This day, thirty years ago, was my last day as a teacher.
On the final day of Term 1, 1987, I walked out of my classroom for the last time after 17 years as a teacher and Head of English, Drama and Film Studies.
I’d had a ball and enjoyed just about every minute of my time at John Kelly Boys High School in London and Gilles Plains High, Salisbury High and Para Vista High in Adelaide, South Australia.
I worked alongside some extraordinarily dedicated and enthusiastic teachers and met some astonishingly talented young people. I think we did some good stuff together, and it was a privilege to share some of the subjects I love with hundreds of students. Several of them still keep in touch and now that we are all nearly grown up, I count them among my friends.
And I’d like to reassure Daniel Cullen that I wasn’t leaving because of him, even though he had convinced himself that I was. I had simply decided that I didn’t want to be a teacher any more, around the same time that an interesting opportunity had arisen.
Daniel, as the symbolic representative of all the students I’ve ever taught, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I wish you all well and hope life has treated you kindly.