CONGRATULATIONS JOHN!

On Wednesday morning the school held a farewell breakfast for much loved teacher Mr John Harnett. John and his wife Gail joined staff on Wednesday 24th November to celebrate John's long standing teaching career and to farewell him in style.

John announced his retirement after 40 years of teaching, the majority of these years were at St Mary's. John received many messages of congratulations from people all over the world! 

Click here for Messages of Farewell and Congratulations to John

Messages from John's children...

Dad,

Congratulations on your retirement! I thought I would start with some of my Year Six memories: 

Paddle pop stick construction 
Projects in a project book – One on whales and one on Dennis Lillee!
Mars Bars Sporting achievements
Being an old lady in our Year 6 play and wearing grandma's jewellery!
Our Year Six formal and your thoughtful introductions for each child – and who can ever forget the boys singing ‘You’re so Vain.’ 
All the sport!
A music lesson involving a Creedence Clearwater Revival song!
Birrigai Program 
And Saying ‘Good morning, Mr Harnett’ each day! 

I also remember from a young age that you always had ex-students come and visit you and this speaks volumes about who you are. 

You were a highly dedicated teacher who always spent time building up an excellent rapport with each and every one of your students. You brought the world to our classroom. Your knowledge, your passion, your sense of humour, your willingness to listen, your high expectations, and your behaviour management strategies (alphabetical order, xxx system etc) always added up to a well-run, happy classroom where students loved to be.

Congratulations Dad on all you have achieved throughout your teaching career, especially at St Mary’s. You have generations of families who all think you’re wonderful and you inspired me to become a teacher too. 

Thank you for all your hard work and effort as a teacher and a dad. And I know two little grandkids who can’t wait to spend more time with their Pop!  Rachel

Good morning Mr. Harnett. Seeing everyone reflect on the influence you have had on their lives as a teacher comes as no surprise. Still to this day, I have people tell me stories or share insight into something that has stuck with them that they learned from you. It’s a proud feeling, knowing people are compelled to share that with me. 

Year 6 definitely defined my outlook on learning. Finding out what interests you and pursuing that, that a bit of friendly competition can push people to find their best, and to just read a book. However, I do feel my grammar may still be questioned here. 

I still respect the day you saw me in the principal's office for something, and just walked on by. Only to talk about it once I got home. What happened to, “what happens at school, stays at school”. You've earned this beer. Chris 

Mr. H! Congratulations on your retirement, People still tell me nice stories and say how wonderful you were as a teacher. You put your heart into teaching and I know how much you cared about all of your students. You always made sure just as much fun was had in the classroom as learning and you had the ability to make even the boring subjects interesting, finding a way to sneak The Dragons, The Beatles, and your other favourite bands in. Thank you for always having an answer to our many questions, I know I always had a lot! Thank you, also, for all the times I came up to you on playground duty, giving me money for treats at the tuck shop even though you knew Mum had packed me a yummy lunch. I’m glad we could make everyone in the classroom laugh all of those times I put up my hand and said ‘Dad’ instead of ‘Mr Harnett.’  Brooke 

EXTRACTS FROM JOHN'S FAREWELL SPEECH

Invited guests, friends and students,

How do you sum up 40 years? How is it work when you are lucky enough to do something you love and get to hang around with kids all day? How blessed was I to spend the bulk of my teaching career at St Mary's in such a caring and inclusive community, with, thankfully, a sense of humour! I also had four years in Canberra and in Canada.

How fortunate was I to work with such an eclectic, dedicated, inclusive, talented staff, yep, I'm including you Janet! The faces changed over the years but the attitude never did.

And how great was it to have the opportunity to work with so many ex-students towards the end. They were all terrific people, yep, even you Jess, what brilliant teachers they are! They left their old teacher in the shade!

Just a special thanks here to Tony and Jen Ward who took the time to show me that I could understand and utilise technology. It was not completely beyond me. I had to make an effort though! With the guidance and support of Jess, Justin, Megan, Carla, Jacqui and Catrina (another ex-student of mine!) and others.

Thanks to all the principals and executive over the years. I have learned different things from all of them. Gail and I also really appreciated their support in many different ways, and none more so than when the first of our very special grandchildren came into the world. They provided us with the opportunity to give the support and time that was needed to help our family. Particular thanks to Noeleen with her assistance when my knees finally gave out, and, in the transition to my retirement.

Many happy memories to recall...

The great trips we went on with Stage 3, Sydney and Eden and Bournda in particular. Some very interesting accommodation, and the time we nearly got swept into the gutters in Sydney and almost floated away in the underground train system!

Annette, most of those trips would not have been possible without your expertise and advice.

Friday afternoon cricket, I enjoyed it as much if not more than the kids did! Kids grew up so much on those afternoons, learning responsibility, having a go, teamwork, how to deal with disappointment and success and even how to score! The annual clash with Jeff's "golden boys" from St Bernards and the importance of winning THAT game.

The many rugby league, union, soccer, hockey, touch footy teams coached. Cross country, athletics, swimming carnivals, debating and public speaking squads, the artworks for the Flower show and the success of the bike-athons were all opportunities for kids to grow and succeed outside of the classroom. This all took effort, but the rewards were obvious to all!

The Year 6 Formal as it was originally called, now the Year 6 Graduation, - another brilliant idea from Mrs Croese, who after two years successfully flicked it to me to organise!  It did not make me happy, but it is something that I eventually derived great pleasure and satisfaction from, not that I would let Mrs Croese know that at the time ...

The kid's speeches and intros were always so imaginative, but the highlights were the productions and plays they put on. The colour, the costumes, ideas, leadership, support and involvement of everyone, the fun we had! And who could forget the year Harry Hadley, brilliant guitarist he is, he learnt and played an intro for every class member - 30 students!!

And how fortunate was I to teach my own three kids. What a privilege it was to work closely with them for 12 months and be involved with them for all those years on a daily basis. Although at times I'm not sure they would agree with the word fortunate!

To the parents and carers, I have always appreciated the support and assistance from all of you over the years. The ideas you had, the help you gave, and at times the encouragement when I wasn't quite sure things would work!

Finally to the kids, you made my working life seem not like work at all and made those 40 years just fly. I don't know how you did it!  THANK YOU.