“When I was in primary school, my sister was school captain, then I was school captain, and now my brother is school captain,” Khloe Vale says in a calm, matter-of-fact voice that belies the gravity of the family’s achievements.

At 14, Khloe carries a quiet confidence — the kind that draws people in. Softly spoken and thoughtful, she leads by listening. But the Kempsey High School student’s achievements speak loudly: Junior NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) member, National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy (NASCA) Youth of the Year, and one of the youngest voices on the NSW Education Minister’s Student Council (DOVES).

Kempsey High Principal Simon McKinney is unequivocal. “Khloe is an exceptional leader of the future. She has great empathy. Students really take to her. And her sister Tanaya (current school captain of Kempsey High) is the same. If you could bottle what that family has, you’d change a lot of lives.”

Their younger brother, Reggie, is captain at West Kempsey Public School. Three siblings, three captains.

Kempsey High, on Dunghutti Country, has made steady progress since becoming a Connected Community school in 2021. Enrolments are now more than 550, and around 45 per cent are Aboriginal students, up from around 41 per cent four years ago when Mr McKinney arrived as principal.

Programs like Clontarf, NASCA, BroSpeak, SistaSpeak, cultural art, on-Country learning, wellbeing sessions and daily pick-ups with breakfast shape the rhythm of the school and set a platform for student success.

Student voice, Mr McKinney says, is one of Kempsey High’s biggest strengths.
“If kids help make the decisions, they show up. They feel ownership.”

Khloe learned that lesson early, long before her leadership titles. But her principal remembers the moment her confidence leapt forward — when she applied, at the very last minute, for a place on the DOVES.

“She had an hour before it closed,” Mr McKinney recalls. “We realised her sister was too old to apply. So it fell on Khloe. And she just… did it with minutes to spare.”

Across NSW public schools, Aboriginal student attendance has risen slightly to 79 per cent in 2025, while overall student attendance has lifted to almost 88 per cent. NSW has one of the highest public school attendance rates in the nation, second only to the ACT.

For Khloe, the pull at Kempsey High is simple. “There’s always something happening. I get upset when I miss school,” she says. She loves NAIDOC Week, teachers who know their students well, and helping younger kids feel safe during transition. “I always put my hand up to help the Year 6 kids.”

Last year, Khloe and her sister helped write and perform a song about Charlie Perkins and the Freedom Rides with the Australian Literacy Foundation, paying tribute to a trailblazing Aboriginal leader.

And looking at where Khloe and her siblings are headed, it’s clear this family’s leadership story is only beginning.

“Hopefully I can get high school captain too,” Khloe says, laughing. “Keep it going.”