Seamus Kavanagh
Richmond High School, VIC
Wurundjeri
Early Career Teacher
For many students, learning often begins with someone believing in them. Seamus Kavanagh, an English teacher and Year Level Coordinator at Richmond High School in central Melbourne, has been instrumental in lifting his students’ literacy achievements through his drive to see his students succeed both in and beyond school.
Students come to Seamus’ classroom with different skills and abilities, but Seamus believes that each and every one of his students can improve. One of his successful initiatives has been employing strategies from Judith Hochman’s Writing Revolution – a writing intervention program. Using this approach, his students have become better writers, critical thinkers and communicators. Seamus’ approach and dedication has shown clear results with end-of-year Progression Achievement Tests demonstrating improvement in his students’ literacy levels.
Seamus’ focus on student wellbeing has also created a positive learning environment for his students. In his role as a Year Level Coordinator, he has led multiple focus groups aimed at improving inclusion and diversity, where students were encouraged to speak openly to ensure they had a genuine voice in school policies and culture. He actively shares his learnings and initiatives with his colleagues through engagement in Professional Learning Communities.
Seamus has followed a long line of teachers in his family into the profession and has a strong commitment to lift every student as best he can to help address inequities in society. Seamus is currently studying a Master of Instructional Leadership at the University of Melbourne.