She referenced the role when she was guest speaker at the Waranga Ward Campaspe Shire Australia Day ceremony last week, sharing the spotlight with junior presenter Michael Keegan.
Ms Saddlier, the daughter of Glenda and the late Keith Saddlier, was educated at Stanhope and Rushworth before attending university in Bendigo.
Last year she was named Victoria’s outstanding regional principal for her role at Kangaroo Flat Primary School and she was welcomed back to Stanhope by many familiar faces for her presentation.
“It’s wonderful to see so many people I grew up with. My brother Nathan is here today and my other brother, Jake, text me to say good luck.
“Although I have lived away from Stanhope for 25 years I still consider it home,” she said.
She shared her memories of attending Stanhope Primary School and beloved principal Bernie Dreher.
Her parents were both highly active in the Stanhope community, members of several groups — among those the Tidy Towns Committee.
“I remember working with them on the tidy towns competition and the pride we felt when we won,” she said.
Ms Saddlier became principal of Kangaroo Flat in 2015, after a four-year stint as assistant principal.
She shared some of her educational philosophies with the gathering, asking Stanhope’s adult population to listen, learn and lead in order to affect change.
Kangaroo Flat primary has faced several challenges in her time as principal, including a high refugee population, as well as many students coming from low socio-economic homes and the school’s high proportion of disability inclusion students.
“My childhood schooling experiences were so much different to many of our students today,” she said.
“At the end of the day, however, we all share a common goal in wanting to be respected and have the feeling we belong.”
Three of her operating mantras — we enrol families, we know and grow our learners and every race has a place — is connected to the overall goal of developing happy, healthy and connected students.
“Today we constantly track the mental wellbeing of our students. We were involved in the 2019 development of a new mental health wellbeing program and are one of 10 schools involved in its trial.
“This year 120 primary schools will be involved, with a goal of all schools having a trained mental health professional by 2026,” she said.
Ms Saddlier is also the regional Victorian principal representative on the students’ mental health assembly.
Her school now operates with a speech therapist, chaplain and art therapist, those and other appointments earning it Victoria’s outstanding school award for inclusion in 2020.
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