Over the last weeks I have had the great privilege of attending a number of events which celebrate the extraordinary achievements of some of our graduates.

On Tuesday, I attended the Premier’s VCE Awards where the highest performing students from 2025 were recognised for their excellence. Kiera Edelstein, from the Class of 2025 was honoured for her outstanding achievement in History Revolutions and it was very special to be in attendance with her teacher, Ayal Nathan, who was so instrumental in inspiring her to perform at the highest level.

Last week, I attended the VCE Top Arts showcase at the Ian Potter Gallery of the National Gallery of Victoria. This exhibition was comprised of the top 40 student works from among the many thousands who completed a VCE art study in 2025. I was thrilled to attend alongside Milo Friedman and his family. Milo’s brilliant, untraditional self portrait displayed his incredible technical skills and unique artistic vision. Milo mentioned his gratitude for his teacher, Leela Fernandez, who pushed him to this achievement.

I am incredibly proud of the accomplishments of these students. They have found their areas of passion and their focus, hard work, intelligence and talent have assisted them to be amongst the top of the state cohort.

When I attend such events, I am often reminded of a comment made at a professional development session that I attended around 20 years ago. At this session, a school principal asked the audience of school leaders to describe some of the measures that they take to celebrate their top achievers. Participants raised their hands and mentioned that they advertise in the newspaper, put billboards outside their schools and send emails to their communities - remember this was before the era of social media marketing.

The presenter then provocatively posited that the schools assembled could potentially take their top performing student and swap them with one another and they would likely still have ended up on an advert or a billboard.

He said that the far greater measure of success was not the top achievers that dominate the headlines, but the students who outperformed their expectations or managed to overcome the odds to even finish the VCE.

While I did not agree with his assessment of the transferability of the high achievers, as I truly believe that each environment offers unique value that contributes to success, I resonate with the sentiment about celebrating all of our students for who they are and adopting definitions of success that go well beyond awards or league tables.

The reason this comment has sat with me for 20 years is because it challenged me to think more broadly about what success means. While we are right to honour the outstanding individuals who realise their potential, we also have to think about who our students are becoming as a result of their time with us.

Are they well-rounded individuals, with a strong sense of self and a firm moral compass? Are they prepared to contribute to their immediate and wider communities? Are they equipped to thrive socially, intellectually, artistically, spiritually, in sport or on the stage?

For this reason the School developed the Kinor David (David’s Harp) program, a process to acknowledge and reward students’ participation and achievements outside of the classroom. Students first earn blue, and ultimately, gold badges in the areas of community, personal endeavour, teamwork, social justice, and leadership.

Kinor David is one of myriad ways that King David supports our students to succeed by developing holistically and gaining the requisite skills, values and dispositions to live a purposeful life both within, and beyond, the school gates.

While we will continue to celebrate the remarkable accomplishments and contributions of our students, we never lose sight of our mission - to grow great humans.