From Eden to Broulee: South coast high school students and teachers reflect on 2022

As schools across the south coast prepare to shut their doors for the summer, the region’s teachers and graduating students have shared their thoughts on the year that was. Meet them here.

St Peters Anglican College Broulee teachers natasha Steger, left, with Tom Edrich, and Sam Shepherd.

From floods and wild weather to staff walkouts, it was another eventful year for the NSW south coast’s teachers and students.

In the face of challenges, the region’s educators pulled out all the stops to help the graduating class of 2022 across the line.

As they prepare to put their feet up for another summer season, the south coast’s teachers have shared their thoughts on the year that was.

They are joined by some of the region’s graduating class as they prepare for what 2023 has in store.

Meet them here.

Natasha Steger – St Peter’s Anglican College Broulee

While the worst of Covid lockdowns are likely a thing of the past, St Peter’s Anglican College Broulee kindergarten teacher Natasha Steger said the state’s school teachers were still grappling with the fallout from a difficult few years.

“Teachers are dealing with the aftermath of cohorts who have experienced two lockdowns and bushfires,” Ms Steger said.

“It left these learners significantly disadvantaged.”

But, through teachers’ hard work and dedication, Ms Steger said staff have slowly started closing the gap.

“With some much-needed consistency this year, the students are again being set up for success,” she said.

“Our learners this year haven’t had as many interruptions, and that is apparent in their social and academic success.”

Ms Steger, or “Tash”, started teaching eight years ago after studying education and communications in Bathurst.

Starting her career in Sydney, she bounced around the world, from New York to London, before landing on the south coast.

“It was all meant to be when I then received the job as a kindergarten teacher at my current school, which I’ve done ever since,” Ms Steger said.

St Peter’s Anglican College Broulee teacher Natasha Steger

“I completely redefined myself as a teacher working alongside my mentor and fellow kindergarten teacher.

“She changed my whole view of the profession and instilled so much passion in me. I feel very fortunate to be where I am.”

With the basics “in the bag”, Ms Steger’s little learners deepened their connections in 2022, with much-needed family support.

While over lockdown, kids had struggled to meet and make friends, Ms Steger believed those strong, binding connections were finally being built over the 2022 academic year. Their journey was helped in no small way by a “jam-packed” inaugural snow trip.

“I was fortunate enough to take our juniors on their first-ever snow trip to Smiggins, near Perisher,” Ms Steger said.

“It was great to see the students out of their normal environment, thriving and doing us proud on the mountains.”

Back in Broulee, Ms Steger said the junior school also pulled together their first encore performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats.

The performance was the first in four years for students, having now overcome fires, floods, and Covid.

As for 2023, Ms Steger cannot hold back her excitement.

“I cannot wait for another year of teaching kindergarten,” she said.

“I’m incredibly passionate about teaching the early years. It is the place where learning begins.”

Tom Edrich – St Peter‘s Anglican College Broulee

St Peter’s Anglican College Broulee teacher Tom Edrich

From citizen science to adventure-based exploration, St Peter’s Anglican College Broulee teacher Tom Edrich said students relished the return of face-to-face learning.

“Having the school community back together for face-to-face teaching has been amazing,” he said.

“The students really need that interactive, collaborative learning that only face-to-face teaching can offer.

“School teaches students so much more than just curriculum, so the challenges of online learning stopped a lot of that from happening.”

Originally from the United Kingdom, Mr Edrich emigrated to Australia in 2012.

After graduating from the University of Canberra, he worked at Canberra Grammar School for seven years before moving to the south coast.

Since then, Mr Edrich said every year had presented a new challenge that kept the profession “interesting and engaging”.

“I am looking forward to meeting my new class in 2023 and improving as an educator,” he said,

“We have the incredible responsibility of helping to educate and inform the next generation.

“As well as to be positive role models and look after the world better than we have.”

For Mr Edrich, looking back at 2022, there were several notable highlights courtesy of the return to in-person learning.

“There has been a number of standout moments throughout the year,” he said.

“Whether it was individual sporting achievements for SASSA and the CIS or incredible deep learning opportunities.

“We also managed to go on a kayaking excursion through our local mangroves, exploring their adaptations and importance to our local area.

“The students took a lot from it and are now citizen scientists helping to collect and share data on our local mangrove species and ecosystem.”

Sam Shepard – St Peter‘s Anglican College Broulee

St Peter’s Anglican College Broulee teacher Sam Shepherd

Through the fast-thinking leadership of the St Peter’s Anglican College Broulee, Moruya-native and math’s head Sam Shepherd said staff had overcome the worst of the Covid pandemic. But, with mindsets having changed, he believed many more challenges lay ahead.

“Living on the NSW south coast meant we didn’t have the massive Covid surges of the city in previous years,” Mr Shepherd said.

“But, term three still had very high rates of Covid in staff and students. This was still in the period where there was mandatory isolation in place.”

With no extra staff to cover for sick teachers, Mr Shepherd said a lot of extra work was placed on “healthy” staff.

At the same time, the number of kids in class dropped precipitously, also.

“It was not unusual to have half the class absent,” Mr Shepherd said.

“Staff did their best to provide learning for students at home, but the teachers were still in class, and so that is where the priorities lay.”

Looking ahead, Mr Shepherd said one of the educators’ biggest challenges was a change in mentality.

The mindset among the community to sickness, he believed, had been altered.

“Prior to Covid, parents would send kids to school with snot literally dripping onto the floor,” he said.

St Peter’s Anglican College Broulee

“It would seem that now, if your kids accidentally sneeze, then parents will keep children home.

“Thus, a huge challenge is getting students to school.”

The other challenge, Mr Shepherd said, was students not completing work at home when absent.

“I can police work being done in class, but if they are home, we really need parents on board,” he said.

“This is a challenge to many working families.

“Being rural has always been a challenge in most industries. There was a lot of attention given to our region post-bushfires, especially in regards to mental health. This attention was quickly reverted back to city folk once Covid hit.”

Mr Shepard said securing staff was the most challenging aspect of the recent shift in priorities.

“Prior to Covid, we as a community had a lot of trouble securing staff,” he said.

“As soon as city schools start finding it hard, it becomes next to impossible for rural communities.”

For 2023, Ms Shepherd hoped he would once again have solid attendance among his students while pivoting to a more hands-on role.

“I am excited to have the largest extension maths class we have ever seen at this school,” he said.

“Personally, I am looking forward to relinquishing my role as head of the mathematics department.

“This will allow me to be in the classroom more. That is the fun part of teaching.”

Freya Occleshaw – Eden Marine high School

Eden Marine High School year 12 student Freya Occleshaw

For Eden Marine High School year 12 student Freya Occleshaw, 2022 was a “fast-moving and chaotic” year.

After a difficult few years, Ms Occleshaw said 2022 provided students a chance to make up for what they had missed.

For the academic whiz, her highlight was obvious: a trip to Sydney six years in the making.

“My year group has been fairly unlucky in terms of excursions,” she said.

“Every single one the school had planned for us since 2017 has had to be cancelled for some reason or another.

“Expenses, fires, flooding, Covid, every single one was cancelled for six years.

“The school decided that they wanted our year group to go on one successful excursion before we graduated, so they organised for our entire year group to stay in Sydney for four days.”

From going to the zoo or the Royal Easter Show, Ms Occleshaw said the experience was worth the wait.

“I can honestly say it was amazing,” she said.

“I can’t really explain the feeling of running around the deck of a ferry in pouring rain heading across the Sydney Harbour with classmates you know you’ll be leaving in the next year, but it was fantastic. I hope other year groups get to do something similar in the future.”

Eden Marine High School

After a sweep of the academic awards, Ms Occleshaw isn’t sure yet where she will go in 2023.

“I don’t have any plans set in stone as of yet,” she said.

“The last few years have shown us that nothing ever remains stable for very long.

“The ability to adapt will be one of the most crucial and sought-after skills in the future.”

Until then, Ms Occleshaw will continue to work as a volunteer at the local RFS.

She is also currently involved in developing a community zine as part of The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone follow-up project following the release of a documentary of the same name on Netflix.

“It’s a zine made for and by transgender and gender diverse people about their empowerment and joy,” Ms Occleshaw said.

Debbie Meers – Sapphire Coast Anglican College

After a difficult few years for educators, Sapphire Coast Anglican College high school teacher Debbie Meers said it was great to have more face-to-face interaction and social connectedness back in the classroom.

“Our school felt more like a community again,” she said.

“We still had a mixture of delivery to deal with, though.

“We had both face-to-face and online this year as many people still had to deal with Covid isolation, especially in term 1.

“Overall, the year was certainly smoother than 2021, which was a relief to both students and teachers.”

Ms Meers said the continued presence of Covid in schools affected the continuity of learning, the momentum of study and overall focus and application. Nonetheless, she was happy to report that the 2022 graduating class had performed exceptionally.

“This year, all of our year 12 students who applied for university received early entry offers prior to sitting their HSCS exams,” she said.

“This was a great relief to our students and provided them with greater confidence and calmness to tackle their study and examinations.”

Looking ahead to 2023, Ms Meers said she was excited to see more growth in the school community.

“I am excited to meet with new staff and students,” she said.

“As well as seeing students more equipped to transition to the workforce or further study, and supporting another year 12 to mature and prepare for their HSC exams.”