

As we come to the end of one of the most challenging terms we have experienced, it is a great time to reflect on our hopes for the new year ahead. One of the unexpected corollaries of the disruption created for KDS during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the way that it has pulled into […]

Like many of you I spent some of last Sunday watching the Premier’s press conference explaining the roadmap from lockdown. It struck me that yet another extraordinary feature of this already bizarre year has been the way that much of the information presented at government press conferences has had a genuine and immediate impact on

This week we hosted our first KDS Connect Alumni webinar. We were privileged to have one of Australia’s best-credentialed journalists and popular ABC radio hosts, Raf Epstein, in conversation with Professor Sharon Lewin who is one of the leading infectious diseases physicians and a former Melburnian of the Year. Raf and Sharon, who are both

“We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education, a manufacturing model, which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people. We have to move to a model that is based more on principles of agriculture. We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process; it’s an

“How are You?” “Good, thanks, how are you?” I have recently caught myself out asking this automatic question and giving such an automatic response when asked. The reality is that we are living in an extraordinary time and our feelings are likely to be far more complex than the monosyllabic “good”. During this period we

This week we had the great privilege of hearing from Andrew Fuller, a clinical psychologist, family therapist and author in our online Parent Education Evening. Andrew spoke on the topic of “Taking care of your kids (and yourself) in uncertain times.” Andrew explained that in over 30 years of studying resilience he had gained insights

Not all heroes wear capes, but it seems that in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of them wear school uniforms. Throughout this extraordinary and, to employ the popular parlance, ‘unprecedented’ period, our students have risen to every challenge that has been thrown at them. Monday should have been a sad day at the

Holding pride of place in my office is an artwork that a kindergarten class produced for me a few years ago after I read the children one of my favourite childhood picture books. It is a collage of Baby Elephant who is the protagonist of the book, “The Elephant with Rosy Coloured Ears”. It tells

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic there was a popular video that was shared on social media imagining a woman travelling back in time to January to warn herself of what was to come. If we were similarly able to warn ourselves, one could only imagine the disbelief that we would display at such dramatic changes

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