Monica Hayes Award for Women nominee 2025: celebrating International Women’s Day and honouring inspiring women of the Northern Bellarine
Chris Layley was a teacher for forty five years before retiring at the end of 2024. The last nine years of her teaching life were spent at St Leonards Primary School where, through the ‘outstanding wellbeing program’ she helped grow, Chris has nurtured the development of students in becoming engaged, respectful and caring young people. Her leadership and contribution to student and community wellbeing will be felt for generations to come.
Much of Chris’ time was spent supporting students and families with challenges and those with specific needs. She is a quiet achiever, kind, always supportive and non-judgemental. Not many would be aware of the huge breadth, complexity and sometimes heartache of this work, but many more, even without quite knowing why or how, will have seen the significant impact of Chris’s work on so many lives and the way she has turned children’s life experiences around. Children who were frightened, angry, sad and withdrawn; many who have experienced violence, complex disadvantage, loss, instability and discrimination became engaged, respectful and responsible, trusting in both themselves and others, made friends and became advocates for each other, found their voice, and become young leaders. She worked with children who were also doing pretty well, and helped promote their strengths through mentoring others.
Chris crafted and led the St Leonards Learner Program in the school. The keystone of this program was explicitly teaching social behaviour including respectful relationships, gender equity and cultural awareness. She often worked with small groups of students to provide intense learning particularly when a child was disrespectful, whether to someone from another culture or gender. Chris also up-skilled teachers and support staff in this program.
The changes were and continue to be obvious in the children Chris has enabled to grow into respectful, responsible, thoughtful and caring members of their school, family and community. Chris was known for many positive sayings – but the best came with each new success story – ‘You can’t data crunch that can you?’
Chris has a strong passion for student voice, which is a highlight of the school. Being elected to the student leadership team is not a token thing. Chris developed leaders to have courage to apply, to build their strengths, implement ideas and be accountable. She builds trust in children and trusts them, often using their voices to support each other through sharing stories and feelings. She recognised that, often children take more notice of peers than they will of adults, and has proven this many times.
One of the things that stand out is Chris’s passion for community. This led to many opportunities for the school and students and strong partnerships with organisations like Bellarine Community Health through the ‘active our way’ program. Also the St Leonards Progress Association who continue to seek the student leader’s perspectives and involvement in community development initiatives like building a new skate park and ‘saving the pier,’ of which the students were credited by the state government with achieving. The St Leonards campaign against foreshore litter was initiated by the school leadership team, supported by Chris, and eventually involved the whole school as part of their curriculum as well as the Progress Association, Bellarine Bayside, Parks Victoria, Greater City of Geelong, and others. Posters were produced by students and rubbish collected analysed and reported on.
Chris was farewelled with stories and thanks from the whole school community for her kindness, support, advocacy and dedication to student and community wellbeing. She expects to return to the school as a volunteer to support students in their reading.
Written by Jenny Cowburn – former Principal St Leonards Primary School, Marie Reed – St Leonards Progress Association and Wendy Mayne – Humans in St Leonards
Humans in St Leonards 