Sian Adnam departs Newhaven College after 25 years of service

BELOVED colleague and teacher, Sian Adnam, departed Newhaven College at the end of Term 1. Sian had been part of the Newhaven story for over two decades - a remarkable span of service, care, and creativity that has shaped generations of students. 

Sian said after 25 wonderful years at Newhaven College, she feels proud to leave the school in capable hands. Sian is a gifted Art teacher who has helped students - from wide-eyed Year 5s to time-poor (and occasionally panic-stricken) VCE students -discover ways of thinking they didn’t know they had.

Her studio has long been a place where imagination is taken seriously, standards are set high, and folios are refined with the kind of honest feedback that ultimately makes students better, even if they don’t like hearing it.

“I began teaching primary art and gradually expanded into health and textiles, which gave me the chance to develop a broad range of skills and share my work with the incredible students,” she said.

“Newhaven College was my longest stint in education, and that is thanks to my fabulous colleagues and the wonderful community.”

Beyond the art room, Sian also brought her unique style to the Health and Wellbeing classroom and is widely known for introducing the much-loved ‘Love Box’ - a trusted place for students to ask the questions they didn’t realise they needed to ask (and definitely weren’t ready to ask out loud). It’s a small idea that made a big difference, and it speaks to the safe, thoughtful spaces Sian always created for young people.

Sian also has a genuine love of the gardens at the College. She helped create several of the native gardens at the current site and takes enormous pride in the beauty - and calm - they bring to the grounds. She has always been, however, fiercely protective of them, and more than one Junior School student has learned very quickly that playing “chasey” in the gardens is not something to be tolerated when Ms Adnam is within eyeshot.

Head of Senior School, Brett Torstonson, recalled Sian so eloquently.

“What many students will remember most is Sian’s special blend of acerbic wit and genuine care,” he said. “She could deliver a perfectly timed one-liner and, in the very next breath, quietly make sure a student felt seen and capable.”

"I ended my time at the College in term one, with so many wonderful conversations with my colleagues and, yes, my students nearly brought me to tears," said Sian. As she steps back from teaching, Sian intends to spend a lot of time longboarding and taking a well-deserved break. 

Then, in the future, she said she has plans to run sewing workshops for teens and vulnerable community members: "I may even extend those workshops to women’s prisons, maybe do the odd CRT, and keep classes running in the home studio.”

Brett Torstonson shared that on behalf of the Senior School staff and students, and Newhaven College as a whole, “I wish Ms Adnam every happiness as she begins her next chapter, and I thank her sincerely for all she has given to our college community.”