Principals, professional partnerships, pupils, paper and pencils… are amongst many special memories I have of teaching at Stanthorpe State Primary School.
From chalkboards and milk carton pencil boxes to screens and keyboards, there have been significant changes over the years in teaching and learning at Stanthorpe Primary.
As a beginning teacher, my time management skills quickly developed, as Principal Mr Nev Irwin walked along the wooden veranda outside my Year 2 classroom carrying a timetable and a small clock in a chalkbox. With the clock held up and a tap on the window, I soon realised this was to ensure the correct subject was being taught … on time. Needless to say, my teaching partner ( Mrs Jaye Piovesan) and I became proficient at listening for footsteps!
The popular ‘ classroom theme ’ approach to teaching the curriculum (always a circus and underwater theme), gave way to Essential Learnings and the Australian Curriculum. Principals Ms Deb Cox and Mrs Jo Pozzi guided us through this change. Many classrooms were renovated to become 21st-century learning spaces. The renovation memory that always makes me smile is being relocated to the old Art Room with my teaching partner ( Mrs Margot Tulloch) and two classes of Year 7 students. With limited room to move inside and scaffolding enclosing the outside, it was difficult to Strive for Higher Things!
In 1991 Principal Mr Rod Mason introduced permanent part-time teaching to the school. This allowed Ms Jane Johnson and myself to work in partnership sharing the job of teaching one Year 4 class and later a Year 7 class. Students could often be heard to say, “ Whose turn is it today? ”
The excitement and sense of achievement felt by students when building a spaghetti bridge, participating in the Eisteddfod or mastering long division … are just a few of my memorable moments at Stanthorpe State Primary School.
Congratulations SSPS on 150 years
