Following her retirement earlier in the year, Yass High School teacher Bev Robinson was recently awarded life membership to the Yass Teachers’ Association.
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Mr Robinson taught for 30 years, and she spent 28 of those years at Yass High. She praised the students at the school, saying that “most of the kids at Yass High School are decent kids.”
“They’re good kids.”
Ms Robinson taught “on and off” at the high school across her time there, intermingling periods of full-time work with part-time and casual employment in order to raise her own family.
While at the school, Ms Robinson taught a variety of subjects, particularly as a casual. But during her full-time work she specialised in French, Italian, and Geography.
It is fortuitous that Ms Robinson found herself teaching in Yass for most of her career.
“I don’t think I would have been a teacher if I was in [a big] city,” she said.
“I just hear about discipline problems and the attitude problems and I couldn’t stand it.
“Yass High School wasn’t like that.”
Before she found her way to Yass, Ms Robinson had actually spent time living in big cities.
She grew up in Leeton, before moving to Sydney to begin her teaching degree.
It was then on to Canberra to finish her degree, where she then spent the first two years of her career working.
Ms Robinson then came to Yass, where she settled into Yass High School and raised a family.
One of the advantages of teaching, Ms Robinson said, was the satisfaction she got from knowing that she had an impact on the lives of young people.
“It’s a fulfilling job, teaching. Makes you feel like you’re doing something useful,” Ms Robinson said.
The highlight of Ms Robinson’s career was the last 13 years or so, when she retrained as a career advisor and was able to have a more direct impact on the children she worked with.
“”[There was] less classroom time, of course, but more individual work with the students which is really rewarding,” she said.
“[I could] talk to them one-on-one and try and help them with their decisions and finding out information.
“So that was really good, I really enjoyed it.”
Ms Robinson’s 28 years of work at the school culminated in the life membership, something of which she is very appreciative.
“It was an honour, and I was pleased to receive it on the night,” she said.
Now that the book has closed on her teaching career, Ms Robinson has a number of hobbies which she intends to pursue with her newfound free time.
“I’m just doing whatever I like,”
“I do a bit of volunteering, so I go into Salvation [Army] … once a week.
“I’ve been cycling … I’m presently doing a bit of upholstry.
“I’ve got a garden, books to read, a grandchild now … freedom. It’s freedom.”
