AS parents pack lunches, iron clothes and shine shoes for their child’s first week of the school year, spare a thought for the teachers who could be just as anxious as the children.
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Casual teacher Dylan Ludlow walked to a sea of red shirts and chequered dresses for the first time at Bowen Public School last week.
Mr Ludlow still has one unit to go at university until he is fully qualified but with help from the staff at Bowen, he knows he is up to the task.
He can’t wait to see those light-bulb moments where a child grasps an idea and he knows he was part of that.
He is helping mould the future of hundreds of children.
“It’s interesting especially with the kindies because they come in with a blank slate and you have to teach them everything like the school rules for example,” he said.
But it was not just the children who had to learn the rules as Mr Ludlow had only taught at one other school.
He said he was lucky because the school used the same behaviour model so there was not a lot of difference.
He found it hard to describe the feeling of being left alone to teach children the skills they would need to get through life.
“It’s the same feeling I had in my last few weeks of prac because you do it all then too,” he said.
“Once you build up a relationship with them then it’s all good.”
nicole.kuter@fairfaxmedia.com.au