Celebrating 35 Years of Service

This week the Department of Education celebrated remotely employees who have contributed to state education for 35 years.

I feel both humbled and privileged to have been amongst this group and would like to share with you who I am, where my roots are and my vision for the amazing young people of The Lakes.

I hail from East Preston and was educated in East Reservoir in a school that stopped at Year 11 because young people didn’t need education beyond that level. Expectations were that we would just get an apprenticeship, go to business college or, for girls, just get married. My father worked in the same job for 50 years and my mum was an Avon lady, a kinder assistant and later an integration aide who peddled her cycle around, much to my horror. In hindsight I look back and she is probably my hero.

My education continued at Newlands High and later at Latrobe University. Yes, I am a home-grown northern suburbs girl that some people believed in.

My professional career saw me at Brunswick Tech in the late 70s through to the mid-90s. Here I learnt about newly arrived people from Europe and refugees from the Middle East and Vietnam. The students taught me about starting over, leaving the known behind and having the determination and courage to make a new start and aspire to great things.

At Brunswick, I had amazing mentors and believers and we walked the talk pioneering school - Tafe links, piloted VET courses, explored credit transfer articulation and direct entry to pathways.

I taught VCE Legal Studies and Information Technology - in 1980 I had to hire a computer so my students could see one.

From there I arrived at Epping, again we took risks in setting up a Skill Centre, entered Work Skills Competitions, linked with industry and explored how we could advantage our young people. The establishment of the WYC through a Düsseldorf grant was one of those projects.

My next stop was Fawkner Secondary as Principal. Here I was acknowledged as the Herald Sun Secondary Principal of the Year and in 2003 honoured with a Public Service Medal for education leadership and curriculum innovation. I believe my greatest legacy here was the partnership brokered between Minter Ellison Legal to support and mentor our students - a partnership which is now 15 plus years.

In 2006, I returned to Whittlesea as the inaugural Principal of The Lakes South Morang P-9 School. This has been the most amazing opportunity. To be trusted, hold such influence to create, advocate and broker partnerships that foster a “can do “chant, self-belief and a license to be yourself, reach out and have a youth voice is what my mission is here and now. I am proud to have witnessed our young people be successful in their pathways. They are excited and we need to celebrate more!

Our young people are our future, they have a right to dream big and we as adults have a responsibility to scaffold and support them.

We have to believe in them, help them make good choices by asking probing questions and build their character and voices to enable them to be influential.

The mission of education here and now is in identifying the biggest stumbling blocks for our youth and future world. This is the lighthouse we need to follow. Our jobs are to put the puzzle together making sure the gaps and structure are strong. Let us honour the lessons of past learning while we calibrate a pathway that creates a bridge to an exciting and hopeful future.

On a personal note , my partner is a tradie who left school at Year 10 to return at 30 retraining as a technology teacher, my daughter has an intellectual disability and is non-verbal with high anxiety and challenging behaviours and my son is an amazing musician and songwriter. My life is pretty amazing, and education has been the key.

Thank you for trusting me to lead The Lakes and I look forward to collaborating and moving The Lakes South Morang College in the next stage as we continue to support our community in Aspiring to Inspire.

Kerrie Anne Heenan PSM.

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