We are very pleased to announce that Jane-Ann Natar has have been appointed as Deputy Principal at Woodend for the next five years. This is very good news for us and we are thrilled for Jane-Ann to achieve this well earned recognition of her leadership.
After 12 years as grounds / maintenance person, Keith Smith is leaving us. Keith has been contemplating retirement for a while and he is now ready to spend some time putting his feet up and catching up with his son. We have really valued Keith’s service to the school. He has been involved in many projects and has had a big part to play in keeping our school in good condition. Keith has been a very easy person to work with, always willing to have a go at things and persist until it was done. He has worked well with all and very collaboratively with our other grounds staff over all these years. We wish him well in his retirement, He will finish on Friday 6 November.
There are a number of changes to staffing for next year:
We have a number of staff appointed to Woodend as permanent staff next year. We are very pleased with these appointments:
- R-7: Kelly Green (Darlington PS)
- Japanese: Keiko Yoshino (Belair PS)
- Design Technology /Art: Cate Ellis
- Junior Primary: Belinda Yardley
- JP /Primary: Sara Guinan (North Haven PS)
- Primary: John Brown
Sadly, Ali Law, will be retiring from teaching at the end of the year. Ali has been at our school for 15 years and is now ready to have more travel and leisure time. We will have more to say about Ali at the end of term, however, you can be assured that she has been an excellent contributor to student and teacher learning at our school and she will be missed.
Fay Magias, is progressing well and she will be joining us at the end of term for a farewell. Fay’s leadership contribution to our school has been enormous and we are so glad she will give us a chance to publicly acknowledge her efforts and wish her well in her retirement.
Greg Alskne is enjoying the fantastic opportunities that are coming his way through his teaching in Beijing and he has decided to stay. Consequently he will not be returning to Woodend. Greg does have a very fond regard for Woodend and he will remain in our memories a terrific, unique teacher and colleague. We are sure he will enjoy his continued success in China.
We are excited about the return of Barb Williams (Japan) and Nikki Edwards (baby).
We are hoping that our terrific contract teachers, Lyn Klinkert, Tegan Reid, Jess Ottewell, Cam Wright, Pete Natar, Marc Saffin will also be around next year in some capacity.