50 Years of Service
Ron Coloretti, Barwon South Western Regional Office
Ron began work with the then Education Department in 1959 in head office at Treasury Place as an administration officer. Over the next 19 years, until 1973, Ron remained in head office, with a variety of roles related to recruitment, salaries and primary staffing.
In 1974 Ron was appointed resources manager for the Goulburn North-Eastern Region, one of the three new regions established at the time.
In 1987 Ron was seconded to the Ministry Structures Unit as a full-time member of the Direct Grants Project Team.
In 1988 he was appointed finance manager of Barwon South Western Region. Ron has continued in this role, serving six Regional Directors: Cheryl Vardon, Nick Thornton, Geoff Chandler, Trevor Fletcher, Glenda Strong and the current Regional Director, Grant Rau.
Ron has a deep sense of commitment and loyalty to our Department. His financial knowledge and advice is often sought from central and regional staff around the state.
Ray Trotter, Wooranna Park Primary School
Ray Trotter joined the Department in 1959 and taught until 1978, when he was appointed principal; a role he deferred for 12 months in order to take up an international teaching fellowship in Canada. His schools include Dandenong South Primary School, Templestowe Heights Primary School, and Heathmont Primary School before becoming principal of Woorana Park Primary School – a role he has held for 24 years.
He still believes in the same fundamentals of teaching he did five decades ago.
“I am a firm believer that schools must be a place of optimism, excitement and challenge," Ray says. "If young children are to maximise their learning, then schools should be a place where teachers and students see each day as a journey, full of purpose, and where intellectual engagement and connectedness to the real world are priorities.”
Ray has a strong commitment to school transformation and has received a number of awards for his contemporary approach to schooling. In 2007, he was the co-recipient of Monash University’s Jeff Northfield Memorial Award for Excellence in Teacher Research. Deakin University recently named their new flexible learning centre in his honour.