School’s out

Leaving school: Don Patterson, Chris Clements and Judy Ife are all retiring after long stints at Korumburra Secondary College.

By Chris Brown

CHRIS Clements has spent his entire teaching career at Korumburra Secondary
College.
Since 1973 he’s fronted classrooms full of students, teaching accounting, legal studies and information technology most recently.
Now after 36 years and about 3500 students Chris is retiring.
“I can remember when the first computer came into the school and we had a Canadian maths teacher and it was his baby,” he said.
“It was wheeled out on a little trolley into the classroom and we’d sit back and wonder at it and we ended up getting 13 computers for a room and that was amazing.”
Chris has seen plenty of other changes, including the closure of tech schools, a more questioning attitude from students and increased regulation.
“There was a lot more freedom in the past to do things. For example, we used to have an activities program with trail bike riding, skateboarding and gliding,” he said.
“None of those things can happen now.
“There’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of frustration in having to jump through hoops to get something done.”
Chris had been raised in Melbourne, but wanted to try country life after graduating from teacher’s college.
He planned to teach for three years and then find another job.
“Well, I haven’t moved on,” he said.
“I have to say I’m not looking forward to moving on either; not looking forward to retirement.
“Kids keep you young and there are a lot of positive relationships with kids. I’ll miss that.”
Career highlights include carrying the Commonwealth Games torch in 2006 and last year’s 50th anniversary celebration.
The fire that burnt down the school’s administrative wing in 1993 was a notable event.
“To some extent it was like a fire going through the forest with the regeneration that follows, and it was the same here,” Chris said.
“All the teachers lost everything and they had to start again…I think it regenerated the place.”
When Chris first arrived at the college nearly every teacher lived in
Korumburra.
“Now four or five teachers live in Korumburra and the rest mainly live at Inverloch or Leongatha,” he said.
Don Patterson is also retiring.
He arrived at Korumburra secondary in 1985, following six and a half years in Botswana.
Don specialised in physics and maths, but in recent years has helped teachers use computers more effectively through the Catalyst program.
“I find team teaching to be a really effective and rewarding way of teaching; to work with another professional and see how they do stuff,” he said.
Next year Don will teach at a university in north-west China.
“I guess it comes out of my commitment as a follower of Jesus to try to help people less able,” he said.
For Don, seeing students who have no chance of succeeding because of their background is a lowlight.
“It’s really wonderful to see kids who might not have been going many places turn around and it’s really heartbreaking to see kids trying really hard and not succeeding,” he said.
“I can think of two boys who in Year 7 were naughty as, but they were really bright and it was wonderful to see them turn around.
“They never lost their playful spark, but they successfully moderated that and did extraordinarily well.”
When Don came to South Gippsland most of his Year 12 physics class were children of farmers.
In 2009 very few of them are.
“We tend to get a lot of children who come for a short time and move on, whereas in those days the kids would come in Year 7 and largely stay through until Year 12,” Don said.
When Judy Ife started teaching at Korumburra in 1987 students could still use stanley knives and guillotines in the art room.
She will retire at the end of this year as well, after being on long service leave.
Using hot wax for art classes is another thing of the past.
“We used to do this thing called batik and we put the wax on to heat before a class and it got a little bit hot and it was smoldering and fortunately we got to it before anything burnt down,” Judy said.
“After that it was the end of batik, but it was a shame because it was a great lesson.”
Judy said computers have allowed students who can’t draw to produce really fantastic work with a camera or manipulation.
She can still remember the talented students, like a girl who made amazing wire sculptures, or another student who created interesting collages.
“Sometimes a Year 12 might give me a piece of work and that’s really precious to have,” she said.
“I can’t bear to throw out the really good stuff and if they don’t want it I keep it.”
Judy said she noticed the friendliness of the school when she first
arrived.
“I think I’ve been really lucky being able to teach in a small country school,” Judy said.
“When I first started I was the main art teacher, so you got to know every child who went through the school, which is good.”
Korumburra Secondary College will hold a retirement function for the three teachers at the performing arts centre on Friday, December 4 at 5pm.
Community members are welcome to attend and should call the college on 5655 1566.
It will cost $20 for drinks and finger food.

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Posted by Chris Brown on Oct 22 2009. Filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry