Australia’s Best Teachers: Nathaen Moore and Warwick Lyndon

Teacher Nathaen Moore spent five years working in luxury hotels before becoming a teacher. He uses that worldly experience to excite young minds.

In Nathaen Moore’s classroom, tourism isn’t just a subject – it’s a passport to the real world.

The Springfield State High School teacher loves getting his students out in the field collecting data at theme parks, assessing hotel sustainability practices, going behind the scenes at attractions such as crocodile farms and meeting leaders from major travel companies and tourism bodies.

Moore, 44, spent five years working in luxury hotels and at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre before becoming a teacher. He knows exactly what the tourism and events industry demands – and what excites young minds.

Springfield State High School teacher Nathaen Moore with students Aleira Evans, Reilly Brown and Abigail Nicholls. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“It’s so important to show kids the big wide world beyond their postcode. These days I ditch the dusty textbooks and instead dive into the real world and all its curve balls. Sharing genuine, real-life experiences – the good, the bad and the hilarious – is my secret sauce for keeping students interested,” Moore says.

And it’s working. His approach is producing strong results, with more than 90 per cent of his Year 12 students achieving an A or B, and pass rates sitting above 95 per cent across all his senior classes.

For Moore, success isn’t just measured by grades. It’s found in the spark that appears when a student connects with something in the real world, or finds a path forward they genuinely want to explore.

Moore’s students have visited The Hotel School Australia and met with Ipswich tourism representatives and industry leaders from travel companies such as Flight Centre.

They’ve also talked career paths with tourism operators such as Dreamworld and collaborated with Anaheim Tourism in California to analyse tourism spend and job creation during a 10-day school trip to the USA.

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“Working with Anaheim Tourism and other international legends to give the kids a taste of the world’s possibilities was absolutely unreal. Watching their jaws hit the floor in America was amazing. It took a year to organise, but it was worth it,” he says.

For Moore, every experience is designed with intention.

“It’s not just an excursion for the sake of it. Every opportunity has a curriculum or assessment link,” he says.

Back in the classroom, Moore is all about making learning fun and building rapport. He uses games to help teach students the location of countries on the map and the flags of the world.

“Relationships are everything. You’ve got to crack through the tough exteriors to get to the gold inside,” he says.

Clear goals, engagement – and hip hop

Warwick Lyndon knows good teaching isn’t about special tricks or flashy methods. His philosophy is simple: show up, do thework and always look for the good in people – especially teenagers.

Atherton SHS head of health Warwick Lyndon is combining basketball and dance to increase student engagement in his lessons.

The health teacher and head of department at Atherton State High School has spent the past two decades focusing on getting the fundamentals right.

“Being a stable role model and establishing clear goalposts or expectations is crucial,” he says. “Most students respond well to persistent and consistent routines, clear instructions that outline the what, why and how of what we’ll be learning, and studying things that are engaging and fun.”

In one of his classes, Lyndon, 42, changes things up by blending basketball and dance lessons. “We called the unit Boogie Basics and combined sport and rhythmic movement,” he says. “We used one of the Nike streetball ads from the ’90s to tap into the hip-hop and basketball cultures. It engages kids rather than just getting it done.

“Lifelong learning is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but I think in our subject area, it’s absolutely crucial. We have an opportunity to encourage and promote a healthy lifestyle, which hopefully improves their quality of life.”

One initiative he’s particularly proud of is “Phone Home Week” – a time when teachers call families to share positive feedback about students.

Originally published as Australia’s Best Teachers: Nathaen Moore and Warwick Lyndon