Over the next few newsletters we will introduce you to some of our new staff. We will begin this week with the new teachers who have joined Ms Maree Barnard in our Year 5 team:
“It’s a very big school!” was Year 5 teacher Mr Jack Cotterell’s first impression of our College, coming recently from a small Catholic primary school in Karratha. He is looking forward to being part of a great community, and the challenge of “getting to know so many students’ names”.
Born and raised in Geraldton, Mr Cotterell considers the move to the Pilbara for his first teaching posting to be his most profound life experience so far. “Living up north in the rugged landscape was quite an adventure,” he says, and describes his weekends spent exploring hidden waterfalls and national parks, snorkelling the Ningaloo Reef or exploring the ancient aboriginal rock art and landscapes of the north west.
Being a teacher is Jack’s passion, and seeing students succeed is the best part of his job. He says that Music is his favourite subject, and he enjoys playing hockey and going to the beach in his spare time.
Year 5 teacher Mrs Lorraine Magee joins her husband Phil on the primary teaching staff this year, after filling in as a relief teacher at the College last year. The Magees moved to Busselton two years ago from Beagle Bay in the Kimberley, and were struck by how welcoming the College staff, parents and student body were.
Lorraine hails from Victoria, where she taught in several Catholic schools before travelling and teaching overseas with Phil in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Luanda, Angola. She works also as a remedial massage therapist, and she likes to spend her time on the beach or doing yoga, as well as gardening, cooking, camping or cycling.
Technology and inquiry based learning are Mrs Magee’s favourite teaching areas and she looks forward to utilising the new one-to-one Chromebook program to the fullest in her Year 5 classroom. The best thing about teaching for her? “Every day is different!”
Mrs Natalie Power also returns from a long break with her three young children to teach every Friday in Room 16 with Mrs Magee. With 15 years experience, she has kept her hand in with relief teaching since taking maternity leave at the end of 2007, and is looking forward to helping her students get ready for secondary.