After completing high school in Ballarat, Jan enrolled in a Bachelor of Science (Honours) at Melbourne University. A career in Marine Science beckoned, and she loved the field work and opportunities for scuba diving off Werribee and field work. Eventually, however, inspired by her experience as a prac teacher and demonstrator during her Honours year, she decided to become a teacher. After completing a Diploma of Education, she started teaching at Ivanhoe Girls’ in 1980.

As a young teacher, Jan drew on the experience and wisdom of those around her. “Anne Lukeman was the Biology teacher at the time, and she was fantastic. She really taught me how to teach,” she says. “I still see her handwriting on things in the Science lab,” she smiles.

Jan was quick to take on leadership roles, becoming the School’s youngest ever Year Level Coordinator (YLC). At the end of 1988, Jan left teaching temporarily to raise her family. She recalls a challenging moment in the last weeks of that year. “I was pregnant with Tom (he was born on Christmas Day, 1988) and I worked until the end of the year. I was the YLC and it was also my first year as Timetabler. And it was the first time a computer had helped with the timetable,” she laughs. “And I had to buy the computer!”

After seven years maternity leave, Jan returned to teaching in 1996, and took on a variety of roles, including Head of Curriculum, Head of Science, Head of Individual Differences, and taught not only Science, but Maths, Ethics and Information Technology (IT). Jan was fundamental in setting up much of the technology the School takes for granted today and helped to establish hive, and introduced data projectors and interactive whiteboards.

Over the years there have been a lot of changes at Ivanhoe Girls’. “When I started we still had chalk and blackboards,” Jan recalls.“You had to hand write reports. There weren't any photocopying machines, or televisions in classrooms.” It’s the impact of IT that Jan believes has had the greatest impact on teaching. “It gives you instant access to things,” she explains. “You don’t have to be the expert, because you can look things up on the spot. It’s so much better in terms of access to information. It’s amazing.”

But despite the changes in how students are educated at Ivanhoe Girls’, she doesn’t believe the School has changed its core values. “We’ve always been a school where girls are foremost,” she explains. “Where the girls are not limited by other people’s preconceptions of being female.”

“We’ve always been strong in Science, strong in Art, and Maths. “That’s how we’ve always been.” Perhaps society is playing catch up, she suggests. “I think society in general has more of an understanding of science now, and it’s importance.”

“We’ve produced some pretty strong women,” she says proudly. Passion is important to Jan, and passion for something is what she wants most for her students. “I don’t care what it is,” she says. “People need passion. They need to know it's okay to be passionate. It's okay to be a dork.”

Over her long career she has never tired of teaching Science. “I think science is life,” she says. “It’s like that love of learning. You might teach the same subject, but every time you teach it you’ve got different students, different content, and you always learn something new.”

Teaching offers rewards in other ways too. “I’ve worked with some amazing people who’ve been absolutely fantastic to work with,” she says. She is also incredibly grateful to the School community for the support they gave her when her son, Tom, had a serious car accident. “The School gave me a whole term, so I could help him out. It was amazing.”

But looking back on her time at Ivanhoe Girls’, it is a testament to her generous nature that her thoughts turn to her students, and in particular the Class of 2020. “What an amazing lot,” she says proudly. “They’ve had such a terrible year, where all of the things they’ve been looking forward to haven’t happened. They’ve kept going and they’ve kept coming up with different ways of doing things. How inspirational is that?”