As I am sure that you are aware, this week The King David School Foundation held our Annual Giving Day. This annual event is vital in the life of our school as it generates crucial donations which allow us to achieve our mission of growing great humans by providing them with a wonderful holistic education.

At King David we are determined to delight our students with deep and joyous celebrations of Jewish life. We wish to ignite a life-long sense of belonging and pride in their emerging Jewish identities.  

As cost of living increases make independent school fees challenging for many families, charitable donations are more important than ever before in ensuring that we can provide access for students who otherwise could not afford a Jewish education. The number of families who need support is growing and we really do rely on the generosity and selflessness of our community members to ensure that we can continue to offer the blessing of a KDS education for those who it would otherwise be out-of reach.

This year, we were honoured that five donors chose to champion our appeal. They committed to collectively matching the donations given by other community members. This has allowed us to double our impact and ensure that the appeal will provide even greater assistance. We were thrilled to achieve our collection goal and are so thankful to those who helped in our success.

Alongside the Annual Giving Day Appeal, we are blessed with a number of other regular donors who support scholarships, bursaries, fee relief, programs, capital works and special activities. The wonderful holistic education that we provide is so rich in Jewish learning, diverse specialist programming, experiential learning, outstanding opportunities in the Arts, sport, technology, wellbeing and academics. Without the partnership of our generous donors, our capacity to deliver the high quality education that sets our students up to thrive, would be greatly diminished.

Additionally, we are blessed to partner with some incredible community organisations. The Jewish Education Foundation which runs the Fee Assessment Board (FAB), has supported a substantial number of families to enrol students in our school. The Jewish Children’s Aid Society (JCAS) provides essential funding to support students at Jewish schools who require additional educational support in order to access learning.

On behalf of the students and their grateful parents, I wish to take this opportunity to express my most sincere thanks to all of our wonderful donors. There is nothing more optimistic and future-focused than investing in the education of the next generation and we are exceptionally grateful to the community members that so generously support us to achieve.

It is, of course, not too late to donate. If you feel inspired to join in the support of our school, please donate through our website: https://www.kds.vic.edu.au/donation.