Retiring Arrowtown teachers clock 60 years between them
They’ve clocked up almost 60 years between them in the classroom at Arrowtown School, wiping away many a child’s tears, soothing grazed knees and gleaning immense joy from encouraging little minds to stretch and grow.
Rose Sutherland and Shirley Forrest both end an impressive long service at the school this month – assistant principal Sutherland marking 34 years and Forrest marking 25 years.
Both women hailed from Invercargill teaching circles in the 1990s and while they’ll miss the constant chatter of small people in the classroom, they’re both looking forward to more free time with their own grandchildren, and well-earned travel.
As one junior boy told Forrest after his Mum mentioned that she was retiring: “Mum says you’re tiring.” “I probably am,” she grins. “He then said, ‘You know. When you get equal in a race.”
Maybe they’d stick around if this happened again. “A wee girl once brought about $500 in US notes to school and she was giving it away to people,” Sutherland recalls. At first the teachers thought it was play money but discovered it to be real. “I think the parents got it all back.”
Sutherland started out in 1991 at the former Arrowtown School in Caernarvon Street with the current school opening in 1997. It’s never been mundane, new challenges presenting every day, curriculum changes and ever-increasing special needs.
Forrest, who’s been the school’s student support coordinator working with special needs and literacy, says she’s most concerned about funding and resourcing to help kids with needs like neurodiversity and ADHD. “You’ve got to be in dire need before funding comes to your school,” she says.
They don’t envy the teachers left behind trying to navigate the rapid pace of change being implemented with the new ministry which is making it very hard for schools to plan for next year.
The usual Queenstown housing issues have filtered through to schools making it extremely difficult to find relievers locally from the ever-decreasing pool available, Sutherland says.
Forrest wishes she’d kept a book of the funny things kids say, traditionally shared around the family dinner table at home each night. “I arrived in the reading room and a couple of wee girls had their bottoms in the air working hard with a brush and shovel, one whispering, ‘She’s going to be really mad!’ They’d opened the bean bags.”
The school has produced Olympic and world champions during their time, and it’s always a thrill to meet ex-pupils downtown who’ve become extremely successful in their field. “That’s really nice,” Sutherland says.
While there have been challenges through the years, none have been insurmountable and in fact Covid times were easier than any other, they say. “We were both here in our little bubbles and the restaurants delivered delicious pizzas to the staff.”
Both women say they’ve had tremendous support from principals and other staff: “It’s like a family here, a barrel of laughs. We’ve always got each other’s back,” Forrest says.
And anyway, in her case it’s probably not ‘goodbye’ forever. “I’m always losing my keys, phone, glasses, and lately drink bottle,” she says. “They’re saying, ‘She’ll be constantly coming back to get something!’”
