Kyly Boldly Backs St Cath’s Development in New Book

By Pearl Bullivant on July 8, 2016 in News

The $63million redevelopment of St Catherine’s School has bought out the very worst in the people of Charing Cross and Pearl is extremely disappointed by the bad attitude displayed toward the Anglican school. Eastern Suburbs people love to bang on about the ‘village’ atmosphere in their multi-million dollar coastal strips, even formalising the ‘community’ spirit with groups like ‘Save Bronte Village’ and ‘Save Charing Cross’. But when a longstanding neighbour is in desperate need they go all NIMBY, openly rallying against them and even involving the NSW Police in their reactionary cause.

St Catherine’s School is a neighbour, a part of the community, a school of such prestige that Charing Cross residents should be welcoming the redevelopment and displaying an attitude of gratitude and appreciation. Instead of accusing the Anglican school of being unchristian in its relentless pursuit of redevelopment, shouldn’t we be turning a more Eastern Suburbs Buddhist-style cheek by acting in a yogic way and channeling our inner Kyly Clarke by taking a more positive approach to the construction of the world class auditorium, aquatic centre and research facilities?

Speaking of ‘research’, Pearl has been doing some of her own (i.e. reading Kyly Clarke’s ‘True to You’), as there seems to be a lack of understanding by Charing Cross residents of the lives of St Catherine’s School parents. As we know, prejudice emanates from a fear of the unknown, and hopefully Pearl’s insights (peppered with Kyly quotes) will temper the anger and inspire residents to embrace the redevelopment and see that it is indeed part of the greater good.

The philosophy of Kyly Clarke tells us “you can either be happy or right: you choose”. So imagine if you were a partner in a large accounting firm earning $800 an hour providing FBT advice and paying $27k per annum in school fees – wouldn’t you expect more than substandard, public school-style facilities for your precious child? You’d be expecting diving and water polo facilities and a fly tower for state-of-the-art theatre productions. To quote Kyly, “it doesn’t matter how much you have in life”, and if residents walked in the expensive shoes of a St Catherine’s parent they too would understand that money buys nice things.

Kyly’s invaluable advice even covers the pseudo parking issues conjured up by residents who have unkindly implicated the police in petty meddling over 4WDs – “feelings come from thoughts you conjure up”. As residents are aware, St Catherine’s mums are more than adept at double – even triple – parking the standard black Range Rover. Perhaps take a “positive approach to life” next time you encounter a Mercedes Benz blocking the footpath and consider what life would be like if Waverley’s streets were awash with stolen gaudy-coloured WRXs from Bankstown with hoons ready to roll you.

And a final word to Waverley residents from Kyly: “understand no one’s life is easy and what you see, that nice coat, don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. Love St Catherine’s School and it will love you back.