Keilor Downs local Pat Kelly, 81, is retiring after working at Holy Eucharist Primary School in St Albans for the past 34 years. She talks to Sarah Black about what she has loved about her job as the school’s education officer and secretary to the principal.
What do you like about the school?
I love the parents and the children, and everything about it. It’s been my life. I put my heart into here.
Have you seen the school change much?
We’re getting a lot of multicultural families. We have a lot of Vietnamese, a lot of Sudanese, New Zealanders, Samoans, Africans – we have a lot of different nationalities. And it’s lovely – we welcome them and we help them. The children here are beautiful. I just absolutely love being here … I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, even though it’s very challenging at times. Like any position, it has its challenges.
What does your role involve?
I buy all the equipment, the hats for the children, lots of different things. Anything that’s sort of needed, they come to me and I help them. When we have stayovers, I buy all the food. We make sandwiches for children whose parents can’t afford a loaf of bread each day; so I buy all that on the weekend for them. So I’ve got various jobs. I do a lot of computer work. I work in sick bay quite a bit, all lunch time and afternoon tea, and whenever a child comes in who’s hurt, I ring their mum. And I ring the buses when they’re going out on excursions, I confirm the bus times and work all that out with the teachers.
Has that changed over time?
Every term it’s something different. Last term we had jackets and raincoats; they were very, very successful. And hats, which are term one and four, I deal with all that. I buy them and keep them well-stocked. When it’s school photo time, I organise giving them out, and when they send the money in, giving it to the people. Then, when the photos come back, I give them all out. So a lot of work, you know.
Why do you love the school so much?
Probably the children and the parents. The principal’s a lovely gentleman, Mr Parker’s a lovely gentleman, he’s very good. I just enjoy my work, I’ve always done and I always will.
What are your plans for next year?
I don’t know. It’s very, very hard. It’ll be even harder in the next few weeks saying goodbye, because I’ve been here so long and been a part of it.
Do any people you’ve met over the years stand out in your mind?
We’ve got children here whose parents have gone through here, and they come and see me. They’re beautiful. Joy Schultz was our music teacher; she was out of this world. She was just the most wonderful teacher. It’s very, very hard to pick people out; people might think: “Well, why didn’t she pick me?”, because there’s just been so many wonderful people who have gone through this school. They’ve turned out to be beautiful people themselves, and a lot of them have come back and put their children through here. So it’s rather nice, you know. They walk in and say: “Oh, you’re still here?”
What do you like about Keilor Downs?
It’s a very nice area. I’ve been in Keilor Downs for more than 20 years and I don’t intend on moving. It’s very central. If you hated it, you wouldn’t stay.
