Don College eNewsletter

Staff Farewells

Farewell....

We have some long-serving staff leaving us this year and we would like to say farewell and wish them all the best on a new chapter starting in their lives. Thanks for all your hard work, time and efforts for the benefit of those young people you've worked with, taught and inspired.

First, we will honour three staff retiring.

Dean Dunham

Dean has had a successful and varied career in education. As a highly regarded primary school teacher, Dean won international positions in Indonesia, Canada and England. He has a true commitment to equity and has also committed years of his work to improving opportunity and learning for students with a disability. More recently as an Assistant Principal at Don College, Dean has worked hard to support our Vocational Education and Training program by linking school with community and supporting students and teachers of VET.
When not teaching, Dean spends his time rowing surf boats and coaching developing rowers. As a national Surf Boat finalist and lifelong rower, Dean is highly credentialed for this role.
Farewell to Dean and congratulations on a very successful career.

Grant MacDonald

Grant began teaching Chemistry and Computer Studies at Burnie Community College in 1982 and transferred to Don College in 1985. In 1999, he worked as a Senior IT Consultant for 10 years then returned to teaching at Parklands High. In 2011, Grant transferred to Don College as an Advanced Skills Teacher where he has had primary responsibility for the development of the ICT related areas, including the college's social media platforms and website and trying to move staff forward in using ICT in a constructive way for teaching and learning.

Grant models lifelong learning and is always enrolled in a course of some description. His passion is in design and ICT enhanced teaching and learning. He is a prolific blogger and producer of content.

When not blogging, studying or creating content for students you might find Grant on a golf course. This game has presented many challenges for him but it is guaranteed exercise and he does not always take the shortest route home.

Grant is willing to share ideas and respectfully challenge the status quo. He will present well-considered alternatives and follow up with action. Grant's knowledge and skills in the ICT area will be greatly missed and we wish him well and congratulations on a long and successful career.

Jan Archer

We say farewell to Jan who leaves us as a very experienced and well-respected teacher of Maths and Science. She actually retired earlier this year but as a mark of her dedication and commitment, she agreed to stay on to finish off her Maths class and see them through to the end of the year.

Jan has a passion for travelling and can often be found skimming travel sites in search of a bargain. She has travelled to many exotic places and is fond of the odd cruise.

Jan has taught at many local schools on the NW Coast and had a brief sojourn in WA, where she taught for a year or so to be close to her family. She has taught at Don for many years now and is to be congratulated on a long and successful career. She will be missed by her colleagues and students. We wish her all the best and if you look carefully you may just see her skimming the waves on her stand-up paddleboard.