Giulia is a qualified primary school teacher with over a decade of teaching experience. She has experience teaching in a range of settings, including as a TESOL educator in Italy where she taught English to primary and high school students, as well as to adults. She also spent three years teaching Indigenous children of all ages in remote communities in Western Australia where she also gained a post-graduate certificate in Early Childhood Education. Through these experiences Giulia came to a deeper understanding of the importance of a structured and systematic approach to the teaching of reading and writing.

Giulia has worked privately as an Multisensory Language Specialist for the past five years, teaching children with dyslexia and dysgraphia. She has also trained with Ron Yoshimoto in phonology and morphology. Giulia has a particular interest in developing older students’ writing skills. This includes supporting their understanding of basic sentence structure, to helping students to clearly articulate and express themselves in longer stretches of writing.

As Director of The Ranges Learning Centre, Giulia works with parents navigating the often-overwhelming world of supporting a child with learning differences and advocates for them within the school setting. She performs diagnostic assessments, writes reports to assist parents at home and within schools, and also takes small groups of students.

Cheryl is a qualified primary school teacher with over 40 years classroom experience. She has worked in a variety of schools and taught children from Foundation to Year 6. She is dedicated to working with children to support their needs and believes in providing an encouraging and supportive learning environment.

Cheryl is extremely passionate about the teaching of literacy. Over the years she has completed many literacy courses which have continually kept her up to date with current evidence based research. Her work as a qualified Reading Recovery teacher in the 1990s led her to pursue a heartfelt commitment to helping students who have difficulty with Literacy. Cheryl completed a Bastow Literacy Coaching qualification where upon she led the implementation of this research into the schools where she taught.

Over the last few years Cheryl has worked in the Tutor Learning Initiative program where she has guided individuals and small groups of children to build their capacity to learn and develop self-confidence. Her commitment to helping individuals succeed has led her to become a qualified MSL practitioner, specialising in aiding children with Dyslexia. She has now worked at the Ranges Learning Centre since its inception in 2023. She has found it invigorating working as part of a friendly team who care so much about every student. By bringing all of her wealth of previous teaching experiences together, with her love and enthusiasm for teaching, she aims to continue providing students with the best chance of achieving positive outcomes and increased confidence in literacy.

Vanda is a primary school teacher with over 30 years classroom experience. She works in the Government sector and holds leadership positions supporting staff and students. As a highly experience teacher, Vanda has contributed greatly to the literacy and numeracy teaching of primary school children.

Through intensive reading, webinars and professional development workshops, Vanda has the content knowledge and the knowledge of learning and teaching to ensure the delivery of high-quality programs that are sound and engaging. She is very passionate about the teaching of numeracy and literacy and is a strong advocate in delivering evidence-based programs such as IMSLE, MiniLit and MacqLit.

It is Vanda’s strong belief that, in a supportive and positive learning environment and with the use of evidence and research-based programs, every child will make progress and reach their potential. She is a particularly interested and has the knowledge and experience of teaching students with dyslexia and dyscalculia.

Elizabeth Pugsley is a primary school teacher with over ten years of classroom experience. Within this time, Elizabeth has worked within all levels as a classroom teacher and in numerous leadership roles. She has worked with students from all walks of life, including deaf or hard of hearing students, blind students, ASD, ADHD and OCD students, students with chronic illness and life threatening illness as well as talented students to name a few.

During her career, Elizabeth has facilitated and implemented numerous programs within the areas of literacy and numeracy, however her passion continues to be the subject of Maths. With concrete materials, real life examples, a strong student and teacher rapport, and through working on developing student confidence and a willingness to make mistakes and learn from them, Elizabeth believes that all students can feel success and achieve.

When returning to the classroom after her first baby, Elizabeth understood that real and lasting change can be hard to achieve in a classroom situation due to many factors including class numbers, peers' behaviours, open classroom environments and timetabling issues that affect quality teaching and learning time; hence her decision to begin working at The Ranges Learning Centre.

Bianca is a qualified primary and secondary school teacher, having spent the last 8 years in a primary school setting, 7 of which have been in an accredited Council of International School. She has taught in a range of year levels from Year 2 through to Year 6, having a particular interest in upper primary years. She believes everyone has the ability to learn, and that building trust and rapport with her students is the basis for learning to occur.

Bianca's teenage struggles with mathematics inspired her to embrace diverse problem-solving strategies. She developed a passion for teaching through different methods and a focus on understanding the 'why' behind mathematical concepts. Bianca’s experiences shaped her into an educator who values flexibility and curiosity, creating an inclusive learning environment that encourages students to embrace challenges and transfer their new learning into contextual situations outside of the classroom walls.

Since beginning her work at The Ranges Learning Centre this year, Bianca has also discovered a great interest in the structure and research-based approaches to reading and writing. As a result, she is currently working towards her IMSLE accreditation.

Smitha is a qualified early childhood and primary school teacher with over 7 years experience. Having been brought up in the USA and India, she feels privileged to be able to use her own experiences of being educated in two diverse schooling systems to take the positive elements of both to help build her own teaching identity. She enjoys using her global experiences to connect with students and families alike.

Prior to teaching, Smitha studied human Physiology and had an interest in pursuing a career in paediatrics. She had aspired to have a career that brought about a visible, positive impact on children’s lives. However, after spending some time volunteering at a hospital in Bolivia, her interactions with the children there helped her to realise that her real passion was to teach children.

Before working as a primary school teacher, Smitha gained experience at a sessional kindergarten and has experience with the early years curriculum. She understands the importance of a play-based curriculum and is passionate about helping young students feel emotionally, socially and academically ready for school. Smitha has taught all year levels from Foundation to year 6 in an International Baccalaureate accredited school. She has experience teaching students through an inquiry lens, whereby students are encouraged to be curious, ask questions and develop the skills to find answers and go further with their interests. Smitha believes that it is important to tap into students’ innate curiosity so that they can build meaningful connections to what they are learning about. More recently, whilst on family leave after having her daughter, she worked at a centre that supports students from prep to year 2 who require targeted support with reading.

Smitha enjoys teaching early literacy and establishing foundational skills in students from kinder age onwards. She strongly feels that supporting young students right from the very early years builds confidence and empowers students to be successful in their successive school years. She particularly enjoys teaching young students how to write and loves seeing the magic and joy that prevail when students are able to put their thoughts and ideas on to paper.

Lauren is a qualified primary school teacher who started her career as an early years educator over 15 years ago. She has taught students ranging from 3-12 years of age in a variety of educational settings. Early in her career, Lauren implemented a tutoring program at a local primary school for Indigenous students with complex learning needs. This experience, along with teaching and observing many children who didn’t fit the mainstream mould, has been the driving force in her mission to ensure that no child is left behind.

Over the years, Lauren has facilitated many literacy and numeracy programs and understands the importance of delivering evidence based programs such as IMSLE to ensure all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential. She has taught using the IMSLE model and is currently working towards her accreditation as an IMSLE educator.

Lauren shares her time between teaching at a local primary school, teaching here, at The Ranges LC and at her property in Kinglake with her husband and their four children. It is Lauren’s heartfelt belief that, in a caring, positive and supportive learning environment and with the implementation of evidence and research based programs, every child will succeed.

Lauren is a qualified primary school teacher with over 10 years classroom experience. She has taught children from Foundation to Year 6, although has a particular interest in the early years.

Lauren has worked in a variety of schools and settings, including remote communities in Vanuatu. Through these experiences Lauren came to a deeper understanding of the importance of a structured and systematic approach to the teaching of reading and writing, while providing an engaging and positive learning environment. This has led Lauren to begin her training as an MSL specialist teacher.

Lauren has held numerous leadership positions supporting students and staff. She has worked with neurodiverse students and believes that every child can progress and reach their full potential when engaged in an evidence-based program. Lauren is passiosnate about helping students build their self confidence and develop a life long love of reading and writing.

Leni is a qualified primary school teacher with over 7 years of classroom experience. She completed her teacher’s training in Europe and has experience teaching the Primary School Curriculum across Austria, England and Australia over the last decade. She has taught children ranging from Prep - Year 6 and enjoys working with all age groups.

Leni’s overseas studies and working within educational systems across 3 different countries has allowed her to work with subject specialists of various backgrounds and training. This has helped her to identify key elements for a successful and a holistic approach to learning.

Leni has a special interest in art and dedicated the thesis of her Master’s degree to the successful delivery of educational sessions in art focused settings. She is an advocate for cross-curricular lessons and in including certain art educational methods into core subjects.

In addition to teaching English Writing and MSL at the The Ranges Learning Centre, Leni also teaches at a German Community School in Melbourne as a specialist German teacher and works with primary and secondary school aged children.

Leni is a dedicated mother and is passionate about helping students to achieve their goals through positive learning experiences and creating a safe and supportive learning environment.

Louise is a qualified Primary School Teacher with over 15 years classroom experience. She has taught all year levels from Foundation to Year 6.

Louise is also a qualified MSL Educational Specialist having completed the course through the Institute of Multisensory Learning Education (IMSLE) in 2017. She has since taught in a primary school which implements the Multisensory Structured Language (MSL) approach to teaching and learning literacy. Louise is passionate about the benefits of MSL & morphology when teaching reading and writing.

Through her years as a classroom teacher, Louise has worked with a variety of students including those with EAL, ASD, ADHD and other learning difficulties as well as those needing extension.

Louise shares her time between being a classroom teacher at a Primary School, teaching here, at the Ranges LC. She lives in the hills with her husband (also a teacher), her two young children, dog and chickens!