Staff Service and Retirements

Chairman of Council’s Retirement

After eleven years of service to the PLC College Council, our current Chairman Mr Russell Walley, is retiring. In announcing his retirement, Russell told the Council it had been a privilege to serve on the PLC Council. Appointed to Council in June 2009, he has served the past nine years as Chairman of Council, and also Chairman of the Executive and Finance committee and a member of other Council Sub-Committees.

Central to his devoted and tenacious leadership has been his Christian faith, serving God and others in his tireless work on our Council. 1 Peter 4:10, ‘As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace’, exemplifies Russell’s godly service over this extended period of time for our College.

He has been strong in his commitment to our girls and took great pride in seeing them thrive in the Christian culture which is the foundation of our College. His deep knowledge and genuine interest in the College, and all it stands for, has been a great hallmark of his leadership as Chairman of Council.

As a judicious steward, Russell has led the College through a period of growth in enrolments and physical resource renewal, as well as managing some difficult decisions with great wisdom. Russell’s strong commitment to the College community along with his financial acumen has been invaluable, making a positive impact on the resilient position the College is in. He has provided enduring support to other Council members, leading a cohesive team with a great heart for the College, past, present and future.

Russell has graciously immersed himself over this time in the life of the College, attending many events along with his wife Lyn, and we are indebted to him for his significant energy over these years. Their daughter Lauren graduated from PLC in 2010. Our sincere thanks are extended to Lyn for her support of Russell in his service to the College as we are mindful of the time it has required and the impact this has had on family time.

On behalf of the College community and the College Council, we express our gratitude and sincere thanks to Russell and we wish him and his family God’s richest blessings as they move on from our community to serve in other ways.

The incoming Chairman is Reverend Mark Chew. A current parent of PLC girls Emma (Year 11) and Lauren (Year 8), Mark has served actively on the PLC Council for ten years and is a member of the Executive and Finance Committee. With a background in commerce and finance, Mark currently serves as a Pastor at Holy Trinity Doncaster and St John’s Blackburn and is also on the Board at Ridley College. He begins his term as Chairman of PLC Council in November 2020.

Mark is looking forward to the contribution he will make to our College as Chair of Council, and we wish him and the Council well as the school moves forward into the next exciting period of its history.

Cheryl Penberthy Principal

A Tribute to Angela Hurley

Angela began her career at PLC in 1986 and has worked with five Principals in a range of positions for nearly 35 years. She began as a Senior Biology and Science teacher and then added roles such as House Coordinator, Year Level Coordinator, Snow sports Coordinator, Head of Biology, Registrar, and now Director of Admissions. Up until this year, all her roles were combined with a Science teaching load.

For many students, Mrs. Hurley has been the first person they met at PLC.

As Registrar, later Director of Admissions, Angela would regularly introduce prospective parents and their daughters to PLC. Warm and personable, gregarious and fun-loving, Angela welcomed everyone with the same enthusiasm and inclusivity. Within a few minutes of meeting her, everyone felt like they had known her forever. There is no doubt that many enrolments eventuated due to Angela’s enthusiasm and love of PLC. Angela could persuade parents to see beyond just the buildings and satisfy them it was the right school for their daughters!

Prior to taking on the role of Registrar, Angela was the Head of Biology. She is a highly skilled teacher. She loved the classroom and managed to juggle the two very different roles of registrar and teacher magnificently. She has always been a dynamo in the classroom and brought science to life with engaging hands-on activities. Her students loved her!

Angela is always so positive and full of life. She is adventurous and has a great love of nature and the outdoors. She took students on marine science excursions and showed them how to jump daringly from Portsea Pier, snorkel among its underwater pylons to view sponges and darting fish, and explore rock pools safely using a longhandled wooden spoon.

On Year 11 Biology field trips, Angela’s fascination for plants led to foraging and finding botanical treasures hidden in the bush. Angela encouraged students to immerse themselves fully in the experiences of their surroundings.

‘Let’s take a ride in the back of a farm truck to see a calf being born.’

‘Who’d like to come for a slosh through mud to look at marsh birds?’

‘It will be a bit slippery but won’t it be fun to find the biggest, oldest tree in Melba Gully?’

Angela made everything sound exciting and nothing was too dirty, wet or uncomfortable for the intrepid Mrs Hurley! She was also interested in what the students were thinking. She interviewed them and filmed their responses to her questions about their experiences on camps and excursions.

Sporty and energetic, Angela has been a competitive tennis player outside school. For some time, she took part in weekly afterschool staff tennis matches with members of Science, PE and Audio-Visual staff.

Angela now gets lots of exercise walking her dogs, two spaniel-kelpie crosses, who never tire of running. One of her dogs is also an extreme-distance swimmer and Angela may be seen at Brighton Beach running along the shore trying to keep up with it, as it makes its way to St Kilda!

Angela also enjoys dancing. To help celebrate a colleague’s birthday in 1998, Angela attended a sedate dinner at the University of Melbourne Staff Club, accompanied by music from a classical pianist. After dinner, a small group of (then) young PLC staff decided to raise the energy level of the evening by attending a city club for some dancing. They were not long inside, when, from somewhere on the dance floor, through the darkness and over-amplified music, a high-pitched voice was heard. ‘Hello Mrs. Hurley!’ A pair of attractive, fashionablydressed young women greeted Angela: they were two of her Year 12 students! It surprised Angela’s colleagues but she was totally at ease and carried out a friendly conversation with them as though it was not at all unusual for teachers and students to be bumping into each other in a King Street nightclub!

Angela is a keen gardener and has an eye for the aesthetics of landscaping and floral arrangement, as well as home decorating. Angela and Rick are tireless and have relocated and beautifully renovated several homes during her time at PLC, as well as building a beach house in her homeland, New Zealand. Angela’s generosity towards her colleagues has been demonstrated by the hospitality she has extended to entertaining in her lovely homes on many social occasions.

Over her many years at PLC, Angela has been a great supporter of the Science Department. She embraced change enthusiastically and thrived on the new. When curriculum changes or new regulations came into force, Angela’s approach was to roll up her sleeves and get on with it!

Angela has always shown kindness and support to others in times of need. She consistently put a positive spin on any situation and used her own brand of delightful, self-effacing humour to put everyone at ease, allowing them to forget any troubles. Nothing was ever any trouble for Angela, she was always available when help was needed. She has been a joy to work with.

In her time at PLC, Angela has been a loyal, versatile and dedicated member of staff. Angela also entrusted PLC with the education of her daughter Alice, from the Early Learning Centre through to the end of Year 12.

The PLC community is extremely fortunate to have had Angela in its midst for so long. She has been a wonderful contributor to life at PLC.

Reflections provided by Andrea Skinner, Sue O’Brien and Jen Rivett

Josephine has made an amazing contribution to life at Presbyterian Ladies’ College. She is a person of great intelligence, depth and creativity. An innovative and engaging teacher and a visionary leader, she has a great capacity for coming up with new ideas and an appetite for hearing the thoughts and ideas of others. She is committed to lifelong learning and continuous improvement and is passionate about education. She is a voracious reader and is always excited to share the excitement of new approaches and ideas with others. This was often seen in HACCs (Heads of Academic Curriculum Committee) and through the professional reading group that she established. Her contribution as a curriculum leader at the College will be missed very much.

Josephine is also a character. She has an unmistakable, almost wicked laugh and a great sense of fun. She is genuinely interested in people and will happily chat at great length about just about anything. Josephine loves a good story; telling them, hearing them and even on occasions being the subject of them. And you know that your story has been appreciated when she responds with her hearty laugh. Josephine is great company and one who enjoys the company of others. She is a presence that will be missed in decision-making forums and professional conversations, in the staff room and in the classroom. We wish her every happiness in her retirement.

At least once a week or so a photocopied news article would mysteriously appear on my desk in the English office. These would land at random times and I always enjoyed returning from a class to find an A3 page obscuring my marking underneath. The articles came from a wide range of publications and usually had absolutely nothing in common with one another; one would be an analysis of the latest discovery about blackholes while the next would be a development in the art world. Often two entirely different articles would descend on my desk at the same time, each vying for my attention. The only commonality was the source: Josephine Foxcroft. As the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) coordinator she would deposit these treasures on my desk to share with my students.

TOK is an incredibly wide ranging subject and it is no doubt this quality that drew Josephine to it in the first place. She reads incredibly broadly and there hardly seems to be a subject that she eschews. I even received the occasional article about algorithms and artificial intelligence! Alongside her reading is an ear that is constantly tuned to Radio National and I have had many conversations with her about radio programs she has listened to. On several occasions we were able to download relevant interviews and share them with the IB students.

A true polymath, I will miss Josephine’s love of knowledge and learning and all that she contributed to the TOK program at PLC. She enjoys playing with knowledge and language and I will also sorely miss her irreverent wit. I am currently seeking expressions of interest from voracious readers who feel they can continue Josephine’s tradition of furnishing me with random articles from every possible subject area.

Henry Jones

A Tribute to Josephine Foxcroft

What can I say about Josephine Foxcroft? From a personal perspective, she has been a dear and loyal friend for a very long time. For many years her office was next to my office, and although she was always busy with her work, she made time for at least a quick conversation with me during the day, and occasionally when the need arose we talked at length. I always found Josephine to be a person whose conversation was seasoned with wisdom, learning, humour and Christian grace. Nothing was too much trouble for Josephine and she always left me with the feeling that doing the best for the students and addressing their needs were foremost among her concerns. Not everyone who becomes a teacher is ideally suited to the role, but I think it would be fair to say that Josephine was. After watching her daily interactions with students over many years, I can confidently say that she brought a lot of insight, compassion and care into her work with students. Doubtless she would have occasionally had to bring an honest reality check to some unrealistic student expectations; my understanding is that she would have done this with a good measure of kindness and sympathetic listening! I found Josephine to be a learned and capable person whose extensive reading and study allowed her to reflect deeply on a wide variety of issues. I also found Josephine to be a steadfast and faithful follower of Jesus. Although we have travelled along slightly different pathways in the Christian life, I always felt there was a deep Christian bond between us where we could openly, honestly and regularly share some of the personal and precious aspects of being Christian together. Josephine was not someone who paraded her faith on every occasion, but it was a quietly reliable and prayerful given in everything she did and I honour her for it. Educators are busy people and sometimes in the hurley burley of day to day school responsibilities it is easy to be more task than people orientated. I want to thank Josephine for never having done that with me and my life is much richer for it. I wish her a very happy and well deserved retirement.

Reverend Charles Green

A Tribute to John Law, the PLC Team Player

John Law began his career at PLC teaching Swimming and PE in 1990, the year after he retired from his illustrious career as a star Australian Rules footballer playing for North Melbourne in the VFL. Prior to this he had taught at both St. Michael’s Grammar School, St Kilda and Brighton Grammar, Brighton. As a footballer John was known for his direct style of play and for his uncompromising commitment to his team. He has played with the same drive and commitment to PLC for over 30 years and has been a central member of our PLC family.

Greatly admired for his energy and sense of fun, a story which exemplifies this was the egg dropping competition in the early days when he taught Year 3. The girls had to design something in which they could drop an egg from a height without the egg breaking. John said he would be the compere and to the delight of the girls and staff alike, he arrived dressed in his dinner suit and a bowtie and his fellow teacher wore a chook suit. John’s ‘Dad jokes’ have also been renowned throughout the Junior School. Generations of girls enjoyed the Year 6 JOG (Junior Outdoor Group) camp held up at John’s farm at Strathbogie. He taught girls and staff basic farming knowledge, as well as how dams and windmills assisted people on the land. He loved this time just as much as they did! He also brought his energy, enthusiasm and support to the running of the Joyce camps over the years.

For many years John ran the holiday program which meant he had responsibility for the logistics and financial side of the whole program as well as the organisation of multiple activities around the school so that children had a choice of 7 or 8 activities at any given time. No wonder more than seventy children happily signed up for the 14 day program! John always set the bar high for the girls on the sporting field and introduced many innovative lessons. These creative lessons along with his laidback and humorous personality guaranteed the girls enjoyed PE and gave 100%. Another arena where John loved the opportunity to connect with students at their level was by dressing up and acting on stage to the delight of girls and teachers alike. On many occasions he displayed his wonderful acting abilities, including some memorable performances of Matt Preston and the old, strict Headmaster, Mr Charles Pearson from PLC’s early days.

John has always demonstrated high moral, family and social values and was always fair in his dealings with people. Highly regarded for his honesty, trustworthiness and loyalty, John has led by example to build a staff that is a team, who respect each other, support each other and who work collegially. John has supported and mentored many staff over the years and his dynamic and inclusive style has been a driving force in the Junior School, benefitting students, staff and our parent community alike. His openness and approachable nature endeared him to parents who so appreciated the time he spent each day in the school pickup area, listening to their concerns and answering their questions. John has had two careers in his working life, his football and his teaching. There are not many who play football at this elite level, who go on to make a new career that is so devoted to serving others. It is a great credit to John and has been for the benefit of PLC, that he has gone from strength to strength in his thirty years at the College. From his role of Captain of the North Melbourne Football Club, to captaining our Junior School, he has been a great leader who has shown courage on the field and in the way he took on his new role as Head of the Junior School. John has been a great team player, knowing that when one succeeds, everyone succeeds. We will miss hearing the jingle of his keys in advance of his booming voice and hearty smile. John has been a central figure on the PLC side, our Captain and most valuable team member. He leaves behind an extraordinary legacy. John is a proud family man. His wife Bronwyn also taught at PLC, and their two daughters Rachael and Lauren attended the College. We thank him most sincerely for his acclaimed and devoted service and we wish him and his family every happiness in the years ahead.

Reflections provided by Cheryl Penberthy, Suzanne Phillips, June Tait, Kate Ginalyo, Paul Hamilton-Smith and Sharon Catchpoole

A Tribute to Jennifer Pinkney

2020 - what a year on which to finish a working career! While we are delighted for Jen that she is retiring at the end of this year, it will mean the loss of an incalculable store of PLC corporate knowledge, as well as a devoted employee and wonderful colleague. If there was an award for the person who has held the greatest variety of roles in the most areas of the College, Jen would be the clear winner!

Jennifer Pinkney initially came to PLC in a casual capacity in 1998 to assist with the Junior School Weekly Newsletter. Realising her quality, she was employed as a permanent part-time Office Secretary in June 1999 and the rest, as they say, is history.

In April 2000, Jen moved to the Senior School Principal’s Office and Development Office to cover for another staff member on extended sick leave. In July 2000, she went back to Junior School full time while their secretary went on long service leave, then a month later covered the LSL of the Music School Secretary.

In August 2000, Jen became the official ‘Roving Office Secretary’, filling in wherever an extra administration staff member was needed in the College. From December 2000 to April 2001, she was Acting Registrar, after which, she became PA to the Deputy Principal, Carolyn Elvins. She has remained in this role for the rest of her time at PLC. While the Deputy Principals may have changed, Jen has been the constant. After Carolyn Elvins, she served as PA to Tim Argall, Keiron Jones, Anne-Marie Williams and Geoff RobertsThompson, and has now been working solely for Anne-Marie Williams for the last two years.

Jen’s time at PLC has clearly been characterised by a willingness to do whatever is required and this has resulted in a career of more than 22 rich, varied and valuable years. She is the consummate professional, always immaculately presented, impeccably polite to everyone and her discretion, attention to detail and knowledge of grammar are legendary. As with all great personal assistants, her aim is to anticipate what needs to be done before others even realise they need it. With her encyclopaedic knowledge of PLC, she is the go-to person for everyone with questions and nothing is ever too much trouble.

Even more significantly, Jen has collected and maintained a firm group of friends from all the times and differing areas of the College in which she has worked. This just might have something to do with her interest in people and stimulating conversation, her amazing generosity and her love of good food and social occasions. Our Jen loves a party! She is as loyal a friend as she is an employee and, while we wish her every joy in retirement, she will be sorely missed on a multitude of levels. Our loss will be her beloved children’s and grandchildren’s gain and we know that she will relish being able to get up when she feels like it and spending as much Nanna time as her heart desires!

Karen Chittenden

A Tribute to Mark Hennessy

Mark has been an integral member of the Year 9 Wellbeing and Outlook team for a number of years. As a Year 9 Form Teacher he always invested time and energy in building community and creating a sense of belonging amongst the students in his form. There would be the weekly ‘Song of my Life’ presentations, quotes of the week, personalised birthday cards and end of year photo fridge magnets.

As a member of the Outlook team he brought IT skills and expertise to the curriculum. Integrating IT into classwork, sharing materials electronically, and encouraging staff and students alike to experiment with iMovie, QR codes, shared links and creative presentations.

In recent years Mark has been responsible for the Outlook City program. His attention to detail, meticulous organisation, structured planning documents and personal encouragement for all students as they wrestled with ‘Big Questions’, was outstanding. He constantly sought out new ideas and experiences for the girls, and his wide-ranging knowledge of Melbourne was a great asset. Mark was always full of enthusiasm, encouragement and words of praise for the girls’ Self Initiated Projects. As an educator Mark fostered independent learning amongst the Year 9s, giving them responsibility for their learning and the chance to pursue their own interests. The Outlook program has certainly been enriched by his contributions.

“To be early is to be on-time, to be on-time is to be late, and to be late is totally unacceptable!” Mark Hennessy – Outlook Program Preparation Sessions!

Janet Driver