Inspirational teacher Pam Menzies calls time out from Delphi

Pam Menzies surveys the farewell folder of memories created by her final classes.

Pam Menzies jumped out of a plane at 1pm, Saturday, December 12. She had a parachute and an experienced skydiver attached. She survived and enjoyed the float down over Taupo once the shute opened.

It was symbolically and practically the start of her new life outside of teaching and was sponsored by her Year 13 English class as a "going away present" because she apparently said "she would like to skydive one day". (She does not remember.)

Pam Menzies with memorabilia classified into aspects of her teaching life.

The end of the 2020 teaching year has become the end of Pam's teaching service at Dannevirke High School – quite fittingly 20 years long.

It was a career full of teaching kids in English, social studies, geography and classical studies from nine classrooms – her favourite being her classics classroom affectionately called Delphi – the navel of the Classical World.

From her plan books which name all her students (she has all 20), she figures she taught 2500 students, the vast majority being awesome kids – often in families - and many academically brilliant. She has kept copies of student work to refresh her memories of their awesome writing and perceptions of life. She has even taught her own children.

She reckons coming to teaching at an older age than most new entrant teachers was hard and it took 10 years to hone her craft. Going from teacher focus to student focus took some practice but it became great fun organising activities to make things real. Slaughtering a sacrificial cow using the Vet Club cow and dressing up in togas using sheets from the op shop made Roman life that much more believable.

Of course, Pam went to the extreme by taking field trips to Mediterranean Europe five times to give the students a real taste of the cultural and natural environments which gave rise to these ancient cultures and not so ancient events. Visiting Pompeii, Gallipoli and the World War cemeteries come to mind.

However, Pam's two decades of service to Dannevirke High School was much more than just teaching the curriculum. It was all the extra-curricular activities which do not get assessed in NCEA which make a huge difference to the students.

Being "Queen of Grant House", even with an orb and exclusive sponsorship from Tina Turner and her song Simply the Best, illustrated the impact Pam had on both the inter-house competition (which was massive) but also the pastoral role she played with not just her whānau group G4 (her school family for 17 years) but with all the house members.

She said the benefit of vertical tutor groups where students stay in the same group from Year 9 to 13 forged strong relationships, especially with the senior girls who became loyal friends.

Running the Duke of Edinburgh programme for 14 years also forged strong links with students and led to some real achievements with some reaching gold status and going to Government House to meet the governor-general.

In summary Pam's 20 years at Dannevirke High School have been all about relationships – with students inside and outside the classroom, with staff having great times in walking groups and social events and with others in the wider community.

Now it is time for Pam to indulge her passion for walking the outdoors and follow where life leads her. Jumping out of a plane and surviving is a great start.