Jenny’s previous school was Granville South High where she had taught French for three years, but she was excited to be employed as Danebank’s German teacher as she was completing her Masters degree in German. Her expertise and passion soon led her to be selected by the Goethe Institute to study in Gottingen in Germany. Jenny was a keen hockey player and at one stage in her Danebank career, she was seconded to the PE department as well as the Language Department. Over the years, she added Spanish and Japanese to her repertoire of languages and in 2006, she became the Head of Languages. Jenny has taught Japanese in the Junior School and Japanese, French and German in the Senior School. And she has been THE beloved language teacher for the Life Skills girls whose vocal reaction to the announcement of her retirement at Special Assembly last week was priceless. 

Language teachers are indispensable group travel leaders as they have the capacity and confidence to communicate with the locals in their own language. As such, Jenny has organised or accompanied students on language trips to Noumea, to France, to Germany and to Japan. She also led groups of Danebank students on G’Day USA homestay trips to Sacramento, California and Valdosta, Georgia. 

Jenny’s character strength that has been demonstrated most of all during her Danebank career is loyalty. She is a loyal friend, she is a loyal colleague and the 37 years that she has devoted to Danebank epitomises the same loyalty. 

And now Jenny, it is time for you to tap dance, to Scottish dance, to garden, to travel, to learn another language, to become a trivia queen and win “who wants to be a millionaire”, to hang out with friends and family, and to become what God has purposed you to be in this next stage of your life. Most of all, have fun!

Au revoir. Sayounara. Tschuss. See you round. We will miss you.

- Mrs Jocelyn Hartley

It didn't take me much time to realise that Tony is the solution for many things: ff you need things fixed, you call Tony; if you need things delivered, you call Tony; when school events and meetings finish late at night, you know that Tony will lock everything up after you! When I started at Danebank and quietly snuck equipment on to the campus, I never failed to find green tags on these shortly after ... of course, Tony did the "test and tag". I could talk about Tony's contributions all day long. 

Tony has many merits and one of them is patience. Every month, there is the School Council Meeting. I can imagine how hard it is after long meetings at night to ask the School Council to leave the campus before the alarm goes off, or to ask the Principal to leave! He voluntarily stayed later than required into the night to keep the whole campus safe. I once locked myself out of the office and Tony had already finished his shift. He had to travel all the way back and rescue me. I seriously don't understand why he still wanted to talk to me afterwards. 

During the last year, I learnt a lot from Tony. In one of our conversations, he shared how he and his wife, after 50 years of marriage, still love each other. When I asked for the secrets, he shared that you always commit to work with each other, be ready to compromise and make sacrifices without grumbling. I am living on my own, I am not sure whether I will ever get a chance to practice, but that is a very valuable lesson.

I also learnt that Tony is a wonderful grandpa. In another conversation, not long ago, he said his granddaughter asked him to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day. 

I guess all I want to say is we will miss him. And will miss him a lot! He is very hard to replace. Please come back and visit! 

- Ms Yi Zhang, Head of Finance and Administration

Another feature of Audrey’s speech was ‘fun facts’ about Evelyn. 

The fun fact from Audrey’s speech which created gasps around the auditorium was: Mrs Collins is the mother of Mr Collins who teaches English and Drama. They are both very funny.

On Wednesday, Alexi and Ev were both in Q2 premiering the Life Skills Drama Christmas movie (which was great, by the way) and the girls were still perplexed about their relationship… We had the following questions: 

Is Mr Collins your boyfriend? 

Is Mr Collins your grandson? 

Is he your husband? 

Oh.. he’s your son! What!

Fun Fact: Evelyn started at Danebank in 1998, that is 8 years before Audrey was born and in 1998 I was 21 and living my best life at Sydney University studying nursing. In 1998 the first iMac was released, Titanic dominated the Oscars and Harrison Ford was named People's Sexiest Man Alive, and Evelyn Collins started at Danebank. 

Evelyn has worked across the Junior and Senior schools, helping countless teachers and students with her calm and patient nature and her creative spirit. 

Evelyn can always be relied upon to come up with creative ideas and worked alongside the other teacher aides, to create the amazing Life Skills Year 12 Farewell themed decorations. We’ve had themes such as Mexican, Greek, Bollywood, Puppies in Paris, Hollywood, an alphabet party and The Greatest Showman. 

Evelyn loves having fun. She consistently embraced our theme days, dressing up as an angel, a Hollywood superstar and learner swimmer with a flotation device and goggles, just to name a few. 

Fun Fact: One year the Life Skills Science class grew the most amazing zucchini in their garden. It was huge! Evelyn and the teacher aides drew a face on this zucchini, called it Ziggy, and placed it around the staffroom in different positions for weeks. 

The best times I have spent with Ev have been in class when my jokes or lessons have not landed with the girls but she smiles and nods along, debriefing in the evening when we are at camp, when we all work together on a big project like the Life Skills Dance and when we’ve had a tough day with behaviour and we need to laugh about it at the end of the day. Ev loves to laugh and we all appreciate that and will miss this next year. 

Fun Fact: When I started at Danebank, Evelyn helped and supported me, every step of the way. I was nervous in my first years and I will never forget one of my lessons on the seasons where I spelt Autumn wrong on the board, and poor Ev had to come to the front of the room to correct me. I’ve never spelt Autumn incorrectly since. 

Evelyn has faced many challenges over the years and she has continued to be a positive influence and role model to us all. When anyone else would’ve given up, Ev showed her resilience and grace. She is a devoted Christian who always has wise words to offer in any situation and she inspires us all. 

When you work with colleagues for this long, they turn into your family, and I consider Ev and all the Life Skills staff part of a very special family. Working in a school can be stressful with the daily challenges and having a team that’s like a family there to support each other, makes all the difference. Ev is an important part of our team and will be sorely missed. 

Ev loves to travel, she loves spending time with her children and grandchildren and her friends. We are constantly jealous of her amazing holidays and trips, and are pleased she will have more time to spend doing the things she loves and watching her grandchildren grow and develop. 

To finish, a quote from Audrey’s speech: 

We will miss you Mrs Collins. Thank you for all your work at Danebank! It won’t be the same without you but we wish you all the best for your retirement and know you will love spending more time with your family and friends.

- Ms Bianca Jervis

Dr Golledge has been approached by the University of Sydney and subsequently offered a permanent academic position as Lecturer in the School of Education. Recognising that the opportunity to take up a tenured academic role at the University of Sydney is incredibly rare and with a desire to pursue research and writing, Dr Golledge has accepted the role.  It was a difficult decision for Dr Golledge as she has a deep affection for us all- students and staff of Danebank. 

Dr Golledge is well respected in the educational fraternity and understandably so. Her credentials are impressive with a background in research and education. 

Danebank quickly benefitted from her expertise in delivering well designed, engaging and relevant professional learning and her experience as an outstanding educator. Her love of students has been obvious as has her deep respect and care for staff. 

In the short time that Dr Golledge has been with us, she has endeared herself to our community. Working within a powerful team with Emma Pay, she has instituted many welcome professional learning opportunities and initiatives, including but not limited to teacher sprints for our refreshed learning approach, quality teacher rounds, revitalised professional learning opportunities, renewed support for accreditation, our new Danebank PL portal, the inaugural Roseby Ball Staff Award with keynote address, and our teacher research newsletter. 

Whilst we will miss Dr Golledge, we are also proud, knowing the greater contribution she will make to education will be immense. 

We are grateful that we will continue our school’s relationship with Dr Golledge through research with the University of Sydney.

Claire, on behalf of your colleagues at Danebank, please accept our deep appreciation for all you’ve done for us.

We offer many blessings to you and your family for the future. 

- Dr Emma Burgess, Principal 

However, I think it will be our HSIE team who will miss Kerry the most. She is our work Mum and we are going to miss her terribly. Kerry has been a great support to many of us in the department, and has patiently and graciously listened to our frustrations, concerns, meltdowns and any other thoughts or emotions we’ve thrown her way. Personally, Kerry has supported me through the wonderful and stressful times of planning a wedding, buying my first home, and having two children, and I’m going to particularly miss attending work parties together. For Valedictory and formals, I am always Kerry’s date. She comes and knocks on the front door to pick me up, and waits till I’m inside the house before leaving when she drops me off. I think that just speaks volumes about Kerry’s nature; she is always looking out for others.

I don’t know what you do when you spill something on yourself, but we have Kerry. Whilst I have not experienced this myself, I have witnessed the countless times that Kerry has cleaned up after us, as any Mum would. At the first drop of tomato sauce, mustard or chocolate, Kerry is there in good time with napkin in one hand and soda water in the other. No stain is too tough for our HSIE Mum.

On my first day visiting Danebank, a million thoughts running through my head, one of the first people I met was Kerry. She sat me down and handed me a list with all the details I could possibly ask for on how things worked in HSIE. That spirit of organisation has been a consistent theme throughout our time together. She is no doubt organised in her work, from programs, speech night awards and the like, always done perfectly, but it is her organisation of us as a team that we will miss the most. Faculty birthday lists are printed, farewell presents organised and always a driving force behind socials. We will miss how you organise us into a team, Kerry.

So much so that I was met with great disappointment when I inherited the ‘gift organiser’ role. Kerry arranges the most thoughtful and creative gifts. So I apologise to those from HSIE who are planning on buying a house, having a baby, or retiring from today.

Even though we are incredibly sad to see you go, we are excited for you to have the time to do what matters most, spend time with your beautiful grandkids and your family. Thank you for all you do and all you are to us, Kerry! Your kindness and generosity towards us will not be forgotten.

We will miss you Kerry!

- Ms Aneeta Hantes

She’s a brilliant chaplain who can take difficult biblical concepts and unpack them in an accessible way. More than that, she models Jesus to all of us in her life, showing what it really means to be a Christian. Her carols services have been amazing and funny but have always focused on what Christmas is really about by pointing us to Jesus. SIC and Focus camps have been a highlight for the kids and have helped so many of them grow in the faith. She is a friendly and caring shoulder to all of us, yet is humble enough to not realise the impact she has made. She has been the good cop to my bad cop as year coordinator and the class of 2022 have loved her. Emma, when you look back at your time at Danebank I can say with confidence that God would say, “well done. good and faithful servant.” And I was serious when I said we want you as key speaker for the SIC and Focus camp next year.

We wish you every good thing for next year. We know that as you go to work at Park Rd Anglican church, you will compare the two jobs. So, as you drink coffee with people, go for walks and chat with people and play with babies at day care – all the time calling this “ministry”, we know that deep down you will be longing to mark some SOR essays, fill in your NCCD registers and prepare yet another chapel talk. It is possible we will miss you, more than you will miss us.

God bless you mate.

- Miss Kirrily Foley

If you spend only a short time with Jenny you will know that she is genuinely passionate about all things science. Her curiosity and wonder at the world around us, and delight at learning new things is unparalleled. It is not uncommon for Jenny to greet you in the morning with…. did you hear about that amazing discovery on the radio this morning…”it is so cool”…then she will do some quick research and find a highly relevant and engaging article that is just perfect for Year 9 Period 1.  

Her students cant help but be inspired by her enthusiasm for discovery…and its infectious in the staff room as well. Lunchtime discussion often touches on Science…only the other week someone…for some reason…raised the topic of snail eggs…well Jenny chimes in…wait a second…have you seen my photos of snail eggs? Let me show you…next thing we are admiring the photos of baby snails and eggs…and the next day someone has gone snail egg hunting at home and brought them in for all to admire. Jenny can just ignite your interest in something you had never even thought about before.

And sharing in Jenny’s extensive photo collection is not confined to the staffroom. Jenny’s classes would attest to the holiday photos that Jenny shares in class in order to illustrate a scientific concept. The last trip brought photos of kangaroos on Kangaroo Island and the different adaptations they have to mainland kangaroos. Jenny demonstrates clearly how Science impacts on all aspects of life, and draws from the students, and her own, experiences in order to spark their interest and assist them to see the links with what they are learning in the classroom to the world around them.

Jenny also has a real sense of fun…one Solomon tradition is her topic themed screen savers on her computer (again...possibly a holiday photo) and science themed jewellery that is worn at the appropriate time of the year…to see if the students pick the link with what area of science they are studying at the time.

But Jenny is not only passionate about Science, she cares deeply about her students. She is a calm, gentle…but firm… influence…and has an amazing ability to bring out the best in her students. She loves it when students ask great questions, or something just drops into place…and she will often come back to the staffroom and share “I have just had the best lesson with…insert class here…they just got it, and were excited about it.

Jenny is just a great classroom practitioner, but this is also paired with immense generosity in sharing her time, resources and experience. Over these past few years I have often consulted the “Wisdom of Solomon” and have learnt so much – from go to experiments, to how to run a successful dissection, to IT support…Jenny is unfailingly patient and generous…and there isn’t a topic that Jenny wouldn’t have a “great little worksheet” for, or, know the exact Magic School Bus episode in which this topic was addressed.  As an aside – Jenny’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the Magic School Bus series is quite incredible and a retirement project could always be to sign up as a competitor on Hard Quiz with that as her expert subject. She would be formidable.

I know everyone in our department would attest to the great wealth of wisdom, mentoring and encouragement we have received from Jenny. And her generosity and care extends well beyond the field of science. Her wisdom on life and family has also shaped us.

Her deep love for God, her husband Trevor and her children Jess and Andrew is always evident. She is an amazing role model. A strong and determined woman, who loves God and seeks to serve Him in all that she does. We will greatly miss Jenny’s care, interest in our lives, encouragement and support through both the highs and lows. Jenny is servant hearted…and quietly goes about serving us…like the regular appearance of hygienic tea towels in the staff room because Jenny has taken them home for a wash, or praying for us. And through all this Jenny is cheerful, funny and an absolute team player.

Jennys thoughtful generosity and service is summed up for me in a pair of gloves. Jenny noticed that in winter my hands get really dry and cracked. It was about a week before she embarked on a terms long service leave…so she could have easily been spending her time dreaming of the science photos she was about to take…but instead Jenny whipped up an amazing knitted pair of gloves (knitting being another of Jenny’s skills that she has shared with students at knitting club over the last couple of years). That was kind and thoughtful but Jenny also deliberately made them fingerless – so that I could still use my touchscreen for work and type unimpeded – That attention to detail, generosity and thoughtfulness – is Jenny – and will be greatly missed by us all.

I know that retirement is going to bring Jenny the opportunity for more travel…and Science photos, more opportunities for sharing her time and generosity with those at church and friends and family, I know that her church has already signed her up for a kids holiday club talk in which she is weaving a science show into the presentation of the gospel… I wish I was going to that….I also know that Jenny is looking forward to gardening more, and we hope the gifts from the school and science department will be helpful in that endeavour. I know that Jenny is looking forward to having more time to enjoy cups of tea in her special “sitting spots” without bells interrupting her telling her that recess is over before she has finished the cup.

Jenny we know that you have an amazing time lined up in your retirement…but we will miss you greatly…the staff room will not be the same without you…but…. you did say you were willing to do casual teaching…so hopefully it wont be too long till we get you back there again.

To finish up, I would love to pray for you.

Dear loving heavenly father,
Thank you for Jenny.
Thank you for making her the amazing woman she is.
Thank you for bringing her to Danebank, and for equipping her to serve you here in many different ways.
Thank you for using her to teach many students about your world and igniting their interest in your creation.
Thank you for the impact she has had on the lives of so many students and staff
We pray for her as she leaves us.
Thank you that she has a sure and certain future with you as she trusts and follows Jesus
Please keep her healthy and safe that she may enjoy more travel adventures with Trevor and more time with friends and family.
We pray that you would continue to use her mightily to your glory
Please continue to give her opportunities to use the gifts and abilities you have given her.
Please continue to use her to encourage others and grow  disciples.
I pray particularly for the upcoming kids club that you would grant Jenny great creativity as she prepares, and joy as she presents the gospel to the kids.
We pray that those kids might come to know you better through her.
We pray that you may be ever shaping Jenny to be more and more like Jesus, and grow her day by day in her love, knowledge and service of you.
We pray all these things in Jesus’ name

Amen

- Ms Sarah Browne