Ms Sandra Vassallo TAS Assistant Retires After 27 Years

Ms Vassallo (centre) with students on Shrove Tuesday in 2016

“This is a bittersweet time for me”, says Ms Vassallo on her retirement after 27 years at the school.

“I am excited to be moving on but leaving so many people behind is sad. I have made friends at Catherine McAuley who will be friends for a lifetime”.

Ms Sandra Vassallo, TAS Assistant, first started at the school as a long service leave replacement for two terms only. She left for a short time only to be invited back to interview for a permanent TAS Assistant position. Sandra was offered that position in August 1997 and spent the next 26 years “very busy”. “The years have gone by so fast. Every day is different. You come in and do what needs to be done for the day. It is always very busy”.

Primarily in her role Ms Vassallo assists the TAS teachers but over the years she has also done a lot of school catering for events such as the opening of new school buildings, graduation nights, award ceremonies, Year 7 welcome nights and school open days. Her fondest memories however are the years she spent with Vinnies in her former role as the St Vincent de Paul Coordinator. “Working with Vinnes was rewarding as I liked giving back to the community and spending time with the students and seeing them embrace the opportunity to help such a worthwhile cause”, said Ms Vassallo.

Ms Vassallo would organise on a month to month basis for students to go out with the night patrol van. She also organised with the help, in her words, “of some amazing teachers”, the Vinnies Winter Sleep Outs, the Vinnies Christmas hampers and for a time the ‘Homelessness Awareness Week’. “Things like this were for me the best times. It was always heartwarming to see the students think about the homeless and realise that they are people just like us”.

Another highlight for Ms Vassallo were the nights she spent with Year 11 students helping with graduation events. “I always really enjoyed these nights because with my background in catering it was good to work with the students and give them real experience in what catering is all about”.

In retirement Ms Vassallo plans to join u3a, an organisation which organises courses and activities for seniors, (to begin Ms Vassallo wants to learn card making and to do a course to assist her in writing her mother’s life story); get back into her aqua classes and spend more time with friends. “I definitely intend to keep myself busy”, she says.

“I have loved my time here”, said Ms Vassallo. “The school has such amazing staff. I won’t miss the job because it has got too big for me now and it is time for younger legs but I will miss the people at Catherine McAuley”.