KERRIE Ryan's love of teaching has seen her take a break from one classroom, but step straight into another.
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Born and raised in Stawell Ms Ryan studied teaching at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) in Ballarat before relocating to Melbourne where she taught for eight years.
She has since moved back to Stawell but had worked in Horsham for the last eight years prior to deciding to take 12 months leave from her position this year.
Ms Ryan has been appointed a temporary grade three and four teacher at St Patrick's Primary School in Stawell.
"I am just replacing Leanne Crawford who is on long service leave, I have just found out it is for the second term as well, so that is very exciting," she said.
"I'm very excited it turned out to be two terms, because initially it was only the one term and I was really loving it, so to hear that it has been extended I was really wrapped."
In addition to being a generalist teacher, Ms Ryan also has a masters in numeracy which means she can support children that find maths challenging.
"It is just something I have always wanted do," she said.
"I loved school when I was a kid, it is just something about helping the children and seeing them succeed and knowing that you can make a difference in their life that I really love.
"It is a very rewarding and well-worth doing job. It is a hard job, but it is very rewarding."
Ms Ryan said people sometimes take the benefits of hometown living and working for granted.
"I really missed it when I was away and I have still have a lot of friends here from when I was growing up," she said.
"I suppose you don't really appreciate the town until you leave, you don't realise what you had here, but I certainly love being back."
Ms Ryan said she hopes to take a holiday once she completes her six month stay at St Pats.
"The school's students, staff and parents have made me feel really welcome, that's been great," she said.
"They are really supportive and have been really helpful to someone who is only new on the team."
Ms Ryan is just one of three new faces at St Patrick's Primary School in 2015. She joins Georgia Cain and Leon Moloney as newcomers to the school.
