Way to go! Principal retiring after 21 years

By Kath Gannaway
WHEN the roll is called at Upper Yarra Secondary College (UYSC) for the first day of 2008, there will be one very noticeable absentee.
Brian Way, principal of more than two decades, officially retired this month.
Looking back during his last week at the school Mr Way said the decision to retire had not been an easy one.
“It’s hard to walk away. There’s a lot of me invested in the school,” he said.
“It’s gone just like that,” he adds, snapping his fingers.
The 21 years as principal at UYSC has, he says, been the apex of his career.
“I’ve never felt the need to seek other opportunities to get professional fulfillment. I really enjoy the cut and thrust of it.”
Since moving in 1986 from his job as assistant principal at Healesville High to the then Upper Yarra High-Tech, he has overseen the education of three and a half generations of students and more than $25 million in rebuilding and improvements to the school.
His first teaching job at Timboon High School gave the self-proclaimed “city boy” a taste for rural schooling that he obviously liked.
The changes in over 40 years of teaching have been enormous.
UYSC didn’t have faxes when he started, now there is wireless internet in every classroom.
“When I first started as a teacher, the introduction of electronic typewriters was seen as being high-tech.
“Now, we’re only one step away in Victoria from every student having some sort of mobile office communication device,” he said.
Doug Fisher, school president and parent of seven UYSC students, describes Mr Way as a great innovator who has been passionate about providing Upper Yarra’s young people with a broad range of opportunities, including the latest technology.
He paid tribute to his colleagues’ dedication, leadership and capacity for work and said his priority had always been the welfare of his students.
“Of all the qualities he has, the one that stands out most is his compassion for kids; particularly those in difficult circumstances.
“There’s always been a willingness to help, whether it’s staff, students or parents,” he said.
The development of three international sister school programs, an extensive music program, the Five Star Club for gifted students, and a flexible curriculum aimed at meeting the needs of all students, are among the things Mr Way says he is most proud.
But seeing how the students develop as people is the thing from which he says he gains most satisfaction.
“It’s seeing where they finish up in terms of them as people in the community making worthwhile contributions, and in the workforce pursuing worthwhile and fulfilling careers that is most satisfying.”
He said UYSC has been a big part of his life and acknowledges retirement may take a bit of adjustment.
But he’s not doing it alone.
His wife, Carolyn, also a teacher, has retired, too.
“We will be staying in the Yarra Valley which we love and retirement will give us a bit more time for some of the community interests we’re involved in,” he said
The plan, like the curriculum at UYSC, is flexible to suit the new retirement students.
Some unspecified projects will come off the back burner; a bit of travel is a possibility … and some gardening … for Carolyn, at least.