Hitting the right note … Teacher Jane Smith, with pupils Sean, Katya, Sarah and Alex. 65160 Picture: SARAH MATRAY
By Alesha Capone
JANE Smith has several claims to fame, after four decades of introducing pupils to the joys of music.
The Carranballac P-9 College music teacher recently received a Certificate of Recognition for 40 years service to education, from the Department of Education.
Before starting at the Point Cook school, she retired after 32 years at Elwood Primary School in Melbourne’s south-east.
“I didn’t think I’d come back to teaching, I was so excited to retire,” Mrs Smith said.
However, a phone call from her friend, Carranballac’s assistant principal in charge of performing arts, asked Mrs Smith to teach music for a few weeks at the school.
“That was three years ago and I’m still here,” said Mrs Smith, who makes the 50-minute trip across the West Gate Bridge six times a week.
“I wouldn’t have come all this way for anyone else but the school’s fantastic and has a very successful and wide music program.
“I love everything, just seeing the kids develop. So much has been written about the fact that children who have a musical education do so well in other subjects, music caters for all different learning styles.
In an amazing coincidence, Mrs Smith found out she taught the father of a young Carranballac pupil named Katya, during her time at Elwood.
She also taught Anna O’Byrne, who is playing the lead role in ‘Love Never Dies’, the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ sequel, in Melbourne.
As a Grade 3 student, Anna took part in a musical Mrs Smith staged at Elwood.
“Evidently, the first thing she said when she got the part was, ‘Do you think Mrs Smith would be proud?’” the teacher said.
Her Elwood pupils also recorded a song for the soundtrack of the Oscar award-winning film ‘Harvie Krumpet’.
Mrs Smith said one of the funniest things she has seen a pupil doing was singing “Our land has many nature strips” instead of “Our land abounds in nature’s gifts” in ‘Advance Australia Fair’.
“I tell that story every time we do the national anthem,” she said.
