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[00:00:07] Kylie Speer: Hello and welcome to The Educator TV. I'm Kylie Speer and joining me today is a familiar face to The Educator, Chrissy Gamble, Principal at Kingswood College. Kingswood College has been named as one of the winners of The Educator 5 Star Innovative Schools for 2025. Welcome to you Chrissy. Huge congratulations on the phenomenal year for the college and thank you so much for joining us once again. 

[00:00:37] Chrissy Gamble: Thanks Kylie, it's such a treat to be with you and we're so excited to be able to have the opportunity to share some of the things that are happening in our beautiful school. 

[00:00:49] Kylie Speer: Well firstly Chrissy, this is yet another well-deserved accolade for 2025. What does this recognition mean to Kingswood College and how does it reflect your ongoing commitment to educational innovation? 

[00:01:03] Chrissy Gamble: Well, I guess I'd start by saying that this recognition is a really great honour for our college and for our team who put together this application and it really affirms our commitment to innovation as a core part of who we are. For us, innovation isn't just about one-off things. It's actually about what we do every day. It's systemic, it's very intentional and it's one of the ways in which we set about to improve student outcomes. And it also reflects our values-driven approach and I believe that education should always empower young people and put them front and centre and give students support to know themselves, to challenge themselves, and also really importantly to contribute positively to the world around them. So being named a five-star innovative school really validates the work of every single person within our Kingswood College community in creating a really purposeful and future-focused environment. 

[00:01:52] Kylie Speer: The Five Star Innovative Schools Award celebrates institutions that are reshaping the future of education. Can you share some of the most impactful initiatives or programs at Kingswood College that you believe set you apart as a leader in educational innovation? 

[00:02:37] Chrissy Gamble: Wow, where do I start? I think perhaps though one initiative that comes to mind is pretty much a flagship initiative and it's our SEEK program. So our SEEK program, for example, is embedded in opportunities for us to identify and support, encourage highly able and gifted students and not just to identify them but to make sure that every day they're having incredible opportunities. So for example, we have SEEK learning journey plans and that's an award-winning framework that focuses student learning all the way from their journey in prep to year 12 and students are involved in co-creating their educational pathway and that can sometimes involve year level or subject acceleration, lots of enrichment, targeted support and opportunities for really authentic student voice in all of that and it's a really pioneering model for our gifted and highly able students and also for gifted education and within our school it really strengthens the way in which we differentiate learning across the whole school and what sets us apart is how we integrate student feedback into how we approach curriculum, how we ensure that the learning for the students is really relevant, that it's challenging and that it engages them every day. 

[00:04:35] Kylie Speer: Chrissy, your profile highlights a strong focus on developing both academic excellence and student wellbeing. Have your innovative approaches to curriculum design and learning spaces contributed to fostering a holistic environment for your students? 

[00:04:53] Chrissy Gamble: I think embedded into our DNA is that we believe that education should develop the whole person academically, socially, emotionally and ethically. So the way in which we approach learning and curriculum design is anchored in very purposeful experiences, holistic experiences that are intentional um we we really look into and lean into the evidence around what will actually enhance student learning and the environment for learning within our school that enables students to learn. And through our SIG program, for example, students engage in goal-based mentoring. They have opportunities for a lot of cross-age collaboration, which both strengthens belonging and wellbeing and also reduces isolation for all types of learners. And these innovations really ensure that every student in our school has the opportunity to be seen, to be supported, to be stretched because we know that when young people are stretched and challenged, their wellbeing improves, and that in turn creates a genuinely holistic environment. 

[00:06:15] Kylie Speer: Lovely. The special reports methodology emphasizes pioneering new directions in teaching and learning. What challenges have you encountered while implementing these forward-thinking strategies and how has the Kingswood College community worked together to overcome them? 

[00:06:35] Chrissy Gamble: Innovation always comes with challenges as you move from the unknown to it, known. So innovation and the way we approach, for example, our support for gifted students, there's a lot of myths around that. So for us, it's about shifting mindsets and having the courage to embed best practice, great practice, new practice across our whole school. So one of the biggest hurdles for us is, and in any school, ensuring consistency in learning, but also making sure that every student is being challenged and that there's rigour to our programs. So we approach this through a really collaborative approach. We do a lot of professional learning. We try and communicate well with our community and share what you, the evidence is telling us through our newsletters and to also really be committed to embracing continuous sort of improvement cycles of reflecting where are we now, where can we go next and our strategic plan is really pivotal in supporting us through that process and also our leadership team are really clear in our strategic direction through our five strategic pillars and we keep leaning on those and that really enables us to overcome any challenges that we face. 

[00:08:20] Kylie Speer: And finally Chrissy, looking ahead, how do you envision Kingswood College continuing to drive innovation in education and what advice would you offer to other schools aspiring to be recognised as a five-star innovative school in the future? 

[00:08:37] Chrissy Gamble: I think for our school and for all schools, the future of education is really exciting. And we are, as educators, so incredibly blessed to be part of learning communities. And so I really encourage everybody to feel the excitement of that and to be brave and courageous to generate new ideas. And to lean into great practice to improve outcomes for young people. I think having a clear plan is really important when you have great ideas as a school that you want to implement. For us, our 2025 to 2029 strategic plan really leans into making sure we have data and evidence to back what we're doing and to make sure that when you're implementing any new initiatives, that you make sure it's actually improving outcomes for students and improving the lives of young people. So really leaning in on that data and that's a big element of our strategy here to make sure that you're really committed to excellence as a team, as a whole staff. Every staff member in a school matters equally as much and have the equal potential for positive or negative impact on students. So really, really committing to excellence, to make sure that you have an ongoing commitment to ensuring that the facilities in your school are the best that they can be, to support any initiatives that are innovative that you want to implement. And that doesn't mean that you have to have the newest buildings it just means making the most of what you have available to you to ensure that you have environments where students come first in learning so for us for example we continue to refine our programs with our SEEK program we're constantly looking at ways we can make it better that we can also make initiatives across our school more sustainable and also leaning into so many aspects of improvement for us as a school. And I guess to summarise my advice to other schools is that innovation needs to be systemic, but it also needs to be values driven and guided by the values that you hold dear as a community. I'd really encourage other school communities to not just sort of chase new trends or things that sound a bit shiny, but rather to lean into things that create really purposeful, positive growth mindset, personalised opportunities for young people that also engages your whole team and all of your staff because ultimately when innovation is firmly embedded in your culture, recognition like this, it becomes sort of a natural outcome of that. 

[00:12:06] Kylie Speer: Brilliant advice. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Chrissy, and congratulations once again to you and the entire Kingswood College community. 

[00:12:15] Chrissy Gamble: Thank you so much, Kylie. We're absolutely delighted and really grateful for the opportunity to share some of the awesome things that have been happening. 

[00:12:25] Kylie Speer: And thank you of course to our viewers for watching the latest episode of The Educator TV. We look forward to seeing you again soon.