Helen Mullins
Harristown State High School
An inspirational Toowoomba teacher described as the pinnacle of Dance Education leadership in Queensland has been nominated for a state teaching award.
Harristown State High School (HSHS) Head of Department for the Arts Helen Mullins has dedicated endless hours to producing annual events including drama productions, the school musical and award-winning rock eisteddfods.
She is the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority State Panel Chair for Dance, and the leader of the expert writing team reviewing the new senior Dance Syllabus.
This year she has been nominated for a Queensland College of Teachers Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award.
Helen says she feels blessed to be in a position working with such fantastic people, and rates extra-curricular activities as very important for Arts students.
“What’s the point of teaching kids to become dancers or actors or artists if they don’t actually get to present their work?” she says. “I love what I do in the classroom, I love getting to teach kids because every day is a new, creative day.”
Students at HSHS are invited to participate in Arts Day, which Helen describes as “sports day for the arts”, where they showcase their own work including photography, films and visual art, as well as presenting vocal, instrumental, dance and drama performances.
Helen was inspired to the profession by her dance teachers at MacGregor State High School, and went on to be one of the first teachers in Queensland to have a university degree in dance and education.
She shares her knowledge and teaching experience of more than 25 years with colleagues by leading professional development at dance conferences and being involved as an executive team member of the Ausdance Educators Network Queensland.
Helen’s colleague Timothy Reuther says Helen is widely respected and valued for her leadership within her department and the region, and “is at the pinnacle of leadership for Dance Education in Queensland”.
“She leads by example and her staff greatly value her role as leader, supporter and mentor,” he says.
HSHS principal Kenneth Green says Helen’s commitment to excellence within her classes, faculty, school and state, and her leadership at a state level “is exemplary and admirable”.
Finalists in the Queensland College of Teachers Excellence in Teaching Awards will be revealed on October 5, with the winners announced in an awards ceremony on October 27, the night before World Teachers’ Day is celebrated in Australia.
Story by Jessica Schwilk
Harristown State High School (HSHS) Head of Department for the Arts Helen Mullins has dedicated endless hours to producing annual events including drama productions, the school musical and award-winning rock eisteddfods.
She is the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority State Panel Chair for Dance, and the leader of the expert writing team reviewing the new senior Dance Syllabus.
This year she has been nominated for a Queensland College of Teachers Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award.
Helen says she feels blessed to be in a position working with such fantastic people, and rates extra-curricular activities as very important for Arts students.
“What’s the point of teaching kids to become dancers or actors or artists if they don’t actually get to present their work?” she says. “I love what I do in the classroom, I love getting to teach kids because every day is a new, creative day.”
Students at HSHS are invited to participate in Arts Day, which Helen describes as “sports day for the arts”, where they showcase their own work including photography, films and visual art, as well as presenting vocal, instrumental, dance and drama performances.
Helen was inspired to the profession by her dance teachers at MacGregor State High School, and went on to be one of the first teachers in Queensland to have a university degree in dance and education.
She shares her knowledge and teaching experience of more than 25 years with colleagues by leading professional development at dance conferences and being involved as an executive team member of the Ausdance Educators Network Queensland.
Helen’s colleague Timothy Reuther says Helen is widely respected and valued for her leadership within her department and the region, and “is at the pinnacle of leadership for Dance Education in Queensland”.
“She leads by example and her staff greatly value her role as leader, supporter and mentor,” he says.
HSHS principal Kenneth Green says Helen’s commitment to excellence within her classes, faculty, school and state, and her leadership at a state level “is exemplary and admirable”.
Finalists in the Queensland College of Teachers Excellence in Teaching Awards will be revealed on October 5, with the winners announced in an awards ceremony on October 27, the night before World Teachers’ Day is celebrated in Australia.
Story by Jessica Schwilk