by Janine Hill

TEACHER Kellie Martin left Palmwoods State School on the last day of term feeling both happy and sad.

Thirty years after she began teaching and 19 years after she started at Palmwoods, Kellie has taken a new career direction.

The much-loved prep teacher will start the final term of the year working as a school guidance officer in the Gympie region.

“I’ve got mixed emotions. I’m excited for the change. It’s time to do something new,” she said.

At one stage the director of curriculum at Palmwoods State School, Kellie has taught prep and early primary school for much of her career and is highly regarded among both her peers and parents for having “the knack” with kids.

She said she worked a lot on helping children recognise “big” feelings and learn strategies for dealing with them. 

She has also worked on helping children develop their confidence and understand that they are still learning.

“We focus a lot on the ‘power of yet’. If we don’t know how to do something, it’s just because we don’t know how to do that yet. We’re here to help you learn,” she said.

Kellie said she had long been interested in helping children develop their social and emotional skills to help them navigate school and life.

“It’s something that I’ve always helped kids with but I’ve got a deeper passion for in the last 10 years. It’s definitely a piece of me I bring to the job,” she said.

Kellie said there was a greater awareness of the importance of social and emotional development these days. “The whole educational resource has continued to evolve and recognise the power of social and emotional learning and it does play into academic learning as well, and society has evolved to have a greater focus on well-being and a stronger understanding,” she said.

Kellie completed a Master of Education in guidance and counselling during recent years while teaching with a view to making the transition from teacher to guidance officer. 

She said a guidance officer role had come a tad earlier than expected but the opportunity was too good to pass up, and Palmwoods students, parents, teachers and staff had been very supportive.

“I’ve had lots of messages. I’ve had a beautiful classroom card. They’ve given me a bunch of paper flowers – everlasting flowers – that I can keep on my desk,” she said.

“The parents have been busy doing all sorts of things. I feel like I’ve had a really good send off.”