Spotlight On . . .

This week we place our spotlight on Ms Rachel Ivin, Teacher of 5I.

Rachel was born in Sydney, NSW but at only 6 months old she moved with her family to Auckland, New Zealand. She went to Meadowbank Primary School until year 6 and then her family moved back to Australia! This time to Brisbane, QLD where she finished primary school and then went to St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School until she graduated High School in 2009. During school Rachel loved playing Touch Footy and was a speedy short distance runner, she even went on to coach for a few years. She also loves camping, snow skiing and Harry Potter! 

At 14 Rachel got her first job at Baker’s Delight where she loved to sneak a Cheesymite Scroll or 2! Since then she has had many jobs including working at a casino, being a waitress at a cafe and working at a function centre serving guests at weddings and special events. Her favourite job by far though was babysitting and nannying for lots of lovely families both in Australia and overseas. Rachel also loves animals and has lots of pets! She has 2 dogs, Poppy and Henry, 1 cat Krystal and 10 Fish, her favourite fish is Margot and she is a HUGE Angel Fish. 

Rachel has wanted to be MANY things in her life, a treasure hunter, a nurse, a vet and a teacher so when she graduated it was hard to choose the right path and unfortunately she got it wrong the first time! She studied for 4 years to become an Urban and Environmental Planner but after graduating realised it wasn’t for her so she ran away to London.  

Travel has always been an important part of Rachel’s life as her Dad is a Travel Agent and her Mum worked for Air New Zealand as an air hostess. She has travelled to many countries both with her family and on her own, so it was no surprise to anyone when she packed her bags and moved to the other side of the world! Before settling down Rachel travelled all around the UK and Europe including Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Greece and Germany but Greece was hands down her favourite. 

In London, Rachel became a nanny for a family with 2 lovely children. Everyday she would walk them to school, rain, hail or shine, and then pick them up ready to help with homework, take them to ballet and cook dinner. While Rachel was a nanny she got to do some really cool things including being on TV! She was an extra on a TV show called 24 and got to meet the one and only Stephen Fry! 

After 2 years Rachel came home to Australia and this time she moved to Melbourne, where she decided teaching was for her. After 3 years of studying she graduated and got her first job at Syndal last year. Rachel loves working at Syndal South because of the students and staff, they make everyday so much fun! She misses her students and cannot wait to have everyone back in the classroom.