With sadness, but also with incredible gratitude, we are farewelling two special staff members of our Woodend community.

Ms Vicki Gregory

Although a difficult decision, Ms Gregory believes it is time to step down from her many roles at Woodend and focus on her next chapter called Retirement or semi Retirement. Ms Gregory has been an incredible role model in building a strong culture of Respect, Care and Community to our Woodend community since Woodend’s beginnings in 1995.

Ms Gregory knows all there is to know about Woodend Primary School. She can be likened to Woodend’s historian as she was one of the first teachers at Woodend Primary School at its inception in May 1995. Ms Gregory has been associated with Woodend for 30 years! Along with her community support, she was instrumental in lobbying for a new school to be built on the current grounds due to an increase in the number of young families in the local area. The lobbying was successful as we were able to have the first of our school built in the form of ‘houses’ that are currently in our school ‘street’. Ms Gregory has actively engaged in building Woodend’s culture as well as its physical environment. This included developing our school values, organising uniforms, resourcing classrooms and learning spaces, and developing garden and play spaces all with her community spirit. There was not one working bee that Ms Gregory did not coordinate or attend during her years here. In fact, Ms Gregory has remained on the Grounds Committee and many other committees since the school’s opening.

Ms Gregory LOVES her school! She has been the first to welcome new staff and mentor and inspire current staff, and she is always a rich and resourceful contributor to any event, routine or process that makes Woodend a better place. Woodend’s fairs, Sports Days, Japanese Study Tours, School Anniversaries, Celebration Nights, Open Nights, STEAM Expos, and School’s Performance Challenges are just a few examples where her valuable organisation and involvement has not gone unnoticed.

Without doubt, “Magical” Ms Gregory has made Woodend a better place. We sincerely thank her for all she has done for our school community and we wish her a long, healthy and relaxing retirement.

Mrs Dana Pentland

We will need to have several boxes of tissues ready for SSO, Dana’s goodbyes this week! Although Dana believes it is the right time for her to retire, she has continued to talk of missing the beautiful children, families and staff of which she has close connections.

Dana has worked at Woodend for the past 22 years. During that time, she has not only supported students with their learning and wellbeing but she has also made every effort to build our strong culture of ‘Respect, Care and Community’ by the numerous opportunities she has volunteered her help in order to grow Woodend as a place to belong. You would see Dana take on a variety of roles and love her role! Examples include: often being the welcoming face to new children and families at Orientation visits; caring for all young children as they embark on their first school swimming lessons (including showing her dancing style at Friday’s swimming disco!); with sincerity and seriousness supporting student’s with special needs; as an accredited trainer of ‘What’s The Buzz?’ program teaching students social skills to support them in their daily interactions with others; volunteering to attend camps and excursions, just to name a few.

Dana has given her all to Woodend Primary School. We are so appreciative of her generosity of spirit and sharing her numerous skills and talents to help our school continue to grow and improve. The Woodend community thank Mrs Dana Pentland for her outstanding contributions and we wish her every success in her next chapter.