Pandemic heroes: Regional Victorian teachers triumph in toughest year

Behind the students that thrived during the pandemic were unsung staff, who helped our young deal with the chaos of Covid.

They don’t wear scrubs or capes and aren’t your typical paladins of the pandemic but dotted among our country schools are a host of forgotten heroes.

These unassuming champions are the teachers, support workers, bus drivers and volunteers who have risen above and beyond their duties to help save the school year from drowning in the uncharted waters of the pandemic.

The Weekly Times has uncovered some of these everyday heroes who managed to turn ordinary into extraordinary for their students.

Gippsland Grammar teacher Prue McNaughton became a firm favourite with her grade six class — and their siblings and parents at home — after she organised a series of celebrities to chat directly with her students via Zoom.

Gippsland Grammar teachers Justin Henderson and Prue McNaughton. Picture: Lisa Baker

Prue was inspired by the high number of celebrities on social media claiming to be bored during lockdown.

“I thought, if they are that bored then maybe they’ll talk to my class.” she said.

“I started out by contacting some big name stars but got doughnuts.”

Not deterred, she persevered and successfully secured high profile cricketers and other sporting stars including Olympic athlete Tamsyn Lewis and AFL umpire “Razor” Ray Chamberlain.

“It grew from there and it became an obsession of mine to get a different speaker each week,” Prue said.

The guests included Hollywood actor Brooke Anderson and author John Marsden.

“I put the word out to families to check if they had any contacts and realised I also knew people who have done some amazing things,” Prue said.

Her friend Troy Henderson, an electrical engineer in Antarctica, joined from Macquarie Island despite 80km/hr winds at the time, and spoke to students about the highlights of working in the coldest and most remote place on earth.

Other special guests included Bill Barker from Mt Hotham Search and Rescue, the captain of the Roulettes, a meteorologist, paramedic and Prue’s dad, Seaspray farmer Gregor McNaughton.

“I would get feedback saying that the whole family gathered around to listen — even those studying Year 12 — it was a highlight for them,” Prue said.

Inventing ways to engage students online resulted in intriguing entertainment from pets for Hamilton and Alexandra College music teacher Ben Singh.

Known fondly as Mr String, Ben drew on the home environment to enhance his online classroom and soon had an array of animals joining in for fun. “In one of my Year 8 classes I set the challenge for lip syncing to a favourite song and one girl got her horse Peter to lip sync with her by giving him a carrot,” Ben said.

“Week in, week out the kids were in front of screens and by giving them time to go outside, into the farm yard and listen to the birds, listen to their rhythms and put that into assignments for us we had some amazing results because the kids really embraced it and were able to communicate in different ways.”

His own cats became class superstars on the screen.

“When I was teaching the violin, one of my cats, George, would hop on my lap while I was playing and the kids loved it and before long were bringing their pets along too,” Ben said. “I know it’s a different focus to a normal school environment but it gave the kids a sense of purpose, they felt connected and I think it helped their wellbeing.”

Gippsland Grammar careers adviser Justin Henderson reached out to last year’s Year 12s to present their advice and experiences to this year’s graduating class.

They talked about the challenges of studying VCE during a pandemic, schooling online and what life was like on the other side of it.

They discussed everything from courses and accommodation to how they were able to study under the current conditions, particularly those living at college and on residences.

“There were great questions about moving interstate because they weren’t allowed to come back due to border closures and questions on how they coped with that given they couldn’t see their families,” Justin said.

“It was powerful … they all wanted to give advice and were happy to connect.”

Mallacoota music teacher Padma Newsome had to get creative so his students could continue to share music post-bushfires during lockdown.

Mallacoota teacher Padma Newsome with fellow teacher Lisa Broome and two students on the beach at Bastion Point. Picture: Supplied

Beach music classes were the unique answer, saving the student lessons from shutting down completely by providing a safe space to practise. It meant the beach below the cliff face at Bastion Pt, where hundreds sheltered during the Black Summer fires at Mallacoota, played saviour again during the Covid pandemic.

“I would find families there (at Bastion Pt). It was safe and protected from the wind. The fire scars were behind us and in front of us was the wild, beautiful sea that was neutral and it became the solution for sharing our music,” he said.

Shining brightly during the pandemic have been teachers like Jess Van Swol who have gone above and beyond for their students despite climbing their own personal mountains.

A primary teacher at Mallacoota P-12 College, Jess lost her home during the Black Summer fires, faced multiple relocations due to housing shortages, tackled remote learning with her students and suffered a brain bleed at school last year. “That (brain bleed) was the day of the hard border closure with NSW (due to Covid) and the ambulance almost wasn’t allowed through the roadblock,” Jess said.

At a time when the stress was insurmountable, Jess found her classroom to be an anchor point. “The kids gave me the drive to keep going,” she said. “Going to school in my classroom that I knew hadn’t changed, it was consistent and kept that structure in my life.”