Introducing new staff - Part 3

Josh Bartholomew

Josh is a new graduate. He will be teaching Physical Education in 2018 at Northcote High School and is looking forward to the opportunity to step into his new role and be part of the HPE team. His final placement of his degree was as an Associate Teacher at St Michaels Grammar School where he taught Health, Physical Education and Drama. Prior to teaching Josh worked at the YMCA in various roles including aquatics team leader and pool operations coordination. His own passion lies in trail running, nutrition and spending time in the outdoors, particularly hiking and camping. He has completed the Melbourne marathon twice, trekked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu and hiked two of New Zealand’s great walks, Milford and Kepler tracks. He is currently training for a 50km Ultra Marathon in the Blue Mountains.

Josh highly values his own sporting experiences and is looking forward to making a positive impact on the Northcote School community, but more importantly on the students that he teaches.

Rachel Kan

Rachel Kan is a teacher of English, Humanities and Psychology, who with a great passion for her subjects, aims to share this with the students she teaches.

When growing up her parents had always been avid travellers, so when she graduated from Monash University having studied Arts and Education, she found she was itching to begin exploring the world herself. A gap year travelling with friends through Europe ignited what was to become a great affection for travel and experiencing new cultures. Her first teaching position was at Rowville Secondary College and over the two years teaching there she began to develop her teaching identity, discover her strengths as a teacher and had the chance to collaborate and learn from colleagues.

Encouraged by friends and family, along with the challenge of being pushed outside her comfort zone, Rachel made the difficult decision to leave her life in Melbourne and move to the UK to live and teach in London.  For the last two years she has taught both in permanent and casual positions, across a variety of schools in London. The experience provided the chance to become adaptable and flexible to a new country, lifestyle and school system. Being on the doorstep on Europe, Rachel was able to travel and experience many differing cities, cultures and most importantly the food of many countries. She is looking forward to settling in to Northcote High School and putting all of her new skills and experiences into her teaching.

Lynette Ng

Lynette is a second-year Mathematics Teacher. Her students usually call her Miss N, because Ng is hard to pronounce for most people. Although she doesn't think she has achieved much in her career so far, she would like to think she has given her best in everything she has done. Lynette enjoys developing friendly and positive relations with both her students and colleagues. She has heard many good things about Northcote High, and can't wait to be part of this amazing community! She is a little nervous about integrating well, but will always try hard to leave a positive impression! 

Annabelle Van Eeden (Annie)

Annie has been teaching English and French for the past six years in government schools. She is a passionate promoter of bilingualism and believes that speaking more than one language is good for the heart and mind. She is an avid fiction reader and reads up to fifty books a year. She is a self-confessed nerd that loves to learn new things; she subscribes to a range of podcasts from murder mystery to breakdown analysis of Harry Potter chapters.  Annie lives locally and can often be found perusing the shelves of a second hand bookstore or vintage furniture stores. She is a strict vegetarian that also has a sugar intolerance, which makes catering options pretty difficult.

Annie is really looking forward to working at NHS in 2018 and is particularly excited to learn more about the Northcote model and how she can contribute to curriculum design, an area she is particularly passionate about.

Marlee Zirkler

Marlee grew up on the Far South Coast of NSW in a town called Bega, famous for cheese. She has a bachelor degree in International Politics and Criminology and a Graduate Diploma of teaching from the University of Melbourne. Previously, she worked as a Humanities and English Teacher at Albert Park College. Marlee is an avid traveller and is known for going on spontaneous trips overseas with minimal planning. Her biggest achievement is completing a six week trek in the Himalayas and exploring the wilderness of Patagonia in South America.  In her spare time, you will spot her at fun run events red faced, attempting to look elegant at the rock climbing gym or reading science fiction.

Marlee is looking forward to meeting her new classes and working with her new colleagues to develop new and engaging humanities curriculum.