‘I will be making way for a great thing’: East Ayr State School’s Mrs Linda Scott retires

East Ayr State School legend Linda Scott is hanging up the lanyard and heading into retirement. While many are sad, she doesn’t see it that way. Read how it all began for Mrs Scott.

After 49 years as a schoolteacher and deputy principal, Linda Scott is hanging up the lanyard and embracing retirement.

Deputy principal Linda Scott may be a legend at East Ayr State School, but in 1971, she was a teenage girl from a corn and peanut farm who needed to make a decision about her future.

“When I went to high school, you had to decide around grade 10 or earlier, what you were going to do for work,” Mrs Scott said.

“There was the commercial side which was the typing, shorthand and business principles, or the academic side. I went to the academic side because I didn’t want to be a typist or work in a bank.”

The academic subjects funnelled her into Townsville Teachers College, which led to indebted work for the government at Mareeba State School for three years to pay off her scholarship – then a transfer to a strange place called Ayr.

“There was no accommodation,” Mrs Scott remembered of her arrival in Ayr.

Linda Scott with her softball team in ‘79, her first year in Ayr. Mrs Scott went out and learned how to play softball so she could coach and bring the activity back for East Ayr girls.

“I had to go and live with friends of my mother’s in Osborne until I managed to get a flat in town.”

While living on the Osborne farm, the Burdekin was hit by the March 1979 floods, and Mrs Scott commuted to work on the back of a tractor through the high waters.

Her first impression of East Ayr State School was nervousness about her class of year 5s – so far, she’d only taught year 2s and 3s – but the first day exceeded all her expectations.

Linda Scott with her 1984 class, and a student teacher.

“I couldn’t believe how beautifully behaved they were. I was just gobsmacked at how the kids were so respectful, and they did all their work, and I was going ‘wow’,” she said.

Mrs Scott – then known as Miss Pacchiardi – said the parents were equally respectful, introducing themselves and extending invitations for her to join their sporting clubs.

The squash courts were a particular favourite, but softball and basketball also landed on her weekly schedule.

Using sports, Mrs Scott embedded herself into the community and school for the next four years, meeting her farmer husband Paul Scott on the squash courts, marrying in 1984, and having one daughter together.

Linda Scott with her maypole girls. She used to teach the maypole dance.

Fast forward to 2024, and Mrs Scott is still at East Ayr SS after 46 years – now as a deputy principal and heading into her last term before retirement.

She’s seen a lot – the rise and fall of curriculums, the exodus of year 7, the introduction of prep, the decline of blackboards, and more.

Today, Mrs Scott’s favourite task is interviewing prep kids.

After 49 years as a schoolteacher and deputy principal, Linda Scott is hanging up the lanyard and embracing retirement.

Last year, I got to enrol a prep student whose grandfather I taught,” the 68-year-old said.

“And I love prep open day. The principal has started saying ‘now put up your hand if you were taught by Mrs Scott’ and half of the parents will wave and I think ‘oh gosh’.”

Mrs Scott said teaching prep was “full on” but very rewarding for her staff.

“You would be shocked at what prep students can do. Some of them can write sentences, some can read. They are very, very accomplished little students,” she said.

Linda Scott accepts her bachelor of education, which she went back and studied for after becoming a classroom teacher.

“Prep is not play-based learning; there is a curriculum. That is why kindy is very important today. Kindy has just become free, and we really need as many four-year-olds going to kindy as possible.”

While a lot of people are sad to see Mrs Scott hanging up the lanyard, she doesn’t see it that way.

Linda Scott with her basketball team

“Every time we get a new principal or new deputy, they bring along new ideas that are great for the school,” she said.

“That’s why I believe when I leave, I will be making way for a great thing.”

When asked what qualities make a great teacher, Mrs Scott said compassion, flexibility, and a desire to learn and become a part of the community.

Mrs Linda Scott with her class of '81 – at this point she would've been Miss Pacchiardi.

“You must want to learn all the time because you never know everything,” she said.

“When I look back, I wonder where the years have gone, but rarely did I ever get up in the morning and not want to come into work.”

Mrs Scott’s next great teaching journey will be training her new golden retriever puppy, Rufus.

Originally published as ‘I will be making way for a great thing’: East Ayr State School’s Mrs Linda Scott retires