Staff in the Spotlight

With so many staff joining our team this year, we would like to give our school community the opportunity to get to know our new teachers in a fun way. Each week we will be spotlighting a new staff member and sharing with you all sorts of fun and interesting stories about who they are and most importantly, why they became a teacher and what they love most about teaching! 

This week we are spotlighting Ashleigh Bibby who is our new Leader of Wellbeing.

How long have you been working in student wellbeing?

I’ve been working in Student Wellbeing here at Wantirna College for a lengthy 11 weeks (starting at the beginning of Term 4 of this year), and in other settings for about 12 years. It’s been a wonderful journey so far.

What was your previous role before coming to Wantirna?

Prior to coming to Wantirna College, I was employed by the Department of Education servicing all primary and secondary schools across the Outer East Melbourne Area. I provided whole-school capacity building and professional learning for teaching and educational support staff on trauma-sensitive practices, policy development, crisis management and response, facilitating professional debriefing for Wellbeing and Leadership staff, providing 1:1 counselling and support with students, developing small-group programs and whole school wellbeing events and celebrations, and advocacy work for students living in out-of-home care.

What drew you to working in student wellbeing?

As with many people who get into this field of work, I first explored social work and student wellbeing as a potential career path after lived experience and a subsequent desire to ensure that other people going through similar experiences feel supported. I have a strong passion for learning and have seen the great value that education has brought to my life (I even went back to university to study secondary teaching!), and so working in Student Wellbeing seemed like a good fit for my values.

What do you love most about your role?

One of the things I love most about working in Student Wellbeing is being able to offer a space of safety for young people (and sometimes adults) to be vulnerable. To lower their guard and let people in to share their life experiences, the good, bad and everything in between, without judgement. It’s amazing to see what people are capable of when they feel safe and supported, and to see how they apply that learning in their lives. In a strange way, another one of the things I love most about my role is when students reach a point in their journey where they no longer feel like they need support and can confidently say they trust in their own abilities, strengths and skills to be able to endure any new or unexpected thing life throws at them. Those are always great days.

What has been one of your best moments working with students?

There are so many to choose from, but some of the biggest standouts for me have been when students I’ve previously worked with reach out wanting to introduce me to their own children years later, explaining all the lessons they learned through our time working together that they hope to teach and impart to their own children. It’s incredibly humbling to witness what aspects of our therapeutic conversations students begin to embed into their own life philosophy as they grow, and to see them use that wisdom to help and support others in healthy, proactive ways.

What are three things you would like the Wantirna community to know about you?

My house is more a Bunnings nursey, independent record store, library and art gallery than it is a home. I love ice hockey (Seattle Kraken/Melbourne Mustangs), and would one day hope to publish a novel or two.

Where's your favourite holiday destination?

You put me anywhere near the ocean, the mountains or the snow and I’m bound to have a good time, but I’d love more than anything to one day travel to the Nordic countries and witness the Aurora Borealis.

What TV show/series did you last binge?

I’ve recently started getting into pottery, so it’s been a lot of The Great Pottery Throw Down…

If you could wear Harry's invisibility cloak for a day, where would you go and what would you do?

I think I’d borrow Harry’s invisibility cloak to visit either a forest and just sit and observe all the animals that are usually too scared to come out when people are around, or head up to Tullamarine Airport and politely skip the international departures security line…

What is the one piece of advice or the one thing you always say to students?

Having healthy boundaries does not mean you’re being selfish – you’re allowed to take time and want space from the people you care about sometimes to care for yourself.