Josh Weymouth, Primary School Teacher

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Resident of Seddon

Creator of Instagram/Facebook page Restaurant walls

Mum and Dad were both from the country and had met each other at a local netball game and moved around a bit throughout their early years together. I was born in Tullaroop, and have very fond memories of my youth. As the youngest of three siblings, my two older sisters, Kristin and Lauren were my leaders and I remember playing out in the open spaces with them. We only got home after the street lights came on.

When I was in Grade 3, we moved to Kyabram as Dad got a new job working with the Goulburn Murray Water. When you ask me where I grew up, I’d say Kyabram.

Life takes you on strange journeys and somehow you always have a connection with the country. In Year 12, I sat opposite a guy who I had not seen in ten years since moving away from Tullaroop. We reconnected in that class and we are still friends; in fact, we caught up last week.

At the end of Year 10, we had moved to Bendigo and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was lost, cruising through life and wasn’t sure where I was going. All I knew was that I loved being around sports as it was all I had done at a somewhat competitive level growing up.

In the back of my mind, it was something I wanted to continue with. I began exploring options in teaching as I realized I could pursue a PE teacher role. While I was at uni, I met my partner Ellen. She was a journalism student, and now in the Communications field.

Ellen had moved to Melbourne due to uni, and we were dating long distance. However, the physical distance just didn’t work, and I had just finished uni. I decided I didn’t want to pursue teaching straightaway as I felt like I needed to do something different for a change.

As I was working at Safeway since I was 16, I got transferred to the Niddrie store. I lived with my sister Kristin in a share house, while I explored Melbourne. I worked full time at Safeway for three years, as I just didn’t want to teach for awhile.

The catalyst that made me realise teaching was what I wanted to do as a career came from an unlikely source. In 2009, Ellen and I were renting in Kensington and decided to go for a holiday in Europe. It expanded my horizon and I saw something that wasn’t just country Victoria or Melbourne. In six weeks, I ate amazing food and saw things from a different world that I’d only seen in pictures.

That was a really big moment for me. It opened my eyes to different things that I had not thought of before. When I returned, I realized I was more willing to try something new.

Before I had left for Europe, I was in touch with a teaching agency. They offered casual relief to get teachers back into the industry. When I contacted them, I said to them ‘I would like to get some teaching experience when I come back from overseas.’ They were really good, and within two minutes of me submitting the online form, I got a phone call and an informal interview on the spot.

The agency said to me ‘Do you want to start next week?’. I was leaving for Europe in ten days and was surprised with the offer. I got a tiny taste of it before I went on my holiday.

I ended up casual relief teaching (CRT) for two years. It was a great way to get back into teaching and I learnt more being a CRT than I probably did at university. Kids look to me and want to know what’s going on, and I had to improvise.

There were days where I would go into a classroom, and the teacher would have left a whole itinerary of things to do, and some days where I had nothing to work off. I had to think on my feet and find something to teach during the five hours of classroom time.

I picked up a lot of good ideas, and I saw what I liked and what I didn’t, and also met a lot of good people. It was a really enjoyable time and I loved the challenge.

If schools like you, they would request for you to come back. I was a casual relief teacher at Sydenham-Hillside Primary School for the best part of a year by then. The Assistant Principal came to me and asked me if I wanted to work permanently there. At that point, I felt like I was ready to move into a permanent role. I took the role and was now a permanent full-time teacher on contract.

 

As time went by, student numbers started to drop. The area had seen a population growth as the surrounding suburbs were booming and more families were moving in. When there were lesser students enrolling, quite a few of us on contracts had no position available. It was a real shame, as I really enjoyed working there. I was shattered and didn’t want to leave. It was not something I thought would happen as I thought I was a valuable member there. Unfortunately, I was on contract and that’s how the cards played out.

I applied for two jobs – one in Keilor and one in Tarneit. I did two interviews on the same day. I was lucky enough to land a job in Tarneit which was great as I already knew a couple of people there. That was my foot in the door and I got an ongoing position straight up.

Teaching is a job for life. In my first year in Tarneit, I taught Grade 5. I would say that teaching math is probably my strongest suit. When I became a PE teacher, I learnt quickly that teaching in a class of 25 compared to 450 in PE is very challenging.

In a class, you get to know the kids’ personalities and where they come from, whereas in PE you see each kid for one hour a week, let alone remembering 450 names. It’s more of a superficial relationship rather than class teaching.

My favourite moment as a teacher was when I was teaching a Grade 5 class. We had organized for 130 kids to live in a backpackers right in the middle of the CBD for two nights. Many of the students had never been into the CBD before, so I really wanted to give them a great CBD experience.

I took my group of 10 into one of my favourite dumplings house. Some were vegetarian, so I ordered some vegetarian dumplings. Out came green dumplings and many had never seen it before. It was a really cool moment and I got to share a part of me with them. This was probably one of my favourite teaching moments.
In all honesty, I was really hungry and thought it would be a cool experience for the kids to try something new!

Restaurant walls started out as a laugh and an in-joke. When we go to a restaurant, Ellen would sit facing the restaurant to see the hustle and bustle. I would end up facing the wall. Every time we were at a new restaurant, it would be the same joke ‘Oh, here’s a wall I haven’t seen before.’

As time went by, we decided to start a page and have a bit of fun. Ellen and I could not find anyone else doing it, and it’s a different take on the dining experience. I’m not a very creative person in general, but Restaurant Walls gives me that opportunity to be creative. It’s really taken over my mindset when I walk into a café.

A lot of my friends would ask me when my next post is coming, and also give me a lot of grief about my scoring system. I try to be clever and have an interesting write up that goes with the wall view. When you are facing a plain brick wall, what can you possibly say about a plain brick wall?

I now teach PE in Prep and Grade 1 and enjoy seeing the kids daily. I love the enthusiasm they bring as they are so excited to see me every day. It’s quite refreshing, really.

Until early 2017 Ellen and I have always lived in the Kensington area. In fact, we have moved around Kensington six times. When we first moved to Kensington it was the beginning of the housing boom. On four occasions, landlords were selling, and we had to move.

It got a little stale in Kensington, and we decided to try something different. We had been to Seddon a couple of times, and we had checked out the area online. We had looked at Williamstown and Yarraville as well but found a place in Seddon and got it straight away. It’s been really good and we wished we had moved here a few years ago.

 

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