This term we caught up with Ben Moore (OA2017) as part of our series of Old Andreans at SACS, it seems he hasn’t really left our doors since finishing Year 12! 

RH: What's your role here? And how long have you been here? 

BM: I’m a humanities teacher. I’ve been here for six months, although I was here as an intern for two years before that. 

RH: Was that also doing humanities?  

BM: No, I was actually in Junior School for a year doing Year 5 with a mentor teacher there one day a week during my first year of training. Then in my second year, I came to this faculty and shadowed some teachers around teaching here for one day a week and now I'm a full-time teacher.   

RH: How interesting, so you were teaching Junior School and now you're teaching Secondary School? How did that work?! 

BM: I was studying for those internship years as part of the TSAS programme (Teaching Schools Alliance Sydney). We all started off teaching in primary school. You then you go into high school even if you're going to study to be a primary school teacher. It was good fun and great to have that variety. 

RH: What motivated you to come back specifically to SACS? 

BM: Well, we all know that when you finish at SACS you really never leave. So, when I first left school in 2017, my first job was back here working in the SACS canteen with Jude as a kitchenhand. I did that for two years. I then went to Scots for a year, doing some general support stuff and then came back here as an intern. So, since leaving school, I've only had one year away from St Andrew’s. 

RH: So, what was school like for you? What was it like being a student here? 

BM: I really liked it.  I arrived in Year 7 and did 7 -12. Although it's now hard to remember my Middle School days! My favourite part of school would have been the outdoor education camps. I loved them. Snow camp in Year 9 and 20-day especially. They were brilliant. I have really fond memories of those.  I’m still friends with people that I met at school. Yeah, had a good time. I would say Year 12 was my favourite year, which could be a bit of an unpopular opinion, I guess!   

RH: Tell me what was the naughtiest thing you did at school? 

BM: Haha, I was such a goody two shoes. 

RH: Ah look there’s got to be something, you were here for six years! I ask this question to everyone. 

BM: Yeah, the worst thing I probably did was to take the lift when I wasn't supposed to, but then I got caught by a teacher and instead of taking my punishment I just ran away. Unfortunately, I can’t remember which teacher it was who caught me, although I do remember they were threatening to look at the CCTV footage.  

RH: How has being an Old Andrean affected your role here?  

BM: I mean, it's made things a lot easier. I started off by already knowing some people, the way the school operates and the culture of the school and that sort of thing. People talk about their first year of teaching, like being dropped in a war zone and super intense but I think because I felt comfortable in school already, it has made things a lot smoother.   

RH: What's it been like working alongside teachers, who in fact taught you?    

BM: Yeah fun. My boss Michael actually taught me history which is great fun. Calling them by their first name definitely took some getting used to, but because I have been here for quite a while it happened gradually and wasn’t too strange.  I distinctly remember David Lindsay saying to me ‘you have to call me David’.  

RH: And finally, what else do you do when you're not at work? 

Just all the normal things. I’m really into soccer – both playing at watching. I have a great church and enjoy hanging out with friends. I really enjoy travelling as well, I have a few trips planned – making the most of all that time off we get as teachers!