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 an experienced science educator passionate about engaging students in real-world science to inspire a strong, diverse future STEM workforce and foster a scientifically literate society. She holds a PhD in Experimental Medicine from the University of Sydney and is currently an Evidence Implementation Specialist at CSIRO Education and Outreach. Previously, Lauren worked at UNSW—contributing to the SciX Discovery Program—and at the Garvan Institute, where she developed genetics education resources for schools and communities. Having joined the Council in 2020, Lauren now serves as Vice President of the Association.
Jacqueline McCarthy – Treasurer
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.
Julie Rogers
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, 2022-24 Treasurer 2017-2019 and Vice President 2020-21.
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.
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.
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.
Lesley Gough
Lesley is a tertiary educator for primary science and technology at Western Sydney University and as a PhD candidate (Primary Science) who uses research-based practices to develop learning materials for Initial Teacher Education and for a variety of public-school classrooms. She’s passionate about developing professional learning for Primary Teachers, including those currently practicing and those training to become a teacher.
Genevieve Firmer
Genevieve is based at the University of Sydney, working on a PhD that aims to address some of the systemic issues facing science teachers arising from policy and curriculum. She works with schools and teachers around the country through STANSW, RACI, Breaking Good, E$$ENTIAL MEDICINE$ and Future Anything, leveraging her experience as a senior science teacher (specialising in chemistry and biology) and curriculum leader in a rural school in the Northern Territory. Genevieve is passionate about helping science teachers collaborate to tackle challenges together.
Joshua Westerway
Joshua is a Deputy Principal at Parkes High School and a former Science Curriculum Advisor at the Department of Education where he supported school leaders and teachers with curriculum implementation across science 7–12. He has 18 years of experience teaching and leading the Science curriculum including system representation on the development of the new Science 7-10 Syllabus to be implemented in 2026. Joshua also leads curriculum consultation with the Department’s chemical safety, risk management and emergency response teams to improve the safe provision and management of science practical investigations through the curriculum.