We say Goodbye . . . 

Eriko Miyagi - Japanese Teacher 

Sensei Eriko, has been a member of the SSPS community for  16 years. She worked tirelessly to ensure that our students were exposed to the Japanese culture that she is so proud of. She made Japanese fun, organising lots of different activities, including Japanese Cultural Day, Taiko Drumming, Japanese Dance, Chopstick Competitions, Toy Making, Origami, Sushi Lunches and Lunchtime Club to name just a few. She also organised school exchange programs, where we had students from Japan stay with our families and ours with theirs. These were such wonderful experiences for our students, but an enormous amount of organisation for Sensei. But her passion and determination made it happen. She also somehow managed to organise staff members to accompany her to Japan on a 'study' tour. Staff were amazed at her vast array of networks and couldn't have asked for a more protective and informative tour guide as they took in the wonderful sights of Japan and its mystique.

Eriko talked often about heading north to the warmer climates one day, so maybe now is the time. We wish her well.

Arigato & Sayonara Sensei!

Sandy Powell - Maintenance

George ‘Sandy’ Powell has been a member of the Syndal South Community for 30 odd years. No one knows exactly when he started, as Sandy likes to keep things very close to his chest. A former member of the Defence Force, Sandy came to Syndal South as a cleaner, where he quickly became a popular member of the staff with his quirky nature. There are old school photos of him dressed up in a suit, front and centre of the staff, as if he were the school principal. He loved nothing better than to stop for a chin wag with anyone who would listen. His favourite topics of conversation centred around football and racing and loved nothing better than sharing his hard luck stories, when missing the trifecta by the narrowest of margins.

He was an ‘old school' cleaner, filling up vases with flowers, wiping down window ledges and always leaving his personal touch in all our classrooms. When contract cleaning took over schools, Sandy ‘semi’ retired, but soon found himself back as our maintenance man. Nothing would be too difficult for Sandy to fix, using detailed planning and diagrams to provide evidence of his work. The ‘Sandy Powell’ award, became a feature with our students, often seen clamouring around him, with bits of broken glass, rusty nails and loose nuts & bolts. Sandy was most frugal, recovering bits & pieces of piping, timber and other such building materials that he thought might be useful down the track, when fixing broken parts.  Under the school is known as ‘Sandy’s storeroom. If you are looking for something, Sandy will know where to find it. He also recovered food scraps from the yard and became popular with the many species of bird seen visiting the school property.

We will all miss not having Sandy around as he heads off to retirement once again. We wish him well.