Amy Ayres - President

Amy is a passionate Science teacher with experience across sectors, states and countries. Amy is currently the Dean of Teaching and Learning at St Augustine’s College, and was previously the Head of Science at Northern Beaches Christian School, and concurrently Director of Academic Projects. Amy has been an educational consultant for a range of institutions including UNSW and the Cancer Institute NSW where she prepared programs and resources to support the NSW Science curriculum. Amy is currently the President of the Association.

Lauren McKnight - Vice President 

Dr Lauren McKnight is a science educator in the Garvan Institute’s Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics, exploring and facilitating genetics education in school and community settings. Lauren completed her PhD in the faculty of Medicine at Sydney University and has experience and a passion for supporting scientific literacy in learners of all ages. Lauren joined Council in 2020 and is currently Vice President of the Association.  

Julie Rogers - Treasurer 

Julie is Deputy Principal Inclusion and Support and prior to this she was the Head of Science at Lucas Heights Community school a DET K-12 school in southern Sydney. She has benefited from quality professional learning provided by STANSW since her initial year of teaching (shh that is now 35 years ago). Julie joined STANSW Council 8 years ago to give back to the profession she loves, to pass on her extensive knowledge and contribute to the development of science teachers K-12. She is passionate about creating a legacy of effective practice, leading and developing teacher efficacy and assisting colleagues to continually develop as professionals. She has held the office of councillor 2016,2022-23 Treasurer 2017-2019 and Vice President 2020-21 and returns to the executive position of Treasurer in 2024.

Julie received an outstanding service award from the Professional Teaching Council for this service to STANSW and she hopes to inspire other like minded teachers to volunteer to share their own passion for all things science especially their knowledge creativity and experimental skills especially with the new syllabus on the horizon.

 

Tracey-Ann Palmer

BTeach, BSc(Hons), MBA, PhD is a lecturer and researcher in initial teacher education at UTS specialising in science education and educational psychology. She has worked in research science (biochemistry) and  as a manager for two scientific personnel consultancies. She has experience in the finance industry in the areas of marketing, product management and project management. She has lectured in marketing,  organisational behaviour and currently teaches primary science and technology, curriculum integration and adolescent educational psychology at the UTS.

 

Kathryn Newton

Kathryn is a passionate, dedicated Science educator located in Newcastle. Having worked in public schools, she has experience teaching Junior Science, Biology, Investigating Science and Physics, as well as working casually for NESA. Kathryn convenes the Hunter Head Teacher network for Science and believes that together we need to support and encourage all Australians to engage in lifelong learning to eradicate fake news, to think critically and rationally. 

 
Jacqueline McCarthy - Primary Teacher Representative

Jacqueline is currently primary school science specialist at Abbotsleigh, having transferred there from Sydney Grammar. She is a qualified primary and secondary teacher specialising in agriculture. Prior to specialising in Primary Teaching Jac was engaged by the Royal Agricultural Society as their Education manager. She is passionate about nurturing the curiosity of primary-aged students.

Robin Gordon

Robin has had a broad experience as a Science teacher in public and independent schools and is a longstanding member of STANSW. She is an experienced faculty Learning Leader. Robin has had experience mentoring early-career teachers and has been an authorised assessor of experienced teachers for accreditation with NESA and ISTAA (Independent Schools Teacher Accreditation Authority).

Sophia McLean

Sophia McLean is a leader in Science Education in Australia and was the inaugural recipient of the Peter Doherty Award for Leadership in Science Education in QLD where she taught as a Head Teacher Science for 10 years. She taught at Mosman High School 2016-2022 specialising in Earth and Environmental Science and Biology. Previously she led the Professional Learning for the Australian Academy of Science's world-leading program Primary Connections. She is an experienced science educator as well as being a developer and presenter of professional learning for teachers. She has presented at numerous science teacher conferences around Australia, forums and staff development days. She is skilled in leading change within organisations and supporting colleagues to reach their potential as educators. She is a leader of innovative science teaching to suit the needs of 21st Century learners. Utilising 1:1 laptops and the Google learning platform, her classes are innovative and data-driven to support the needs of students. She is a leader of the Amgen Biotechnology Experience and skilled in the use of PASCO data-loggers in the classroom. She is an early adopter of innovative practices and new technologies to support science teaching. She has been active in the ASTA, STANSW and STAQ for over 22 years presenting regularly at conferences.

 

Ken Baumgarner

Ken has been teaching in NSW private schools since 1988. Before that Ken worked as a Science Department Curriculum coordinator in the Western Samoa (Samoa) Department of Education. He has also worked as a Tutor and Senior Tutor in the Teacher Education Program School of Education Macquarie University during the late 1970’s and early 1980's.

In NSW schools, Hills Grammar School, Oxford Falls Grammar School and Northern Beaches Christian School, Ken has taught Science in years 7-10 and Yr 11 and 12 Biology. He has a special interest in environmental education with experience in various school based environmental programs such as Streamwatch, Clean-up Australia Day and Bush Regeneration Most recently at NBCS Ken has facilitated a Professional Learning Group (PLG) at school.

The focus of the group was literacy and particularly writing in Science at the Secondary level. Also, he has been involved in coordinating the AMGEN Biotechnology Experience through the University of Sydney at NBCS. This has enabled Senior Biology students to experience some of the new biotechnology techniques that are presented in the Senior Biology syllabus.

 

Annie Martin

Annie Martin has been the Junior School Science Coordinator at PLC Sydney for the last 11.5 years. She is passionate about making Science accessible to all teachers and students and she designs innovative and relevant contexts for inquiry based learning. Annie began her teaching career as a high school Biology and Chemistry teacher. However, as the years progressed, she became drawn to the naturally inquisitive minds of young children and decided that it was with these younger children that she could truly make a difference. Annie aims to make all her students scientifically literate but also thoroughly enjoys mentoring her students with extra-curricular science projects. Annie’s students have had great success in the Eureka Sleek Geeks Competition with more award winning students than any other teacher in Australia. Annie also mentors her students in the STANSW Young Scientists competition, again huge success, as she believes in encouraging the research and communication components of science as ones that are essential for the modern world. Annie has shared her expertise by presenting at many conferences, including in 2017 she travelled to Vietnam to share how hands-on science can be taught in a resource-poor environment.

 

Leda McFadzean

Leda is Senior Chemistry Coordinator at Northern Beaches Christian school where she has been for 5 years. Prior to this appointment she was at Mackellar Girls Secondary College for 14 years where she was engaged in both head teacher science roles along with stage 6 chemistry. She has been a peer mentor and preservice mentor. She is a current HSC Pilot Marker and has developed chemistry programs, taught and marked both new and old syllabuses.