Toongabbie Christian College

REBECCA ELMER (née WEAVER) Student 1985-1990 School Captain 1990 Teacher 1998-2002 & 2009-Present Parent 2007-Present

I moved from the country to the city at the age of 12 and was warned about moving to the ‘Big Smoke’, so I was sad and not a little bit scared of what a city high school would be like. It turned out that going to Toongabbie Baptist Christian Community School, then situated at Dunmore House, Pendle Hill, was like joining a family in a great big storybook house. For some classes, we lined up and entered through floor to ceiling windows on the front verandah. We could see the Harbour Bridge from the playground. We even had an out-of-bounds spooky basement that cast creepy shadows on the wall if you reached in and switched on the light. I made a lot of good friends. Some are now my fellow teachers. I also met my husband, Adrian, when we were 12. Whole families became friends and our parents worked shoulder to shoulder to build the school from the ground up. My dad worked hard at the fetes and even helped in the demolition of old buildings. When he died in 2006, my mum honoured his memory and his link to the school by creating the Ted Weaver Award for excellence in Mandatory Technology because he was good with his hands. I’m interested every year to know who is the winner. When I became a teacher, I knew that many of the teachers I had loved were still at Toonie. I thought that it must be a good place to work if the teachers were so happy to stay. I was over the moon when Mike Budden gave me a job teaching English and English as a Second Language. I discovered that the loving community was still the same and it felt like coming home. Adrian and I have two daughters, lmojjen and Æowyn. Being parents at Toonie has turned out to be just as wonderful as being a student and a teacher. Some of my favourite memories have been of dispensing sticky tape for junk craft in the colourful Kindy rooms, seeing Mr Dixon parading as Peter Pan in green tights with a Tinkerbell doll in his belt, and swallowing that lump in my throat when lmojjen’s name was called out on Graduation night. I will be revisiting that last scenario again this year as Æowyn graduates and the door closes on being a Toonie parent. Even though the community of Toongabbie Christian College has grown greatly in number, its heart still beats with the same love of Jesus and love for one another. My prayer is that each student who comes through the gate leaves with a clearer picture of who God is, a stronger sense that they are deeply loved by Him and a bigger heart for other people.

1987 YEAR 10 MUSIC, REBECCA CENTRE

2019 COS DAY, REBECCA FAR RIGHT

2019 KNITTING CLUB, REBECCA TOP LEFT

1989 REBECCA AND ADRIAN

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