Denise Playoust - Biography

In 1971 the number of students at SCEGGS Redlands increased to the level which required a fourth stream in Form 7. The elegant solution to the staffing problem was to employ a part time teacher for senior Physics classes. Denise Playoust was on extended maternity leave from the Department of Education and lived with walking distance of the school. She had added a Master’s degree in Education to her initial BSc.DipEd and had 7 years teaching experience which included 5 years at Cremorne Girls’ High School. The wonderful 10 hour a week job soon expanded but part time teaching for the mother of young daughter was perfect.

Cracks began to appear in the story of the exciting development being undertaken by the SCEGGS Council. The Headmistress, Mrs Humphry, was dismissed at the end of 1973 after noting irregularities in the group’s finances and her Executive Assistant Mrs Foote reluctantly accepted the position of Headmistress. As the rumours spread of the possible collapse of the group, girls left in great numbers. The four-stream middle school soon became reduced to one stream.

The story of the saving of the school is told elsewhere. In the middle 70s staff job security was poor but there was a good spirit, the camaraderie of students, parents and staff loyal to the school. It was considerable relief to all when the school regained stability under the Board lead by John Lang. The finances were very tight but it became clear that the school would not just survive but prosper. Thinking does not cost money, innovations in teaching and examination methods occurred. Major changes were made in the teaching of Sciences for the HCS. Joyce Cole, a leader in the Science Department was a member of the School Certificate Examination Committee and this reawakened Denise Playoust’s interest in the setting of examinations. In the 1960 she had set questions for the Leaving Certificate Biology papers. ACER was interested in building up a question bank and provided training as well as generous payments. This was a valuable professional background for future roles at the school.

In a school with a wide curriculum but reduced numbers of students and staff it was inevitable that staff be called upon to teach outside previous teaching areas. Denise taught General Studies, an HSC subject which encouraged students to apply their academic learning to the real world, her qualification, she had marked HSC papers in this subject for some years. The other big change was the introduction of boys into the school, the G for Girls in SCEGGS became C for Coeducational and the plan for boys to start in the lower years and “grow up” with a cohort of girls was a good one.

At the stage when boys were starting in the senior school Mrs Foote decided that the course “Preparation of Christian Womanhood” was inappropriate and at the same time the system of visiting clergy to teach Divinity was not working. She asked three members of staff to train to do a new course, Personal Development, developed by Christian doctors, including Dr Marie Bashir. This was slotted into the Divinity timetable. (This course predated the BOS course which was later taught in all NSW schools.) An interesting observation on change in society is that the SCEGGS Redlands staff in 1970 included one Catholic and no Jews. This sensitive course was taught by an Anglican, a Catholic and a Jew. Again, very valuable experience which enabled Denise to understand students better and to establish a relationship with parents who could be trusted to advise on the suitability of teaching materials in this area.

The Headmistresses of the SCEGGS schools belonged at that time to AHIGS, the Association which among other things sponsored competitive sports between their schools. SCECGS Redlands was dismissed from the Association at short notice and for some years relied on the kindness of sports mistresses of Catholic Girls’ Schools for competitions. This was just one of adjustments which had to be made as the school took in more boys. Other problem was getting older teachers with clear ideas of appropriate behaviour in a school playground to understand the need for boys to be able to move freely at lunch time.

Denise was not happy about the Board’s decision to introduce a retirement age. This caused the retirement of both Mrs Foote and Mrs Cole. They organised that Denise became a full-time member of staff with an allocation of time to do both the job of Head of Department and Laboratory Assistant in addition to her teaching. The laboratory assistant job, while not enjoyed, was important as the school grew and the teaching budget for Science became a significant cost in the school budget.

At the time of Mrs Foote’s retirement each Department had a strong leader and the school, while still working on a tight budget was functioning well. The Board appointed Rodney Wells as its first Headmaster. He led the school for the rest of the decade.