Leadership's Letter

Whenever a new staff member commences at the beginning of the year, they are asked to write a few lines about themselves as a means of introduction to the community. In this edition of the College newsletter, I’d like to profile the following three staff members who joined us this year. 

Introducing our Teacher of English and Homeroom teacher of Year 9 Gavin, Tanya Noorani.

I’m Tanya and I’m teaching Years 9-10 English this year as a fresh graduate at Mazenod. I took my Master of Teaching Degree at The University of Melbourne, and my Bachelor of Arts at Monash University. Prior to teaching, I worked for Swinburne University for their administration team.

Something interesting about me is that I really enjoy lapidary. Lapidary is the process of finding and cutting gemstones. My partner and I usually head down to Brittania Creek in the summer and fossick together for topaz using a gold pan. We’re not consistently successful, as the creek has far more leeches, quartz, and tourmaline than it does topaz. Having said that, over the years we have built a nice stash. I also love to collect rare shells – this pearlescent one is my favourite, watch murder mystery TV shows, and eat cake. 

Introducing our Head of Library and Digital Learning Resources, Lisa Burger

As a teacher librarian, I have been fortunate to teach and resource students from ELC all the way through to Year 12. I have managed libraries at Patterson River Secondary College, and Rowville Secondary College and was Director of Library and Information Services at Haileybury, building an excellent digital library across all four campuses and a strong library program.  I am looking forward to working with staff and students at Mazenod. I love to develop library programs that contribute to all aspects of school life including supporting reading, literacy, research skills and extracurricular activities such as book clubs and literature festivals. Naturally, I enjoy reading, including Young Adult fantasy fiction.

I also enjoy listening to music and attending concerts. My husband has an eclectic music collection and both of our daughters have studied music at Melbourne Conservatorium, the eldest a flutist and the younger, a trombonist. Living in Emerald, I love my daily walks around Emerald Lake Park and gardening as Puffing Billy chuffs by!

Introducing our teacher of English/History and Homeroom teacher of Year 9 Cagney, Jay Thiagu.

My most recent long-term teaching role was at Hallam Senior College. I was there for 12 years. Teaching a wide range of subjects including English, Humanities, History, Media, Sociology, Philosophy and VCAL. Apart from my teaching qualification, I also have a Master's degree in Communication. 

As an educator, I have had many roles including Domain Leader for Humanities and Business, MYLNS Improvement Teacher, VCE/F-10 Curriculum Support, and marking the VCE Media examinations. I was also a member of the HRLTP (High-Reliability Learning and Teaching Pedagogy) Learning and Coaching teams. This informed my evidence-based literacy strategies in teaching students and coaching fellow staff. All as a result of attending professional development seminars by Professor John Munro from the University of Melbourne.

My personal interests are listening to music (I still buy CDs and vinyl), attending gigs, reading fiction and non-fiction, watching (I still buy DVDs)/streaming films and TV, and occasionally contributing to user comments in The Guardian online.

During the summer, I try and get away with family and friends to Apollo Bay. Foodwise, I am very partial to buffalo wings with blue cheese dressing.

Mrs Joanne Noone

Dean of Staff