The English faculty extends a ‘very warm’ (pun intended on this sweltering first week back) welcome to our college community.

After a long break, we are all ready to meet our new classes and get straight to work. We have a number of new units to teach across the junior school as we continue our implementation of version 9 of the Australian Curriculum.

As our college continues to grow, so are the subjects our faculty is offering this year. 2025 sees the addition of Literature for our Year 11 cohort.

With this growth, we also welcome a number of new staff to our very talented and dedicated team; Mrs Petersen, Ms Rook, Mr Doherty and Ms Jones.

Mrs Petersen

I am an experienced senior teacher and I pride myself on my honest approach to teaching. I am a seasoned traveller and have taught in London. I enjoy engaging students with stories from my travels, while educating them on the wonderful world in which we all share. I am a proud mom of two amazing, tiny, humans who I am only *slightly* obsessed with. I am grateful to be a part of the Ripley Valley State Secondary College community and I am looking forward to a wonderful year. 

Ms Rook

My name is Maddy Rook and I am part of the Turn to Teaching program, this means I am finishing my last year of my Masters of Teaching whilst teaching at the same time. At Ripley I am teaching English, which I am super excited about. Prior to ‘turning to teach’ I studied psychology and justice at QUT and worked in IT.

The year is already off to a busy start in the English faculty, with our Year 12 students diving straight into their first assessment tasks. Across all year levels, students are engaging with texts, developing their writing skills, and exploring ideas that will challenge and inspire them.

We look forward to working together to support every student in their learning journey this year. If you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out.