I am writing to you, with a very heavy heart today, to inform you that I have made the incredibly difficult, but necessary, decision to relocate to a school in the Brisbane area, closer to my home and my family and health commitments. 

I did not make this decision lightly and want our community to understand that moving on from Foxwell was not on my mind before my injury in August 2022.

I have always been very open with our community, so will share with you the reasons for this decision. My orthopaedic surgeon and treatment team have insisted that I not drive long distances daily, that I not be moving around a four level, predominantly concrete school, and that I be close to my medical team for my ongoing, weekly treatments. On a very personal level, I also made the decision to be closer to, and have more hours in the day to spend with my chronically ill, elderly father, who I have cared for in my home since 2019. Sadly, my father passed away last Thursday, so I now need to take time to focus on my family, who have been left without their anchor. Those who know me, know, that my values around the importance of family, and personal health and wellbeing are very strong, and I made this heart-wrenching decision to relocate, to stay true to these core values and do what is best for me and my family.

From March 2019, Foxwell State Secondary College has been my life, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenging and rewarding privilege of being the Foundation Principal of such a highly regarded College.

My dreams of creating a school, that could make a difference for our students, and bigger than that, our local community, have been realised over the past four years and I am extremely proud of all that we have achieved. In a complex local demographic with a range of social complexities, we needed to be more than a school - we needed to be a hub for the community.

I am proud that we have respectfully supported families through financial difficulties, domestic and family violence, youth (and family) mental health issues, access to disability services, through grief and loss and stood beside them, in ways that most people don’t see. On so many occasions, we have been the ones parents have called first (even before family, friends, or authorities), when tragedy or trauma, sadly, strikes their family, and for that, I am deeply honoured.

As I said in the opening address to our local community in 2019, we were not going to be a 1970s school in flashy new buildings. We were going to use global research to provide opportunities that no other school was, so we could see our students flourish in their own individual ways. Whilst not all students took advantage of these incredible possibilities, the ones who did have achieved success and engaged in extraordinary experiences.  

Whilst I acknowledge that we could not be everything to everyone, I am proud that we did and continue to stand by our commitment to high expectations, kindness, and always putting our students first. This was reinforced to me, when I received over 400 individual ‘get well’ notes from students after my fall, with most thanking me for the broad range of opportunities they have had, or for the positive relationship that they had forged with me. Mementos, I will treasure forever.

I have no doubt, that together, we have established strong foundations for our College, which will enable it to continue to thrive, into the future. The staff - teachers, cleaners, administration officers, ground/technical staff, teacher-aides, school leaders (Deputy Principals, Business Manager, Heads of Department/Year), support staff including Guidance Officers, Chaplains, etc - at Foxwell, are exceptional and I have full confidence in their ability to continue to provide a positive and successful future and a ‘World of Opportunity’ to the students of the Northern Gold Coast.

Our commitment to kindness, our students and our community has ensured and will continue to ensure, that students have every opportunity to find their passion, and flourish in their success. 

Our students (and their families) are facing a more challenging world than any of us could have imagined back in 2019. Whilst we have mostly moved forward from the physical impacts of COVID-19, we are just now experiencing the devastating social impacts on our communities, our families, and most noticeably, our children.

I am proud that at Foxwell we continue to acknowledge the challenges young people face and take pride in focusing on educating them to make positive and healthy personal choices – rather than simply dolling out punitive consequences. We see each child as an individual and seek to support them to become good humans who will add to our community and world. But as I have said repeatedly, over the past three years, “It takes a village to raise a child,” so all members of the community need to step up and fulfil their role and responsibilities as Education is only one part of solving this complex, society puzzle.

The greatest compliment I have received in my career, came during a school review in 2020, when a Senior Reviewer stated, “If you could bottle the culture of Foxwell and turn it into a vaccine, we could cure the problems of education, across Australia”. Building a strong culture takes hard work, commitment and collaboration from the school leaders, school staff, students, their families, and our local community. I will forever be proud of the culture we have achieved since we opened the doors in January 2020.  I continue to care deeply about each and every student and their present and future success.

My greatest privilege, as an educator, is hearing from past students, who recount our wonderful moments as we look back fondly at our memories together. I look forward to continuing my connection with the Foxwell community into the long-term future and hearing the great success stories from our extraordinary students and staff. I truly believe, that the students and staff of Foxwell will positively contribute and change our world in many different ways and I will be watching on, with great pride. 

I cannot thank the staff of Foxwell enough. From the Foundation staff to the staff who have joined us along the way. You have all continued to go above and beyond to ensure the success of our College. I want to specifically thank, Kate Shepherd, Zana Schroeder, Kimberley Knowles and Celeste Fishburn, who were there with me from the early planning and development stages. Then as we grew, we were joined by like-minded, passionate educators who, like us, wanted to create the very best school for our students and local community. 

I also want to acknowledge and thank, the parent community, and especially those who worked with me to design and create the type of school and educational experience they wanted for their children. From our initial consultation and advisory groups who helped us name our College, design our uniforms and logo, to our working parties and the 150 people who attended our ‘Design your future school day’ on the ‘YOT Club’, who helped us determine our vision, values and goals, through to our wonderful P & C Executive and committee members for their commitment and contributions; We forged strong partnerships, all for the benefit of our students and our local community. 

It’s also been an absolute privilege to meet and get to know, Mr Graham Foxwell and his family over the past four years, and I acknowledge their contribution to our College community. I also express my appreciation to other important stakeholders, mentors, and colleagues, locally and internationally.

Every day I spent with the students and staff of Foxwell was a privilege, but what I believe to be some of our greatest highlights of the past four years include; Foxwell’s first day on Tuesday 28th January 2020, our 2020 Twilight Market event, Foxwell’s Official Opening Ceremony, our Connection Day, (first day back at school celebration after our longest COVID lockdown), our ‘whole college’ pledge to HALT Domestic and Family Violence, Matilda - our first College Musical, our first Colour Explosion, Athletics carnivals, Celebrations of Success evenings, Mental Health Marketta, our Say No to Bullying and Violence sessions, Year 8 camps, and our Year 6 into 7 transition days.

I also treasure each and every enrolment interview, where I had the privilege of meeting our newest students and their families. A personal honour for me, was being awarded the 2022 Gold Coast Woman of the Year for my work in leading the amazing team here at Foxwell since 2019. Having our inspirational, Foundation Student, Montana Atkinson (2021 Award winner) and many staff from Foxwell SSC there to join me in accepting this award, was an absolute highlight.

When I accepted the honour of being the Foundation Principal of the newest school on the Gold Coast, I never imagined I would be called upon to be an ‘architect, building project manager, clothing designer, sound and lighting expert, graphic designer, IT expert, COVID advisor’, or to have to get involved in the intricacies of choosing the type of grass, toilet paper or even the school’s phone number. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I am proud of the legacy of kindness and respect and high expectations I leave behind. I thank you for having faith in me and my vision for our community. I thank our staff, students and parents for their resilience and willingness to contribute and to working hard to 'build the plane while it’s flying'. Thank you for maintaining your trust and faith in our vision and the College’s leadership. I call on you to maintain this moving forward, knowing that if, or when, the community faces challenges (as every school and community does!), that at the very core, our SPIRIT values will guide the way.

Today is a very sad day for me and know that I will miss the Foxwell SSC community incredibly but as I’ve always said, ‘Once a member of the Foxwell Family, always a part of the Foxwell family”.  All my best to you all for a very successful future.

Kym Amor – Foundation Principal – Foxwell State Secondary College