Blake is our newest teacher at GHSS, teaching Class 3 from Term 4 onwards. Blake grew up in Parkerville in the hills surrounding Perth. He roamed freely over a big bush block and can remember spending his childhood time either outdoors playing sports and games, or inside, playing music with his dad, mum and three brothers. There was no TV in the house, and everyone was into music and/or sport. His mum is of Croatian ancestry and plays the piano accordion, and his dad, of British ancestry, plays the guitar and sings.

When Blake isn’t teaching, he has two big loves that he devotes much time to. One is playing acoustic guitar and singing; 1970s acoustic-folk music being a firm favourite. “Cat Stevens, Neil Young, John Denver, James Taylor…”, Blake muses, “but I also really love Paul Kelly”. His other love is running. Blake has run two marathons, the last one being the ‘Perth Running Festival’ on Sunday 6^th October, the last day of the spring school holidays. “It was a bit crazy, running the marathon, then hopping on a plane to Albany to start work as the Golden Hill Class 3 teacher the very next day”, Blake laughs.

Before studying his Bachelor of Education (Primary), Blake studied music at WAAPA, completing his two-year Advanced Diploma of Contemporary Music at the end of 2014. He then spent several years playing solo and in numerous bands around Perth, as well as back-packing around Europe for 6 months. Blake would also circle back to working at the family winery in the Swan Valley, ‘Talijancich Wines’, that his Croatian great grandfather planted in 1932. Blake’s great grandfather, Ilija Talijancich, came out from Croatia in the 1920s, manufacturing railway sleepers in Manjimup. He built his own make-shift hut out of lime and bark, and later bought some land in the Swan Valley and set up the winery. Blake worked at the winery in various capacities over five years, from wiring, pruning and bottling, to harvest duties; and is always keen to help squish grapes with his bare feet, the old-fashioned way! During these years he also held jobs as a personal trainer, and most recently as a Special Needs Education Assistant since 2022, while studying his Bachelor of Education (Primary). It was through this role that he came across Steiner education by working at West Coast Steiner School in Perth. Throughout Blake’s adult life, friends had often commented, “you’d make a great Steiner teacher”, yet Blake didn’t understand that statement until he experienced working at West Coast. He realised in a flash, “this is for me!”.

His first impression of Steiner education was the feast of colour that radiates from this style of education. “It’s so vibrant, there’s a real sense of community in the schools, and the most remarkable thing of all is that kids actually love being at school!”. Blake retells a story of a parent at West Coast, where they suggested their kids have a day off. But the kids refused the home day – “we want to go to school!”, they exclaimed, which floored Blake. He was used to listless kids wanting to be anywhere but at school from his experiences in various other school systems.

Blake loves how Steiner education sees the whole child, its social, emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing, not just its academic abilities. “I love how the arts are so integral – music, singing, dancing, drawing and painting, a reverence for nature; they’re all essential and integrated parts of the curriculum,” Blake says.

Blake feels his appointment as the Class 3 teacher has such serendipity to it. He had made friends at Uni in Perth that had grown up in Denmark, visiting the town with them in 2017, and loving the feel of the town. “It had such a similar vibe to where I grew up, with the big forests and trees. I’m very much a tree person”, Blake laughs. He had looked around and made a wish, “One day I’m going to live in Denmark…”. He has visited at least once a year since 2017, and then earlier this year he found the courage to set up a meeting with Eliza, the principal, to tell her that he would love to work at GHSS ‘one day’. Eliza called three weeks later, offering him a week's trial as Class 3 teacher and all his instincts told him to say, “Yes!”.

Blake feels there’s a sacred energy to the Golden Hill Steiner School, an alive, vibrant flow of energy that the kids pick up on. “I get excited coming to school every day. I’m a little nervous because I’m still learning about being a teacher, but I’m also very excited and looking forward to each day. I can really be myself at this school, which means a lot. If I feel that way, then hopefully this is what we offer the kids at this school too – to be uniquely themselves”. “If you think about it, we go to school for twelve years of our lives. If you are uncomfortable with expressing yourself for a whole twelve years, surely that will have a profound impact on you. So, it’s amazing to find an educational philosophy that supports me and the kids I teach to be truly ourselves; to learn together and connect with each other”.

“This job has integrity for me. It’s a privilege to be here, a privilege to teach these children”.

Welcome to the Golden Hill Steiner School community, Blake!