Journalist
Food Technology Assistant Julia O’Neill’s job title does little to explain the wide range of duties she performs.
The little things that count
Some children live on rural properties with only dam water so I wash their uniforms for them, otherwise they get pretty grotty.
A stalwart at McCarthy Catholic College Tamworth for more than a decade, Julia is involved with all aspects of the school’s day-to-day functioning.
Her basic role is to order and prepare the food for Food Technology classes. But on top of that she washes the linen from the technology classes, the canteen, the sick bay and the staff room. She has an in-school laundry where she also washes the jerseys for the school’s rugby union and league teams, as well as the soccer and touch kits.
Once a year she drives 17 students and two teachers to the Agquip agricultural show at Gunnedah where the students man the Murray Grey stall, cooking and serving thousands of steak sandwiches and tea and coffee.
“That’s a huge three day event, getting all the food ready and driving out there. We leave at 7am and get back at 5pm every day. But it’s great experience for the kids,” Julia says.
It’s the little things that she does that really make a difference to students’ lives.
“Some children live on rural properties with only dam water so I wash their uniforms for them, otherwise they get pretty grotty.
“If a little girl’s upset because she’s had an accident with her uniform or has got a torn uniform, they send her to me and I fix it up.
“One little boy told me he had no oven at home. So I thought ‘I’ll have to give him a bit of extra care’.
“We’ve got all sort of children here and you can never assume anything.
“I say to some kids ‘grab a tea towel’ and they don’t know what I mean [because] they have dishwashers. That’s our society,
“It’s a great team here and I enjoy the kids and the staff. I always look forward to coming to work.
“Support staff play a very important role in schools. I see the little things that no one else might see. It’s the little things that really count.”
Julia has been an IEU member most of her career.
“I joined so that if I ever had a problem with a student or parent I could get the right advice.
“I would recommend all support staff have that support behind them.”