Welcome new staff 

Joining our community

We are delighted to have a number of new staff join (and rejoin!) our community this year. Over the coming newsletters, we will bring you a short introduction to each of them. Please say hello when you see them around. 

Sabatinie Balasooriya  

Hi everyone. My name is Sabatinie (but if that’s a tongue twister, ‘Saba’ is fine). I am the new student wellbeing coordinator at Northcote high school and am feeling very excited about starting this journey. My tertiary background is in Psychology and Counselling, and I have just recently finished up my work as a Youth and Family Counsellor in a community health setting. I worked in this area for almost 4 years and primarily focussed on providing therapeutic counselling support to young people aged 12 to 25 who were experiencing a range of mental health concerns. At Northcote, I am most looking forward to the opportunity of working within a school environment where I get to build strong and lasting connections with students, offer my support throughout the span of their schooling and hopefully have a positive impact on these students. I am also excited to be able to support student growth and to watch students flourish and become independent, awesome human beings by the time they leave Northcote High. I would describe myself as a foodie and love to try new restaurants with friends (although my bank account disagrees with this lifestyle choice), enjoy playing mixed netball and am obsessed with dogs. 

Jill Deltenre 

Jill is a recent graduate of the Master of Teaching (Secondary) with LOTE (French) and EAL as her methods and inclusive education as her specialisation. For over 10 years she has worked as a private French tutor teaching various students and working with teachers at various schools. The relationship she was able to forge with students was one of her favourite aspects of the job. Prior to this she completed a Master of English as an International Language (EIL) and worked as an academic tutor for the EIL undergraduate program at Monash University. For her work she received the Dean’s Commendation of Excellence in Teaching for outstanding teaching. She self-identifies as a social justice educator engaged in reflective practice. After working solo for over 10 years, she is most looking forward to joining a team of educators to exchange ideas and collaborate to promote students’ academic success and wellbeing. While she is slightly apprehensive about the undoubtedly fast pace of a first year of in-class teaching, she is eager to learn more about the teaching profession and keen to find out more about her students’ strengths, talents and interests. 

Hilary Dodd 

Hi everyone, I will be teaching Visual Art and Visual Communication Design at Northcote High School in 2021. 

I recently graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Master of Teaching (Secondary), specialising in Art and Design. Prior to this, I completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts. I undertook the final semester of my masters on exchange in Prague, where I completed an Arts Based Research Project. 

Becoming an artist-teacher has enabled me to merge my passion for education and the arts. I am a practicing artist and have exhibited in numerous galleries throughout Victoria. Since completing my Masters, I have been working as a casual relief teacher at various schools around Melbourne. 

I am committed to engaging the community in the learning process and am constantly seeking out ways to link the content being taught to students’ lives beyond the classroom. I prioritise student wellbeing and believe that positive relationships are at the core of a successful learning environment. 

I am looking forward to immersing myself in Northcote High School’s vibrant culture by collaborating alongside students, colleagues, families, and the wider community. I’m especially eager to participate in the various co-curricular programs and activities that the school has to offer

Jaymee Curtis 

I'm incredibly excited to be joining the team at Northcote High School. I am a History, English and Humanities teacher with an interest in modern history, feminist and dystopian literature, and a recently acquired fascination for Greek mythology. I have a Bachelor of Arts from Griffith University in Brisbane where I grew up, and a Master of Teaching from the University of Melbourne. In a former life, I was a gymnastics coach and spent time on the Queensland Trampoline Sports team, and I now love to stay active and spend time outdoors whenever possible. My pre-Covid plans for 2020 were to hike the Pacific Crest Trail – a 4,260km strip of dirt that runs the length of the United States, from the Mexican border in California to the Canadian border in Washington. While this dream is on hold pending more stable times, I am grateful for the opportunity to explore more of Australia’s outdoor spaces in the coming months. As a new teacher at Northcote High School, I am most looking forward to getting to know the people, staff and students alike. That being said, I also have some apprehensions in this space as my previous school had a much smaller student population. I can’t wait to meet you all and learn more about what makes Northcote High School unique.  

Paul Giddy

I began my teaching career in 2012 and started at NHS in 2014.  As well as teaching maths at NHS, I spent time as a Student Wellbeing Coordinator and Year 7 Program Leader. I am returning from 2 years leave, which I spent travelling and teaching overseas.  I spent 3 months living with a local family in Cusco, Peru, where I volunteered at a high school and a primary school for students with disabilities.  I then travelled through Mexico, the US, Canada and England, visiting old friends and making new ones.  I settled in Stuttgart, Germany, where I taught at an international IB school.  There I learned a lot about curriculum design and the implementation of investigative, contextual and student-centered learning.  I also learnt a lot about how to teach online during our 3-month lockdown. Fortunately, I was able to enjoy the European summer freely in 2020.  I managed to travel (responsibly) around Spain and Portugal, and my partner and I got married in Gibraltar.  Now that I’m back I’m looking forward to reconnecting with my friends and colleagues here at NHS, as well as applying what I have learnt over the last 2 years abroad.

Darcy Gilkerson

Darcy is a cellist and cello teacher who has been teaching in schools for the last four years. He has recently completed his Bachelor of Music, majoring in performance from the University of Melbourne. During his time studying, he had the privilege of working with brilliant musicians and lecturers and was able to tour South Korea with some of the university’s finest performers. Outside of University, Darcy has performed with numerous Melbourne based companies including StageArt, Watch This and has worked with the Melbourne Theatre Company.

As a teacher, Darcy has worked part time at several schools concurrently including Siena College, Eltham College and Our Lady of Mercy College. Since working at these schools, all of them have seen a marked increase to the number of students participating in the string department, something Darcy prides himself for contributing to. He is most excited to be joining Northcote High School’s impressive and well-established music department and is greatly looking forward to getting to know all the music staff and students. 

Liz Bastian 

Liz is excited to be rejoining Northcote High School this year and is looking forward to working with the students to create fun and interesting theatre performances. She has been teaching Drama for 8 years and loves being involved with all aspects of performance, including the school productions. In her previous positions, she directed the school productions of Shrek and Annie, as well as the VCE plays for Drama and Theatre Studies.

Prior to becoming a teacher, Liz spent 20 years as an actor and has worked in Theatre, Film and TV professionally both here and in the UK, where she also trained at Drama School. Her passion is acting, and she is still involved in the industry when time allows.

In her spare time, Liz loves seeing theatre and going to the movies, as well as travel, good books and great food. She likes getting out of the city often and likes walking on the beach or in the hills.