Carmel鈥檚 English Department welcomed Mr Jon O鈥橞rien at the beginning of Term 2 to teach Years 7 and 9 as well as Year 11 ATAR English. We tapped him on the shoulder recently to have a chat about his early impressions of Carmel and to delve a little into his professional and personal journeys before landing here.

Before joining Carmel Jon spent 13 years at Hale School where, on top of his English teaching commitments, he took on an outdoor education role which saw him travel to Exmouth with the Year 9 cohort and Margaret River camps with the Year 8s as part of their co-curricular activities. He was also a Year 8 pastoral care leader for nearly four years with prime responsibility for those students pastorally, academically and in terms of parent liaison.

It鈥檚 very evident that the enhancement of adolescent literacy through reading is a subject matter close to Jon鈥檚 heart. Recently, he set the wheels in motion and was accepted to pursue a PhD in the area. 鈥淚 started my PhD last year but put that on pause in January. The study would have focused on school library borrowing records, looking for trends in adolescent reading,鈥� Jon expands, 鈥渢he research was through Edith Cowan University who currently have a particular interest in adolescent reading.鈥�

Jon, whose focus for his Masters involved examining e-learning and technology at a time when schools were just beginning to dip their toes into the technological ocean, says he hasn鈥檛 seen too much change in teaching methods due to technological advances but feels that progress in the reporting of marks and parent communication off the back of such advances, has been helpful.

鈥淲here technology might have some way to go is in facilitating inter-school communications between students in a curriculum-based and collaborative way. That鈥檚 been on the horizon for some time - breaking down the walls of classrooms 鈥� which I鈥檓 hopeful we鈥檒l see more of in the future,鈥� Jon notes.

Prior to his lengthy spell at Hale, Jon worked at Seton Catholic College and Emmanuel Catholic College for two years a piece, and at All Saints College before that. Jon鈥檚 teaching baptism of fire, however, came straight after completing his DipEd when he taught at schools in the Borough of Hackney in east London. 鈥淚n terms of teaching, it did provide another perspective and was certainly invaluable as an inexperienced teacher,鈥� he reminisces. He had a spell teaching in north London too before continuing his teaching career in Australia.

With daughters in Kindergarten, Year 4 and Year 7, Jon says while much of his life revolves around his children, his other passions include basketball, which he coached for his entire 13-year period at Hale, and athletics, which he was involved with for 10 of those years and for which he holds Athletics Australia accreditation. 鈥淚鈥檝e been involved in cycling on and off for the last 15 years too. Having had two knee injuries in the past from basketball and football, cycling was a good option to stay fit. As a family we grew up with the sport; my father raced in Perth and was responsible for the original route of the Five Dams ride, but I only took it up seriously in my late 20s,鈥� Jon adds.

When asked if he pursues any other interests in his spare time, he takes a deep breath and rattles off, 鈥淭aking my daughters to junior sport, playing Lego with my youngest daughter Hadley, yoga, reading, indoor cycling on Zwift and one day owning a tiny home in a forest somewhere!鈥�

Welcome to Carmel, Mr O鈥橞rien, we couldn鈥檛 be happier to have you on board!