Stacey Saunders

English Teacher, Shire Christian School

It was an inspirational English teacher who encouraged Stacey to challenge herself in her studies of English to the highest level at school. This demonstrated to her clearly how an enthusiastic and supportive teacher can speak into the lives of their students, enriching their content understanding, helping prepare them for life in the world outside of school. The same high expectations she set for herself as a student, she sets for her own classes, assuring them that they will also get from her the highest level of support.

Having taught across a range of Government and Independent schools in the last 15 years, Stacey has been a valued member of the teaching staff at Shire Christian School for the last 2 years. Academic Head, Natalie Bluhdorn, speaks to Stacey’s passion for her subject area, her collegiality with her peers, and her capacity to help her students understand the power of education and the leverage that provide for them in making choices about their future studies and work life post-school.

Willingly placing herself before her students and colleagues as a teacher who is also on her own learning journey, Stacey has been part of the Foundation Team helping to shape the strategic development and introduction of the school’s new learning framework. Natalie notes Stacey’s open and engaging demeanour in and out of the classroom as one of her key assets. Stacey identifies this herself as a key to meeting her students where they are at, engaging them patiently and openly about the challenges of setting and working towards high expectations but also the joy in meeting those expectations. It is, according to Stacey, her responsibility to teach them how to learn and to have a passion and love for that learning, and that this is the greatest gift a teacher can give a student because it is a skill they will take with them through their entire life.