Spotlight on members

The school ran from 9.30am to 3pm. It was reliant on the buses for the local government high school and without the buses, the children had no way of getting to school. When Bede pointed this out, the inspector left them alone.

Bede said cattle would occasionally break through the school’s fence and leave manure on the school grounds, and the children were ready with their shovels to deal with it. “They all came from farms, you see.”

After four years, Bede became the assistant principal of the much bigger St Patrick’s at Albury, which had 550 students, eventually becoming principal, and staying on for 18 years.

“I had great staff, and that’s one of the things I’ve learned – you’re as good as your staff.”

To be closer to his wife’s family, Bede took a principalship at St Peter’s at Port Macquarie after St Patrick’s. But their four children missed life in Albury, so Bede returned to the area to take the reins at St Anne’s in 2009.

In 2016 he was asked to undertake a consultancy with the Diocese of Wagga Wagga. “I wanted to try and promote a better relationship between the office and the principals, I felt communication had become impersonal,” Bede said.

“It was another big learning curve, but I missed the students, so I went back to St Anne’s and that’s where I stayed.

“Whenever you have a bad day, you just have to go and talk to kids. They’re open, you know, just terrific. Fantastic.”

Bede said one of the highlights of his career was being involved in the opening of an Aspect school for students with autism near St Patrick’s, the first such rural school, and being involved in promoting inclusion for special needs students generally.

In his time as chairperson of the Diocese of Wagga Wagga Principals’ Association in the 1990s, supporting teachers with inclusive education was one of Bede’s passions.

As well as being chairperson of the Association, Bede, a career-long union member, served as a rep on the IEU’s Principals’ Sub Branch in the early 2000s.

“Obviously it’s always good to have the support, but being active in the sub branch I got to know names and faces, and that’s important to encourage other principals to get in touch with the union.

“It’s a good sounding board for principals, someone to call and clarify things with, and it helps you stay up to date with the latest changes in regulations, things like parental leave entitlements.

“It’s valuable professional support.”

When Bede answered the call from Newsmonth for this interview, he was battling a recalcitrant door, admitting he may have been more successful with students than as a home handyman. We hope the rest of Bede’s retirement proves more relaxing.

He went on to become a science teacher at Casimir. Science, particularly chemistry, has been Muhammed’s passion since school days.

“We’re lucky in the sense that we can show content not just theory,” Muhammed says.

“We can deliver pracs that help with understanding and make it a little bit exciting and engaging.

“You ask kids, ‘What’s your favourite thing about science?’ and they always say ‘the practicals’.”

The IEU chapter at Casimir recently nominated Muhammed to become their rep, and he now shares the role with another member, Laura Proctor.

As a relatively new teacher with four years’ experience, Muhammed didn’t want to take on the rep’s role alone, but he was happy to share it.

Muhammed is grateful that the two previous reps at the school, who have decades of experience, are always on hand to help, as is his IEU organiser.

The enterprise agreement provisions allow Muhammed to take leave as the non-initial carer after his wife, Alyssa, who works for Telstra, took an initial 10 months’ leave to care for Idris, before returning to full-time work.

Muhammed said that while the focus of the 2022-2023 Hear Our Voice Catholic systemic campaign was on a long overdue pay rise, the other entitlements, such as the parental leave provisions, were also important.

“The media probably overlooked these things that the union fought for, but they were wins for us,” Muhammed said. “People who had kids before 2023 couldn’t access this leave, so I’m lucky.”

A few students involved in the Koori Knockout, a netball competition, wanted to organise a similar event for local schools. With Rowe’s guidance, it came to fruition. San Clemente and six other high schools took part in a round robin, plus cultural activities. The competition ran again this year for NAIDOC Week, an important time for the school.

Every year, an Aboriginal instructor comes to the school in the days leading up to NAIDOC Week, giving Rowe’s students the opportunity to learn traditional dance “And I think that’s the main thing that helps tie the fabric of our Aboriginal students together,” he said.

Rowe is excited about another project being organised by Catholic Schools NSW. Students will be reciting the Our Father (or Lord’s Prayer) in their traditional languages, which will be recorded by a film crew.

It is an opportunity for the students to broaden their experiences of their culture, said Rowe. He believes it will also have a knock-on effect for “all of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids in the school seeing that and going ‘oh wow, look at that, we’re being represented up there’.”

For Rowe, the best part of his job is helping people and fostering connections with community. “And that’s what I feel really honoured to be able to do, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”