Grade 3/4 teacher Pauline Doonan.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
“Teaching is something I just fell into. But I love it, I wouldn't do anything else.”
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That passion has carried Shepparton’s Pauline Doonan through 24 years of teaching at Kialla West Primary School, where she has watched the school, and generations of students, grow.
“When I first started it was just this one building,” Mrs Doonan said.
“Now there’s 12 classrooms and a big art building on top of that.”
But it is not only the school grounds that have grown during her time at the school.
“You see students starting as Preps, and you see the way they develop and the way they change and mature.”
“They’re such great kids. We’re so lucky out here.
“It’s a great school. It’s got a little school feel, although it’s not really little any more.”
For Mrs Doonan, that sense of community is one of the things she has loved for the past two decades.
“What I love about the school is that community feel. The staff actually feel like family,” she said.
“You get to know the parents because there’s a lot of parental involvement, whether it be sporting activities or coming on camps or doing bike education or that sort of thing — they love to get involved.”
Over the years, Mrs Doonan has taken on various roles.
“I’ve been a classroom teacher. I’ve been a science teacher, a PE teacher. I’m also in charge of disability inclusion now,” she said.
Her new role involves helping secure funding and support for students with additional needs.
“You’re doing it for the kids, and if you don’t tick all the boxes, they don’t get the funding,” she said.
While the role can be stressful, Mrs Doonan said it was also a rewarding one.
Just recently, a new teacher's aide has joined Mrs Doonan’s Grade 3/4 class.
“It’s great to have someone else in the classroom to help out those kids who need just that little bit extra,” she said.
For her, one of the most rewarding parts of teaching is seeing the moment when a student finally understands something they have been struggling with.
“My favourite thing about being a teacher is when kids have that ‘aha’ moment and things click,” she said.
After 24 years at the school, there are also plenty of moments when the past comes back around.
“If you are here long enough, you see previous students’ children coming through,” she said.
Her own children attended Kialla West and are planning to send their kids to the school as they get older.
It is a full-circle moment Mrs Doonan never saw coming.
Now, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
BY Hailey Wight
Teacher Pauline Doonan with Year 3 student Rosie Zito.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Pauline Doonan has been teaching students at Kialla West for over two decades.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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