Terry Twomey: Leading a School after the Kinglake Fires
Terry Twomey, Principal of Whittlesea Secondary College, was introduced by Michael Elligate. They went to Latrobe University together in 1970. When Terry went to Latrobe University there was five hundred students and five hundred student residents. He received forty seven dollars a fort night in student support, which at that time he considered a fortune
Terry started his teaching career in Tallangatta in 1973. At that time you voted liberal if you were radical and National Party if you were conservative. Terry was a teacher of politics during the Whitlam era in 1974
Terry then taught in the North of Melbourne. He became an Assistant Principal in 1991 and a Principal in 1997. He noted that over eighty percent of principals leave in four years and there should be more development support within schools. He was principal at Lakeside from 1997 for six years and at Warrandyte from 2001 – 2005. After that, Terry semi-retired and did jobs for the Department of Education. He then signed on for six months at Whittlesea Secondary. The school has nine-hundred and forty kids from twenty-eight feeder schools. Over eighty percent arrive by bus. The kids are not indifferent and want to make a difference. The fact that the school is open to all is a great thing.
When the bushfires happened it was like a month of crisis management in one day. Twenty-one of the school community died. On the first day back only two hundred kids turned up. The school had no coherent plan and it took days to find all the survivors. Seven teachers’ lost their houses. Over thirty students left the school straight afterwards and this had a big impact on funding.
Despite suffering deaths and departures from the school following the Kingslake Fires in February 2009, Whittlesea Secondary College school maintains a positive profile. There are waiting lists for most grades. Its strength is through working closely with the local community. 40% kids come to the school in grade 5. This is a school that was in need of the “Gonski” funding. The Government either needs to invest more in education or pay later in more for welfare.