This week, he returned. 

Motivated by memories of his favourite teacher Louise Allen, Jayden has returned to the school to complete his practical placement for a Bachelor of Primary Education with Ms L herself. 

“It’s definitely an absolute pleasure to come back to the school that I went to,” Jayden said.

“We were able to pick our preferences and I approached Lousie and Milton Public School and they were very happy to do it.”

“I said ‘Most definitely, most definitely’,” chimed Louise. 

Jayden was drawn to study primary education by the fond memories of his time at the school. 

“It would have been my primary school teachers that drew me to it,” he said.

“They definitely had a massive influence on my education and that’s a primary influence on why I wanted to become a teacher.

“I don’t know if I’ve told you that before, Louise?”

“No. I don’t think you have,” said a teary Louise. 

“Stop, you’ll make me cry.”

Teaching at the school since 1995, Louise said it was also her own experiences with a teacher in primary school that led her to take up the career. 

“Yesterday I explained to my students that I was inspired to become a teacher by one of my teachers I had in year two,” she said.

“I was so inspired by her that I kept a little notebook and I would write down all the things she did that I loved.

“She basically did a truck load of English, a truck load of math, then we did art.

“I loved it.”

Jayden believes it is these engaging teaching methods that really speak to the children. 

“It’s all in the way my teachers here at Milton taught me,” he said.

“The standout things they did and they way they made us feel.

“Louise made us feel like we are all like a big family.

“The independence she gave us made it a great environment to learn in and it was definitely engaging and motivating.

“Her personality really shone through and we all really hooked onto that.” 

One of Jayden’s key memories from his time at primary school is of Louise’s class jobs and the coveted position of the lolly eater.

“I definitely think it was the lolly eater,” he said.

“She has jobs for the class up on the wall and one of them is the lolly eater.”

“I picked up that idea in my first year teaching,” Louise said.

“It is so everyone has a responsibility. The classroom is run by everybody. Everybody has a role and a job.

“They’ll look at me and ask if they can do something and I’ll say, ‘It’s your job, you do it’.

“One year I was teaching a particularly cheeky, particularly intelligent and articulate young man who when we were allocating jobs looked at me and said, ‘Hey Ms L, do reckon we could have a lolly eater?’ and I said ‘Well, write it down, you never know what might happen,’.

“It’s interesting to see what kids come up with that you need in your classroom.

“You definitely need the lolly eater.”

Louise loves the sense of reward she feels upon seeing her students achieve in class and now as she sees them become adults. 

“What’s lovely in having been here long enough is running into ex-students who are now adults,” she said.

“They are happy to come up and have a huge chat to you and tell you what they are doing.

“Some of them are so gorgeous and say, ‘oh you haven’t changed at all,’.

“Also, it’s really lovely to see kids you were really worried about.

“You were worried about them because maybe academics wasn’t for them.

“Now, they have grown up to be beautiful model citizens, with fantastic jobs and a fantastic moral code and you think, there is a spot for everyone. 

“For a very small group of kids school’s pretty though.

“But, they get through it, you see them at the other end and you think, ‘wow’.”

Jayden explained that he has known he wanted to become a teacher since he first walked through the gates.

“It wasn’t really a light bulb moment,” he said. 

“I’ve always had an inkling.

“Especially when I was in primary school that I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. 

“It always stuck with me though my education and through high school. 

“I looked into doing science but I kept coming back to that idea of being a teacher and just having those memories of the teachers I had, especially in primary, really resonated with me.

“That’s why I wanted to come back and work with Louise. She is a class-A teacher.”

After a long career, Louise keeps sound advice for any students looking to pursue teaching proudly displayed on her desk every day.

“That advice is, ‘The best teachers teach from the heart and not from the book,’” she said.