Jeanette Dungan knew as a child that she wanted to be a teacher, and that is what she has spent her life doing.
Jeanette, or Mrs Dungan, has been a key figure at Waimea College for the past 41 years, and this term marks her last at the school as she heads into retirement.
Described by one of her former students as the “original Roald Dahl Miss Honey”, sitting down with Jeanette it’s clear that she cares deeply about her students.
“I got an email at 1.01am, from a student who was concerned about an assessment, and I didn’t see it till the next day, sadly.”
That’s okay Mrs Dungan; you’re allowed to be sleeping at 1am.
“Yes, but I just hope he was able to get some sleep, there was obviously something on his mind,” she quickly replies.
Born on Buller’s Denniston, the eldest of seven children, Jeanette recalls playing schools with her brothers, cousins and neighbours as a young child.
“I was always the teacher,” she quips.
Her father’s brother and sister were both teachers and she recalls her uncle coming to stay in the school holidays.
“I used to be there ‘Oh, can you do another spelling test? Can you test my times tables?’ A right little pain,” she fondly remembers.
When she was in Form 2 (Year 8), her family moved to Whanganui. Being the oldest, Jeanette was “quite keen” to get away from home. So, at the age of 16 she headed to Teacher’s College in Palmerston North and was out on the job as an 18-year-old.
After a year at Whanganui’s Queens Park School she took the plunge and moved to Nelson – a place she had loved visiting as a child.
“I remember making a wish in the wishing well on the way up to the Centre of New Zealand when I was a little kid, that I would live in Nelson one day.”
Jeanette taught at Stoke School from 1969 to 1975 and worked an evening job at Chez Eelco, which is where she met her husband Dan - an English teacher at Waimea College.
“He used to come in every night for a standard order of a double cheeseburger,” she recalls.
Every night?
“Well, he was single at that time and being American he liked his burgers. He always wanted his coffee after the meal, and I would sometimes forget to take his coffee over so he would have to come and ask for it. In the end, we got together.”
In order to progress in her career, Jeanette was required to do ‘country service’, so moved to Hope School.
“I loved it, and I was really kind of sad to leave there when the big career step came.”
That step was as senior teacher of junior classes at Brightwater School.
After four years the couple’s only daughter Anna arrived. And although she thought motherhood would be “all fulfilling”, teaching called and she was soon back relieving.
She had already become involved with Waimea College through Dan, but began relieving there in 1984.
“I was terrified, because I hadn’t had a secondary teacher background.”
But she must’ve done okay, as she was offered a permanent role in remedial reading and English, and later left the classroom to organise Special Assessment Conditions (SAC). A role she is still in as the SAC coordinator.
Jeanette describes it as helping children with barriers to show how well they can do. It could be anything from dyslexia or anxiety to neurodiversity, or simply needing a little longer to process things.
While she is only employed for 14 hours a week, Jeanette says she’s often at school by 7.30 every day and stays until around 5pm.
“Being there for the kids is really what I get the rewards from.”
While her official last day is 27 January, Jeanette reckons she will be back in as a reader-writer volunteer, continuing to help her students.
One of her fondest memories of her time at WaiCol is their first entry into the Shakespeare Festival, with the students then selected to represent the region in Wellington – where they also received the top awards. Many more trips followed over the years, as the school excelled – but with it came fundraising challenges – which Dan and Jeanette got behind.
"We used to pick grapes with the kids - we were paid by the hour. Dan and I would pick up the kids that had no transport, and it was enough to make the difference between being affordable and not.”
Technology has been the biggest change she’s seen through her time teaching.
“When I started, I used to go to night class and started on a manual typewriter.”
That progressed to electronic typewriters with correction ribbons, and later, computers.
While Dan passed away in 2022, between the couple they gave 68 years of service to the school.
She’s looking forward to being able to book a trip to Tokyo to visit her daughter and two teenaged grandchildren outside of peak school holiday periods.
She also loves to read and is looking forward to having some more intellect to offer at her monthly book club, and she will no doubt spend more time in the miniatures club, which she has a real talent for. And then there’s her garden, too.
After more than 55 years teaching, Jeanette will have plenty of things to keep her busy.
