Community

Farewell Bron Vickers

This Term SCAS farewells their first member of staff to retire, Bronwyn known as Bron or Bronnie. Bron began at SCAS in 2004 and has made a tremendous impact on the community here. Bruce Little reflected on Bron’s contribution to the SCAS community at her farewell held last week.

I first met Bron in January 1991 at a staff gathering at Tudor House. It was by the Tudor swimming pool on my first day there. She immediately struck me as a vivacious and funny lady who enjoyed a good laugh and brought a positive vibe to whatever situation she was in.

I soon realised that Bron shared a similar work ethic to me and we enjoyed great times at Tudor House, with Bron as the Day Boy Housemaster and I was the boarding Housemaster and later Deputy of school. We had a fabulous time over the years that we were together there, with an excellent working relationship and Bronnie and husband Wes were excellent hosts for many school staff events.

I remember the day when the Tudor House staff were told that I would be leaving to join this brand new school St Columba Anglican School in Port Macquarie. That particular month at Tudor House, I had worked 31 days straight without leaving the school campus. We all worked such long hours and endless days, Bron included.

Bron came to me to offer congratulations and said that “sometimes you need to get off the merry-go-round to see what the other rides look like”. She has always been a fabulous source of wisdom.

When the time came here at SCAS for me to hand over some of my teaching load to concentrate on Primary School management due to the growth of the school, there was one person I immediately thought of to share my class load with. But that wasn’t going to happen. She was firmly entrenched in the Southern Highlands with a beautiful property and working farm. That was until the day when she and Wes came to visit for the weekend.

We had placed the Port Macquarie property guide on their bedside table and of course, Wes was the first to read it when he woke the next morning and there was a property that caught his eye. They popped out to the open house later that morning.

On their way back home to the Highlands that evening, they reached Moorland to the south and both decided that they really wanted the sea-change lifestyle. They turned around, spent another night and the following day they put an offer in on the property.

Bron then applied for the position and her experience at a number of leading independent schools meant that she was ultimately the best choice for the role here at SCAS and the rest is history.

During her time on the Mid North Coast and at SCAS she has involved herself in:

  • The fabulous sport of chess, including the chess club and the donation of the chess awards
  • Learning support
  • Classroom Teacher
  • Primary School public speaking guru
  • The stealer of the fruit in my office on countless occasions

Bron is a Fellow of the Australian College of Education and has actively included SCAS in their events and awards. She has been selfless in her contribution to the community including:

  • Her local church – often acting as a stand-in pastor
  • Conducting weddings and funerals
  • The coordination of Operation Christmas Child has meant that countless boxes are now being donated by SCAS families to this worthwhile cause.

Bron, thank you for your friendship, your wisdom, your integrity, your knowledge, your care and your beautiful sense of humour. You always put the children in your care before yourself, you always have a story to tell and we have some amazing stories to tell about some of the characters that we have had in our care over the many years we have known each other.

I am very grateful to you for being the perfect confidant and sounding board during my time at the helm at both schools. You treat everyone as an equal, you don’t show favouritism and you give people your undivided attention. All qualities that are endearing. We love and respect who you are and what you stand for.

Bron, best wishes for the future. You will be missed but certainly not forgotten and our prayers are with you and Wes.

– Bruce Little

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