Celebrating all that is good at Kilbreda College, Victoria, Australia

Abstract

Celebrating all that is good was the focus for 2006 at Kilbreda College - a Catholic secondary school for girls in Victoria, Australia. The aim in undertaking the observation experience for two weeks was to look at how the school is managed and administered. The first outstanding feature of the school is its sense of pride in its long-valued traditions and heritage - quite a rare quality in Australia, where most schools are relatively contemporary. Kilbreda is also a school, which is continually adapting to the pace and demands of the present times. The two weeks of observation were packed with school activities as I observed the mainstream curriculum and constant vigorous planning taking place. The report looks at eight dimensions that make up the different aspects of the school's work: School Culture and Mission, Leadership and Professional Development, Curriculum Development and Review, Religious Education and Faith Development, Student Development and Pastoral Care, Community Relations, Planning and Organisation, and Resource Management. Emphasis is given to a new reporting system based on state-wide standards that have been introduced in Victoria and the Victorian Essential Learning Standards, which is a whole school curriculum planning framework developed to identify what is essential for all students to achieve, during the compulsory years of schooling. This challenge of state-wide change, for curriculum and reporting, is presently being implemented in all schools "in Victoria, including Kilbreda College. It would be interesting to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these new implementations in a few years time.