Staff Profile: Ms Lisa Challenor

CASSIE TWEMLOW | Communications & Marketing Officer

Beloved Head of Primary Years, Ms Lisa Challenor, has been in her role for almost a full year. With a relaxed attitude, great sense of humour and aura of enthusiasm that she brings to her role, it's no wonder staff and students alike adore her.

Here, Lisa shares snippets about herself with me so that we all might get to know her just that little bit better.

What made you want to become a teacher? Did you always want to be one?

As a girl, whenever someone asked me the age-old question, What do you want to be when you grow up?, I always said a jockey (a young girls love of horses) or a kindergarten teacher. Well, my healthy German bones and stature kyboshed my career as a jockey, so kindergarten teacher it was!

I think that my love of small children first attracted me to teaching, and my own love of learning continues to flame my passion for working in schools and education. I remember teachers in my own schooling who really made a difference—people I will remember for my entire life, long after school was over. I wanted to be the teacher that my students remembered, either as a friend, a mentor, a leader or, at times, a surrogate parent. I still get immense pleasure when I reconnect with young people I taught in the early 90’s and listen as they reminisce about the impact various teachers have had on their life.

What do you love most about being a teacher and now, your current role?

I love that no single day at work is the same! Children make me a more knowledgeable person. Children are, by nature, very curious. With all the questions they ask, their wonderings and connections to the world around them, they consistently challenge the way I look at the world and the way I engage with those around me.

Each day, I get to be a part of the ‘messy’, amazing learning process and celebrate achievements, both big and small. Staff in the Primary Years are in the most privileged position of playing a crucial role in the spiritual, personal, social, and academic development in our students. In partnership with our families, we build character in these young people.

I love these children in the Primary Years unconditionally. To work with them and their families, together with College staff, is a pleasure and one that fills my heart with gratitude.

If you weren’t in education, what do you think you would be doing?

At various crossroads in my teaching career, I have explored different opportunities to work in the corporate world of adult education, however, the thought of working in an environment without children made the decision an easy one. I think if I were not working in schools, I would still very much be in an environment where children were prioritised, protected and respected… it seems that working in schools is the place for me!

What do you like to do in your free time?

I might sound like a dag, but in my free time I like to read. Perhaps a balance of professional reading connected to my work at St Peters and in Primary schooling, to reading novels for pleasure…anything and everything. I am a voracious reader, so hit me up with your best current reads.

If I am pressed on the point, I also do not mind comparing our wonderful Australian Rosé with those from France, Spain and Portugal with family and friends…good food and good wine.

Oh and shopping, online or otherwise!

Ms Lisa Challenor

What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their life?

Spend a day with a 4-year-old. Really listen to their thoughts, their questions (oh, so many questions), to feel their energy, their enthusiasm for everything, their conceptual and creative thinking and to remember what it means to wonder without fear of judgement or assumption.

What is some practical advice you would offer current students?

Become the author of your own learning and develop a personal agency that allows you to approach both success and challenge with grace, resilience, resourcefulness, and the continued power of ‘yet’. Reframe failure and mistakes as part of the learning process, rather than that which defines you…set personal goals and constantly reflect on your effort and growth. Remain curious about the people around you, ask questions, explore the world, identify problems, and create solutions. Express gratitude and be kind!