“I love sharing my days with talented, thoughtful and down-to-earth young men who make me laugh and always show me kindness and respect.”Mrs Lynnette Yeabsley, Teacher of French - Senior School
I am honoured to be asked to write about my experience as a female teacher at TGS, having started here in 1988 teaching French, English and Social Studies.
My late husband was a teacher, and our four children are all teachers, which we encouraged them to do because it is the best job in the world.
It’s hard to believe I’ve been here for 36 years, working under four Headmasters: Mr Bill Dent, Mr Hugh Rose, Mr Peter Hauser and now Dr John Kinniburgh. I still drive into the School each day and smile, looking at the beautiful place it is — magnificent ovals, gracious trees and historically significant buildings. It is difficult to express the privilege I feel at being the longest-serving female teacher in the School’s 149-year history.
The real reason I have stayed here for so long is the boys. I do not teach many of them now but I have fond memories of many Old Boys.
I have witnessed enormous changes, not only to the School’s infrastructure (the W.M. Dent Library, Heenan block, Dr J.M. Blaikie Health Centre, The Pavilion, Junior School, Hugh Rose Centre, P.B. Hauser Aquatic Centre and Glen McCracken Sports Centre did not exist when I started) but also to the make-up of the teaching staff. In 1988, there was only one other full-time female teacher out of 60.
I aspired to take up a range of promotional roles, not to be the first female in these positions, but because they were things I really wanted to do. It was not straightforward to get promoted in an all-boys school. When I first applied for Housemaster in 1993, my application was rejected because “the School was not ready for a female Housemaster, and there would be Old Boys rolling over in their graves at the thought.”
However, I was persistent. In 1996, Headmaster Mr Hugh Rose appointed me Housemaster of Freshney House. I loved being a Housemaster. My assistant, Mr Craig Harris, and I made a formidable team and our House often won the Headmaster’s Shield.
To have become the first female Head of Department (2001–2014) was just as important to me as I have always promoted Languages as a subject.
When Headmaster Mr Peter Hauser in 2006 appointed me as the inaugural Director of Pastoral Care and the first female on the School Executive, that truly was a great honour.
I am humbled to have been a pioneer in these roles for women at TGS. What was important was not how I saw myself but rather that if other women saw that I could do these roles, so could they. There are now many ladies in these roles, having mastered and perfected them.
I consider that we have a good balance at TGS, as it is essential at an all-boys’ school to have strong male and female role models if we are to achieve our purpose and vision as a School of promoting the values of honesty, kindness, collaboration, respect and integrity.
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