Meet some of our speakers

Originally from Northern Iraq, Afnan has lived experience as a refugee and has worked as a Multicultural Education Aide in the Victorian government secondary school system. Currently, Afnan is a School Support Officer at Foundation House, supporting Multicultural Education Aides in schools statewide across all sectors and building the capacity of schools in supporting their students and families of refugee backgrounds for positive educational and wellbeing outcomes.

Allison Greene is the leader of the Foundation House Schools Support program. Servicing schools statewide across all sectors, the Schools Support program is part of the broader Education and Early Years Program, working to build the capacity of the education sector to meet the needs of children, young people and families of refugee backgrounds. Allison has a background in school leadership in the Victorian government system and is a certified GROWTH coach.

Dr Beverly Derewianka is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She has worked in the field of Language Education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels and has spent over thirty years as a literacy/EAL teacher educator at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels.

She has acted as consultant to various curriculum bodies nationally and internationally, contributing to policy design and assessment procedures. She has written a number of books for teachers based on her research into students’ literacy development. Her publications include Exploring How Texts Work, A Grammar Companion, School Discourse (with Frances Christie) and Teaching Language in Context (with Pauline Jones).

Although officially retired, she currently works with schools supporting teachers in raising students’ literacy outcomes.

Brian Dare is a director of Lexis Education now working as an educational consultant in language and literacy across all levels of schooling. He is a co-writer of a number of professional development programs including the Teaching in English in multilingual classrooms (TEMC) course and the 3L: Language and literacy for learning, both of which have been taken up nationally and internationally. He has a keen interest in the role of language in teaching and learning across the curriculum with a particular interest in building a systemic functional meta-language for teachers across all learning areas including languages other than English. In recent years, he has been working as a mentor in a number of secondary schools who are seeking to improve educational outcomes for their students. From 2015 to 2018, he was president of the Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association (ASFLA).

Bronwyn is a free-lance education consultant, and one of the Department for Education SA’s preferred providers of literacy expertise, including in English as an additional language (EALD). She is the lead writer of the department’s LEAP Levels and targeted strategies to accelerate SAE proficiency and their on-line Teaching Intensive English (TIE) course. She was one of the co-writers of the internationally recognised courses Teaching ESL students in mainstream classrooms and How Language Works and recently co-authored Teaching the texts and language of HASS, for the Primary English Teachers Association Australia released in 2024. Bronwyn is passionate about building teachers’ understandings of language and literacy so that they are able to explicitly scaffold and develop their students’ ability to comprehend and compose learning area texts, empowering them to successfully build and demonstrate knowledge and understandings across the curriculum.

Christine Bakopanos is a Senior Practitioner Counsellor with Foundation House.  She is a registered psychologist with over 18 years of experience in the assessment and treatment of torture and trauma victims, including asylum seekers and refugees, with adults, adolescents and children.   She has extensive experience and expertise working with refugee and asylum seeker young people and young adults, who present with complex trauma and mental health issues, using individual counselling and therapeutic group work.  She has also undertaken professional debriefing, reflective practice and supervision of other service providers, particularly in a Language School setting with wellbeing staff and bicultural workers. 

Jennifer worked as a secondary school teacher before an interest in refugee and asylum seeker issues led to retraining as a social worker. In her current role as a School Support Officer with Foundation House she works with schools to build their capacity to provide effective support to students and families of refugee backgrounds.

Jodie Whitehurst is the creator of The Language Scene, an organisation offering professional development, empowering language educators to invigorate their lessons through drama. Formerly a secondary school Drama and English teacher, she also teaches EAL and ‘Drama for Language and Life’ classes to adults across the Adult Community Education and ELICOS sectors. As an ISSI Fellowship recipient, Jodie has travelled internationally to research the benefits and best practice of teaching EAL through drama. In 2021, she was honoured to be selected as a finalist for the Victorian Learn Local Pre-Accredited Trainer Award. 

Dr Julie Choi is Senior Lecturer in Education (Additional Languages) in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. She is co-editor of the books Language and Culture: Reflective Narratives and the Emergence of Identity, Plurilingualism in Teaching and Learning: Complexities across Contexts, and author of Creating a Multivocal Self: Autoethnography as Method.

Julie Choi's research groups:

Languages and Literacies Education Academic Group: The Languages and Literacies Academic Group brings together academics in languages and literacies from a range of education focussed contexts, including the early years, primary, secondary and tertiary settings, and into adulthood.

Dr Lauren Codd is an experienced Forensic Psychologist. She has worked extensively in child and youth settings, providing clinical intervention, consultation and training on attachment, trauma and neglect, mental health, risk assessment and complex behaviours. She also runs a private practice, has worked in academia and as a psychologist in youth justice and adult prisons.

Dr Codd has held senior clinical and management positions at Berry Street Take Two working clinically with infants, children and adolescents from diverse backgrounds, who have experienced complex developmental trauma.

I created Learning with Leah because in my previous roles as a primary school teacher and a specialist education consultant, I noticed many parents and teachers struggling to understand how to support the children in their lives, especially ones experiencing learning difficulties.

Many people do not understand the importance of high-quality, evidence-based instruction and programs or the impact they can have on student learning outcomes. I know, because I was one of them.

When I began teaching at a school that adopted teaching techniques backed by science and research, I very quickly learned what best practice looked like ​ Having lived it myself, I can empathise deeply with teachers starting on this learning journey because I understand how difficult and overwhelming working through the literature, adjusting teaching instruction, and adopting new practices can be.

I also know how rewarding this change can be for students and teachers alike. As a result of all of this, I am a passionate advocate for and practitioner of high quality, evidence-based instructional programs.

I have seen first hand the excellent outcomes they deliver and know that with the right instruction, all students can and do succeed.

• Experience 23 years working with children and parents
• Diploma of Children's Services
• Bachelor of Arts (Media and Sociology)
• Master of Teaching (Primary)
• Master of Education specialising in Language and Literacy at La Trobe's SOLAR Lab (currently completing)

Melita Bond is a Certified Group Theraplay® Specialist and Compass Seminars Trainer with 20 years of Social Work experience within the community sector in Perth and regional Victoria. She has provided support to individuals and families, as well as over 15 years of leadership and supervision experience, within a range of roles across the sector including Family Services and the last 10 years within Early Years programs. Melita delivers Sunshine Circles® groups in early childhood and community settings, along with coaching educators. She enjoys working collaboratively with other services and educational settings to provide holistic support to children and families to enhance positive and sustainable outcomes. She is passionate about building meaningful, connected relationships with children and families, and feels privileged to do this work every day.

Rob Vingerhoets is an experienced and highly effective educator who has worked with teachers and students in New York City, Beijing, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and throughout Victoria and Australia. He was a primary school principal, curriculum coordinator and classroom teacher. He is an experienced teacher and author, having written a number of best-selling maths resource books and numerous articles. Rob is a popular and engaging presenter of hands-on and engaging maths ideas and practices to teachers and students in Catholic, State and Independent schools over many years and he essentially believes and teaches by engaging his students in enjoyable, challenging and mathematically rich tasks – most of which are open-ended. While Rob is a highly regarded presenter he spends the greater proportion of his time involving students in lessons from prep to year 8 and understands how to engage children in mathematics. In his extensive work – both in Australia and overseas - Rob believes that too often language prevents many students from showing their full potential in maths. His teaching practices focus on all students being exposed to, knowing and being comfortable with the vocab and terminology of mathematics. He is resolute in his belief that as teachers we should teach through not an activity.

Tim Jezard is a registered psychologist with over 20 years experience in both government and non-government sectors. For the past 20 years, Tim has been working with young children, adolescents and their families in a number of independent schools across Melbourne. Since the start of 2023, Tim has decided to focus on working full time at Newport, providing private counselling and psychotherapy to individuals in the local community.

Tim specialises in working with individuals with anxiety and depression, school based issues (bullying, gaming and social media issues, academic performance, motivation, gender identity, etc), substance dependence, relationship difficulties (including separation/divorce) and general parenting issues. He has conducted numerous presentations on relationships, restorative practices (mediation), child safety and behavioural issues, positive psychology and has conducted research into treatment effectiveness and emotional intelligence.

Tim also has experience in policy development, education and training, and research and evaluation and is available to conduct workshops for organisations, parents, students, teachers and health professionals on a wide range of topics. He is a Psychology Board of Australia approved supervisor and provides regular supervision for post graduate students and school counsellors.

Contact Tim for counselling or workshops at tim@newportcounselling.com.au