Welcome Back to 2020
I would like to welcome our students, parents and staff back to Carey Donvale for the start of the 2020 school year. After a refreshing break, the staff are all energised and looking forward to another exciting year. We have a number of new students and families joining Carey Donvale this year and we are thrilled to welcome them into the school community.
In many ways it has been a quieter start to the year with reduced numbers across the campus. We are grateful to all those families who have taken a conservative action of keeping children at home following their return from China in order to observe a 14-day isolation period. We respect and support this decision and we look forward to welcoming them back on campus over the next couple of weeks.
Nevertheless, the children have settled in well to the new school year. We have received very encouraging reports from our 2019 Year 6 graduates, all of whom seem to have made an excellent start to life in Middle School.
Changes of date
Meet our new Principal/Meet the Teacher: Monday 17 February 7.00pmThe importance of the parent/teacher partnership is at the heart of the Meet the Teacher evening and we look forward to seeing you on Monday. Importantly, it is the first chance for the Carey Donvale parent community to meet our new Principal, Mr Jonathan Walter. Jonathan will make his address at 7.30pm when we all gather in the Hall. This is also a great opportunity to meet your child’s new teacher and to find out about the programs and activities that are planned for 2020.
Parents of children in Years Prep–3 should arrive at 7.00pm
Parents of children in Years 4–6 are asked to arrive at 7.30pm.
CDPA Welcome Picnic: Friday 13 March
The aim of the CDPA Welcome Picnic is to bring together the Carey Donvale community and build connections across the School. Given it will take a couple of weeks before we can truly unite the entire campus with all families back in their normal routine, the CDPA have decided to postpone this much-anticipated event until Friday 13 March. I fully support this decision. We are an inclusive school community and rescheduling this picnic will enable everyone to participate.
Lunar New Year celebrations
On Friday we celebrated the Lunar New Year with a spectacular Lion Dance courtesy of JGK – Jow Ga Kuen Martial Arts Association. This colourful performance in and around the amphitheatre was thoroughly enjoyed by children and teachers alike. The vibrant energy of the JGK troop will hopefully set the scene for a wonderful 2020 school year.
Staffing news
We welcome Kate Marais (Year 2) back from maternity leave and Rachel Islip (ELC 3) returning from a year teaching in the ELC at Junior School Kew. Both are very excited to be back at Carey Donvale.
Elisa Carroll – Australian International School in Vietnam
Our staff are always looking to advance their expertise and broaden their experience in an effort to develop their craft. This sometimes involves exciting opportunities that present themselves beyond Carey. This is certainly the case for Elisa Carroll who has accepted a position, along with her husband, Julian, at the Australian International School in Vietnam. Elisa will finish her time at Carey at the end of Term 2, 2020.
Elisa’s leadership as Literacy Co-ordinator has been greatly appreciated and she has also been a passionate advocate for our Year 4 Enviro program. We are indeed very sorry to be farewelling Elisa but accept that experiencing life in another culture is a wonderful opportunity and hence we wish Elisa and Julian every happiness during their time in Vietnam. This early notice provides us with the opportunity to recruit a suitably capable, experienced and passionate educator.
I am very much looking forward to working with our staff and our parents as we continue to nurture this great school. To this end, I welcome dialogue and feedback. At Carey we believe that your questions, ideas, concerns and words of praise will help to guide us along the way.
Steve Wilson
Head of Junior School Donvale
