Sarah Bowles is one of the newest members of staff, commencing as a Year 6 teacher in 2022. This is her first teaching role, and she feels very lucky to have been given the opportunity to teach at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School.
Sarah is a graduate of the School and, following graduation, she completed a Gap Year working at a Boarding School in England.
“This experience helped me realise that I really enjoyed working with children, both in the classroom and in extra-curricular opportunities. I enrolled to study teaching once I returned to Australia,” Sarah said.
Sarah has enjoyed returning to the Bunbury Grammar community and appreciates the additional opportunities that are given to students, enabling them to flourish in different areas.
“I just completed my first school camp at Bunbury Grammar, going with the Year 6 students to Albany. This was a fantastic experience and has been one of the many highlights of the year – both for me and for the students!”
“The Year 6 Speakers’ Challenge has been another stand-out event this year for me. All the Year 6 students worked hard to plan, write, and rehearse a speech on a topic of their choosing. The effort and dedication they demonstrated was phenomenal and I was so impressed with the quality of their speeches and the confidence in which they presented them. Each week of this Term, I enjoyed work-shopping the speeches and consulting with the students to improve their public speaking skills. I was just thrilled with all their final presentations!”
For Sarah, the students themselves are one of the highlights of being a teacher.
“I have an incredible class, and they all have this innate love of learning and sense of curiosity. They all have something to offer, with different strengths and I have just really enjoyed seeing that all come together and work in our class,” she said.
While a lot of things have changed since Sarah graduated, the passion of the staff working here and the sense of community within the School has not.
“It has been so wonderful coming back to this community, albeit in a different role, as it is a very safe and nurturing environment – for the students and the staff. There is a good, supportive network of people around you and they really want you to succeed.”
Sarah has taken on the role of coach for the Year 6 netball team, Hawks 7, this season.
“We started the season in Term 2 and had a number of girls join who had not played before. It has been rewarding to see how much they have improved as players and a team and, as we head into holidays, we are currently top of the ladder. I am actually quite a competitive person, but the girls in the team are as well, so it has been a brilliant combination!”
“I have always enjoyed playing netball, so it has been an amazing opportunity to coach a team at Grammar. The girls all enjoy the training sessions and the games too. They are all dedicated and eager to improve their skills and continue to make me proud every week. We all have the goal of aiming to make it to the grand final.”
For Sarah, being a positive influence for students is one of the things she is enjoying the most about teaching.
“Year 6 students are in their last year of Primary School and getting ready to transition into Secondary School. It has been rewarding to help guide them in developing their organisational skills, responsibility and sense of autonomy with their learning.”
“For me, the most fantastic thing about being a teacher is seeing your influence on the students and being able to share in the highs and lows of their learning journeys. In many instances their challenges are your challenges and their successes are your successes. It is so rewarding to see the positive reactions of students when they achieve something – their faces really do light up.”
