RH: What is your role at SACS? 

LH: I work in a few different departments; I coach junior school basketball and middle and senior school netball.  I also work as an admin assistant in the science department and and for language department. I do a whole day for science, three hours a week for languages, another few hours a week coaching. 

On top of this I also work in enrolments, I’ve just finished running the Year 7 2023 tours, taking families around on private tours of the school, chatting with them etc and now I’m moving on to some kindergarten enrolments.  

RH: What motivated you to come back to SACS?  

LH: I came back pretty quickly, I always felt like SACS was such a nice family environment and I didn’t really want to lose that.  I was concerned towards the end of school that I was not going to have the opportunity to be involved or see the school anymore.  

I was really keen to come back when I finished so I started mainly just to continue to be involved in the school and I was motivated to do whatever job was offered so long as I could still see the school and see what was going on because I really didn’t want to lose that part of my life.  

RH: So, it would be fair to say you had a really positive time as a student here?  

LH: Oh, amazing. I loved it, and I did lots of different things, was really involved and it was potentially like a big chunk of my life was going to go away – I did not want that to happen.  

I wanted to what I could do to stay.  

What was the naughtiest thing you ever did at school?  

Haha! I was pretty boring at school I think and being school captain, you couldn’t do too many drastic things and get away with them! I would say when we had iPads there was a lot of social media going on during class, but thankfully I only got caught once. Perhaps I'd make a good social media person! 

Also in Year 12, I did a lot of sleeping through class, a lot of making toasties during class or being late because I had been asleep.  

You could say I was not super focused ALL of the time.  

RH: How has being an Old Andrean affected your role here?  

LH: Well, its very weird calling all my teachers by their first name! Its very strange. Mr Boddy – Jim?! I’m really struggling with that! Its very difficult.  

I think, being able to give a more personal touch to my work is really helpful. So, when I’m running tours, I love that its personal experience I’m talking from. I think it also helps the kids when they know they’re being shown around by someone with first-hand SACS experience.  

Also, this is my first office job experience, I really loved that I basically knew 90% of the people I worked with already. I’m not getting lost in the corridors. I felt very settled when starting a new job just from having that prior experience.  

RH: So, what has changed at SACS since you hung up your Blue Blazer?  

LH: I think some things have really changed; some have stayed the same.  

Level 4 is totally new to me, although it opened in my last year of school, I was based in the BBC, so I had never seen that area before.  

The gym we had we I was at school on the ground floor of SAH which has become a lot more popular.  

Chapter House is obviously a big change since it was renovated and it's not just for chapel. I’ve seen quite a few productions in there which I never thought would be possible. It's also nice that it doesn’t flood anymore! 

I think the school feels quite similar as it hasn’t been that long since I left, but I do think it’s a different feeling being on the other side as a staff member – I sometimes still feel more like a student than I do a member of staff. I’m definitely closer in age to some of the kids than with people I work with! 

I also think being on the “other side” it’s a benefit being able to see what its really like for the teachers and the way they interact with the students.  

I think that students sometimes look at us and think we’re a bit scary, you discover that teachers are just regular human beings like the rest of us!  

Getting introduced as Miss Harris is still strange, with my coaching kids I always still insist on being called Layla – were not on that level yet!  

RH: What else do you do when you’re not working here?  

LH: I’m currently at Uni, I go to UTS doing a double in Business and Science so that keeps me pretty busy. I have one more year to go after this one. I like it, it suited me well. And it's great that it's so close, it's almost like the “St Andrew’s of Unis” given that it's all in high rises and in the city. I can walk from here to there very easily.  

I’m also on the OAA, its my third year on the council. I do a lot of the reunion planning and making sure our current students feel connected to our Old Andrean body. I remember when I was leaving school, I really wanted to keep that connection. Making sure the students still have something that keeps them connected.  

Getting to spend time with older council members, some of whom graduated before I was even born is really lovely.