There’s a new crop of teachers in town, including twin sisters Bethany and Olivia Bray, who are both teaching agriculture and science.

Bethany is teaching at Narrabri High School and Olivia at Wee Waa High School.

“I’m enjoying it, I feel like everyone here is really friendly and the majority of students are really engaged,” said Bethany about Narrabri High School.

“I find, especially with my elective classes for ag that they very much enjoy it and with my Year 7 tech class I’ve planted vegies, and they’re all very excited and willing to get in and do stuff.

“I’ve also found it good so far,” said Olivia about Wee Waa High.

“The school’s just like its own little community and everybody is really supportive and willing to help.

“When I came and visited Wee Waa last year, I remember thinking they were potentially going to be a great group because everyone was just so friendly.

“And then when I came up this year, before school even started, I met up with some of the others teachers, and I think Bethany even said to me, ‘I think you’ve got it good’.”

The Bray sisters were raised on a merino sheep property near Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley, so they bring plenty of hands-on experience to their new roles.

“Definitely when our dad was doing work on the farm, we would always be out helping with most things,” said Olivia.

“I was flipping sheep with the students the other day and because I could do it, the kids were like, ‘oh’, and some of them were struggling with it but I just said, ‘guys, it took me ages to do it’ and I think they can sort of see that I’ve had that experience,” said Bethany.

“Growing up on a farm, I always wanted a career in agriculture and I always said to Dad, ‘oh, I just want to be a farmer’, but my dad said ‘it’s pretty variable and unpredictable,” said Olivia.

“So my parents were always like, you need to have an off-farm income.

“I guess I liked going to school as a kid too, so I thought I’d come back,” she said.

Bethany and Olivia both studied teaching at the University of New England in Armidale and were thrilled to receive ‘teach.Rural’ scholarships through the NSW Department of Education.

“It’s all about trying to push more teachers out to rural areas and they give you a permanent position too,” said Bethany.

“I’ve always enjoyed teaching and helping others so I decided to do ag teaching.

“I did a Bachelor of Secondary Science Education and a major in Agriculture.

“I hope being able to share my passion for agriculture will hopefully encourage kids to go and do something in ag.”

Olivia said it was a little bit daunting taking on the role of Wee Waa High School’s only agriculture teacher but praised farm hand Mal Hall for his support and guidance.

“I really do credit Mal Hall, he’s been a great help and he has some really good ideas.”

The Brays said it was exciting to be working in such a strong agricultural region and at schools that have ag. farms.

“Definitely having the ag. farm and actual animals is really important,” said Bethany.

“I think the students take a fair bit of pride in the ag. farm,” said Olivia.

The enthusiastic, first-year teachers also hope to improve the agricultural facilities at both schools and clearly aren’t afraid of a hard day’s work, so no doubt the upgrades will be impressive.

“We’ve done a couple of seasons grape picking too,” said Olivia.

“Grape picking is in January, very hot and long days, but we both really enjoyed that.”

“I’m looking to improve the facilities here, like the sheep yards,” said Bethany about Narrabri High.

“At the end of the year, I want the kids to really have enjoyed ag and I want them to be coming in and thinking of ag as a fun subject, where you do lots of prac and you do lots with animals and plants.

“But also I just want to improve the ag. farm, which I think will then also help draw in students as well and it can help improve student participation.”

“I want to improve the sheep facilities at Wee Waa too, I think there’s been a major focus on cattle, which is fantastic, but it would be good to work on the sheep facilities,” said Olivia.

“The students at Wee Waa are also very keen to get back into showing so I want to try and accommodate that this year.”

Bethany and Olivia said they didn’t request jobs in the same region but are pleased they’ve both ended up nearby, and it will make family visits a little easier too.

“Our family think it’s brilliant,” said Olivia.

“We are very close, we’ve done everything together but we definitely didn’t want to live together here, we sort of wanted to break apart a little bit which I think has been good, and being at different schools, we’re both meeting different people.”

“I think we’re ready to sort of spread our wings but I think we’ll always be close,” said Bethany.

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