Sarah Finnemore
Tagai State College, Yorke Island Campus
There’s a remote island in the Torres Strait where students attend school more, and reach higher NAPLAN benchmarks, than many of their peers in southeast Queensland.
On Saturdays students run a morning café and ice-making business to meet the needs of the fishing community while developing their own financial literacy skills.
Their teacher Sarah Finnemore is inspiring greatness on Yorke – also known as Masig – Island and this year has been nominated for a Queensland College of Teachers Excellence in Teaching Award.
For two years Sarah spent every week visiting outer islands in the Torres Strait as a literacy and numeracy coach for Tagai State College (TSC), before taking up a position on the TSC Yorke Island campus, where she has taught classes from Years 1 to 6 for the past three years.
The TSC lead teacher has demonstrated endless devotion to her students, most of whom have English as a second language, helping them to make outstanding academic gains and behavioural changes.
Her commitment extends to organising a trip to Brisbane for her Years 5 and 6 students, so they can experience mainland life and develop their entrepreneurial thinking. Many have never left the Torres Strait before.
Sarah’s ability as a teacher is reflected in her students’ outstanding NAPLAN results with 100 per cent of her students achieving above the national minimum standard last year, and again in 2016 in all areas tested.
After working as a literacy and numeracy coach across TSC, she continues to coach and mentor colleagues throughout the Torres Strait.
She also capitalises on the unique island environment by organising learning experiences such as marine debris awareness, growing vegetables, raising chickens and holding movie nights for the students.
Despite limited internet coverage, Sarah still manages to incorporate ICT elements into her classrooms to aid an engaging and interactive learning environment.
Executive Principal Judy Ketchell says Sarah has embraced the way of life in the Torres Strait and developed positive relationships in the community.
“Sarah is an inspiration to the teaching profession. She displays the highest standards of teaching everyday and this has resulted in outstanding educational outcomes for Masig students and community,” Judy says.
Congratulations Sarah on your nomination.
On Saturdays students run a morning café and ice-making business to meet the needs of the fishing community while developing their own financial literacy skills.
Their teacher Sarah Finnemore is inspiring greatness on Yorke – also known as Masig – Island and this year has been nominated for a Queensland College of Teachers Excellence in Teaching Award.
For two years Sarah spent every week visiting outer islands in the Torres Strait as a literacy and numeracy coach for Tagai State College (TSC), before taking up a position on the TSC Yorke Island campus, where she has taught classes from Years 1 to 6 for the past three years.
The TSC lead teacher has demonstrated endless devotion to her students, most of whom have English as a second language, helping them to make outstanding academic gains and behavioural changes.
Her commitment extends to organising a trip to Brisbane for her Years 5 and 6 students, so they can experience mainland life and develop their entrepreneurial thinking. Many have never left the Torres Strait before.
Sarah’s ability as a teacher is reflected in her students’ outstanding NAPLAN results with 100 per cent of her students achieving above the national minimum standard last year, and again in 2016 in all areas tested.
After working as a literacy and numeracy coach across TSC, she continues to coach and mentor colleagues throughout the Torres Strait.
She also capitalises on the unique island environment by organising learning experiences such as marine debris awareness, growing vegetables, raising chickens and holding movie nights for the students.
Despite limited internet coverage, Sarah still manages to incorporate ICT elements into her classrooms to aid an engaging and interactive learning environment.
Executive Principal Judy Ketchell says Sarah has embraced the way of life in the Torres Strait and developed positive relationships in the community.
“Sarah is an inspiration to the teaching profession. She displays the highest standards of teaching everyday and this has resulted in outstanding educational outcomes for Masig students and community,” Judy says.
Congratulations Sarah on your nomination.
- Story by Joshua Pickstone