Meet The Team

Meet the  Grade 1 Team 

Deb (JDR)

I am Deb, I am the Grade 1 Team leader this year, and am very excited to be working in our tiny team amongst the backdrop of Yakai Barring! This is my 12th year at BNW, and I love it here. I grew up in Castlemaine and have always felt that our community feels like home.

Outside of school, my favourite thing is to spend time with my husband and my dog Ila, either resting on the couch, doing hobbies or adventuring in nature. Crochet and embroidery are my current hobbies of choice, and I love creating things out of nothing!

James 

Hi, I’m James, and I’m a Grade 1 teacher. This is my third year at BNWPS, I started off as an ESS and became a teacher last year. I have really enjoyed my time at this school and am so excited to be teaching my new class for 2026!

Outside of school, I like playing netball with my friends, watching movies, eating yummy food and visiting new places on holidays! I look forward to continuing to work with the awesome families in Grade 1 and am so excited to be teaching with such a fantastic team. 

Kate (JKJ) Tues - Fri

I have worked at BNWPS for a very long time, through many stages of life, and definitely feel a lovely sense of belonging here (despite sometimes being known more for being my boys’ mum than a teacher). I’m back in the classroom this year teaching grade 1s (my favourite!), being creative in a different way to the few years I spent teaching in the art room. I share teaching JKJ with Jenny who teaches them on Mondays.

I live close by and feel lucky I can walk to school. At home I like any chance to create for a purpose, and the satisfaction of fixing things till they’re usable again. Friends give me energy and joy and I have a new baby niece who I look forward to seeing most weekends. 

Jenny (JKJ) Mondays

My name is Jenny and I teach JKJ on Mondays. The rest of the week I am the Arts Teacher, a new combined specialist subject which I feel so excited and grateful to get to teach! 

I absolutely love being creative. Outside of school you can find me dancing at friend's gigs, creating vases and lamps at my ceramics studio, or even sewing giant creatures for festivals. Another passion of mine is nature, I love animals so much that my first degree at University was studying Zoology and Conversation. I love camping, gardening and hanging out with my black kelpie (Shadow) in the park. 

Super excited to get creative with you in the Arts space this year!