Wilmot Rd Primary School assistant principal Brendan Kenna has been recognised as a top 50 teacher globally.
He recently travelled to Paris to attend the Global Teacher Prize, part of the 42nd world UNESCO conference, representing Australia with one other teacher from NSW.
“In August, I was asked whether I’d accept a nomination, and I accepted,” Mr Kenna said.
“Coming out the other side, making the Global Top 50, was massive.
“It has been really humbling and I play it down, but when you sit back and reflect, that’s pretty big.”
Mr Kenna was one of 8000 nominations across 121 countries.
In his role at Wilmot Rd Primary School, Mr Kenna looks after student engagement and wellbeing, as well as being the chair of the school’s paediatric program.
This has given him a front-row seat to seeing the latest neuroscience and trauma-informed pedagogical approaches to learning and helping children.
The school has implemented sensory diets so that students can have their ‘learning brain’ engaged for longer and are able to be more regulated in the classroom, enabling teachers to spend more time teaching and less time managing behaviour.
“Our staff are so committed to our kids, taking on this new learning and new approach to behaviour, and I couldn’t be prouder of them,” Mr Kenna said.
“It has been really humbling to witness it over the last six years that I have been here.
“You look at every staff member around the place and you think, ‘you do work hard, you are such hard workers’, they are just great examples of lifelong learners.
“When you sit back and reflect, it is really humbling that we have been recognised, our school has been recognised, on a global scale.
“We are in a human-led industry and I’m one of those humans that lead our school community.
“I did win the award, but I can’t do this by myself; I am simply representing the great staff at the school.”
Attending the Global Teacher Prize at the 42nd world UNESCO conference gave Mr Kenna the opportunity to have his and Wilmot Rd Primary School’s story shared widely.
“I want the cure to cancer to come out of a student that went to uni and became a doctor or a researcher; I want our next prime minister to come out of Wilmot Rd Primary School — there is absolutely no reason why they can’t,” Mr Kenna said.
“We are a very multicultural school and we celebrate and are proud of our student cohort; irrespective of their postcode, great things can be achieved.
“And me going to Paris is just a small example of that.
“I want our students to be vibrant, robust, well-equipped individuals that are able to cope with the diversity of what the 21st century is throwing at them.”