ACHPER QLD 2024 Teacher Awards
Congratulations to our 2024 Teacher Award Recipients. Once again the calibre of the nominations we received shows the incredible commitment, passion and innovation of our Health and Physical Education Teachers in Queensland. Thank you to all those who nominated their talented staff and peers.

President's Award - Derryn O'Riordan - Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority

This year's President's Award, which honours an individual or group for a significant contribution and/or impact on the HPE profession, goes to Derryn O'Riordan from the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

Since 2019, Derryn has provided outstanding leadership to the HPE Community as the Principal Education Officer responsible for the Physical Education Syllabus. He has led the PE community specifically, through his outstanding knowledge, expertise and commitment to providing better outcomes for students.

Derryn is highly regarded and very well respected as a leader in Physical Education. By being approachable and supportive of teachers in the PE community, he has led the way in quality assurance processes, helping schools to design and implement valid and reliable assessment, make reliable judgements in confirmation to ensure students receive the best possible outcomes and training marking teams to reliably assess and mark external assessment.

Most importantly, Derryn has given a great deal to the PE community in Qld through his approachable nature and willingness to help teachers no matter what issue. He has been a true guide to PE teachers in Qld over the last four years and ACHPER Qld thanks him for that and recognises his contribution by awarding him with the 2024 President’s Award.

Excellence In Teaching Award - Jessica Roe - Miami SHS

The Awards Committee were impressed by the difference Jess is making across a number of schools in the South Coast HPE Cluster which has been further exemplified by feedback from her colleagues within that cluster who have commented that they have benefited greatly from her input and direction.

Jess uses the QCE Health curriculum to drive positive change within her students through a range of activities that enable the students to develop a deeper understanding of their identity. Jess has implemented a range of strategies that have resulted in significant high achievement across all her students, notably 11 of her 2024 Y12 cohort received 25/25 for IA3.

She incorporates a range of visual teaching aids for students to critique their performance and subsequently plan specific improvement strategies. She has developed a range of graphic organisers that are shared amongst colleagues within her own school and in the wider Health teaching community. She mentors early career teachers to improve their understanding of the Health syllabus and improve teaching pedagogy resulting in better outcomes and understanding for students.

Jess freely shares resources developed by herself to the broader Health teacher network, and regularly presents professional development opportunities both within the school and beyond. Her expertise has been recognised through presentations at the ACHPER QLD Secondary HPE conference and in the production of resources to support the implementation of the Health syllabus.

WINNER - Health Impact Award - Amy Beckman - Mansfield SHS

Amy has been teaching Health for many years, and has been a tremendous role model and mentor for teachers across the Health subject.

She is a key initiator of her school's Road Safety Week each year. Year 11 students were lucky enough to hear from a representative from TMR and our local Councillor about their plans for improving road safety and traffic around the busy school, which Amy sought out and organised. This has happened previously in the last few years also. The information presented to our students will be essential for the development of their IA1 innovation and action strategy.

Amy is also a constant contributor to the Senior Health Facebook page, providing assistance and willingness to share her wealth of knowledge and resources for new teachers of Health.

Amy has also presented at many ACHPER Qld events, providing insight into new developments, strategies, teaching resources and processes to help students be as successful as possible in Senior Health.

HIGHLY COMMENDED - Shari Harrington - Urangan SHS

Shari wanted to give her students a tangible opportunity to make a difference. She sought out local community organisations to share with the Senior Health students what community actions are existing to assist with the homelessness issues in the Fraser Coast. She then led her Health class in running the “Christmas Giving Tree Project”. The Urangan SHS and wider community were encouraged to donate hygiene products, non-perishable foods, Christmas Day items and school supplies, which were handed on to some of the local organisations to help those in need over the Christmas period.

 

Sport and Physical Activity Impact Award - Heath Cahalan - Peregian Beach College

Thanks to SportsTracker for their support of this award.

Heath has made a significant contribution to promoting active lifestyles through his innovative and engaging programs for students across Prep to Year 6.

His curriculum overhaul, comprising over 140,000 words, includes meticulously crafted unit plans, scope and sequences, rubrics, and assessment task sheets that align with the Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum. These programs encourage students to connect physical activity with cultural and environmental awareness, making learning more meaningful.

In addition to curriculum implementation, a key initiative involved partnering with community organisations to offer students access to free local sports and health activities. For instance, Heath introduced the AFL Auskick program to the school, which saw 25% of junior students join the program outside school hours. He also inspired students to form their own sports team, fostering teamwork and leadership skills.

Additionally, his Indigenous Education & School Culture Initiative included workshops where students designed polo shirts inspired by local Indigenous art and culture, deepening their connection to health and identity.

Heath is not just active in the classroom but extends his efforts to broader school culture, organising engaging sporting events and extra curricular activities. His programs promote resilience, teamwork, and personal growth, such as the ‘Survivor Challenge’ for Year 4 students, where they explored emotional responses and cooperative strategies.

Through his initiatives, Heath has laid a strong foundation for fostering lifelong active and healthy habits in students, ensuring that his programs go beyond the classroom to positively impact students’ overall development.

 

 

WINNER - Early Career Teacher Award - Callum Pacey - St Mary's Catholic College, Woree

Callum is in his first year of teaching and his teaching and pastoral approach champions physical activity as an outlet for students, particularly those with challenging behavioural problems. He uses physical activity to celebrate students’ strengths and foster an environment of success, resilience and commitment to improvement – all skills that students can then transfer into other classrooms.

One example of the impact that Callum has is seen in the improvement of a student with challenging behaviour in his home group. Through conversation and role modelling, Callum’s positive influence saw the student begin to participate in lunchtime basketball each day.

Callum frequently gives up his lunchbreak to play basketball with this student and his mates, which has translated to, and contributed to improved behaviour in the classroom – no afterschool detentions and no suspensions in semester 2 for this student, since commencing lunchtime basketball (not the sole reason for this behaviour change, but a key factor in healthy socialisation and play to burn energy).

Additionally, Callum has implemented effective games sense inquiry approach to education in his HPE classes – Yr. 7 & 8 invasion games. His practice ensures all students can be involved (caters to a range of different abilities by juggling multiple different versions of the same game for differentiation), while also ensuring activities are enjoyable, to promote lifelong activity and health for students.

The impact of Callum’s enthusiasm as a HPE teacher is that he has encouraged students in his classes to sign up for extracurricular school sport (e.g. school basketball team, run squad, etc.), because Callum has developed this love of movement in his students, and champions their ability in class – because of Callum, students believe they can succeed in, and enjoy sport. Callum also actively seeks feedback on his teaching practice, requesting lesson observations and team-teaching with HPE staff to improve his practice.

 

HIGHLY COMMENDED - Michael Angus - Good Samaritan Christian College, Bli Bli

Michael has started his first year of teaching this year having come from a Football (Soccer) coaching background.

He has an exceptional manner with the students he teaches and is passionate about teaching, but particularly about HPE. He spends significant time constructing great lessons with clear learning intentions and success criteria and has been one of the first to use our portable whiteboard during prac lessons to ensure students understand the lesson expectations before heading out onto the field. He holds high standards for his students and that is shining through with the success of them.

He’s been proactive in coming up with new ideas for the department such as setting up a box with clipboards, pens and a variety of analysis sheets in our sport shed which make for readily accessible resources if a student turns up to class unable to participate. We are currently in the process of updating to V9 curriculum and adding in new electives as we are a new school and just going through the graduation of our first year 12s.

Michael has been a sounding board for me and has come up with some great concepts for our elective subjects and outstanding vision for our core lessons. He has recently been thrown the curveball of having a preservice teacher and has jumped into the role of supervising teacher with enthusiasm. Michael also coaches many of our academy teams for futsal and soccer and has achieved success with these teams as well as attending many camps. 

Pre-Service Teacher Award - Michael Dorr - University of Queensland

Michael is a dedicated and valued member of UQ’s Bachelor of Health, Sport, and Physical Education (BHSPE) student body. He quietly leads his peers with genuine care and curiosity for all.

Michael is an elected and trusted student leader for his cohort, liaising between his peers and the teaching staff to support effective communication and program improvements. This includes involvement as a student representative at Faculty-level forums to ensure student voice in decisions impacting the broader student cohort.

Michael has demonstrated leadership by enhancing social, academic, and professional connections among BHSPE students. He has organised and facilitated inter-year social and sporting events; study sessions and professional experience preparation sessions with junior cohorts; acted as a mentor on First Year Orientation Days and is a regular contributor to the student newsletter, BHSPE life.

If you need something done, Michael is the first person to put his hand up. In fact, he’s often done the job before anyone even realises it needs doing! This includes the important but less recognised duties such as setting up / packing up equipment and helping to prepare for classes and events, or the more formal roles such as chairing meetings.

Michael has also volunteered for broader school community events. He mentored Year 10 student-athletes at UQ’s Youth Game Changers, which is a 3-day residential program to develop Olympic-Paralympic legacy ideas. Michael also helped on a 3-day camp to Minjerribah-Stradbroke Island with a local state high school.

This year, Michael became BHSPE’s ACHPER QLD pre-service teacher representative and volunteered at the ACHPER QLD Secondary Conference.