A century of learning is being celebrated this month as Footscray City College chalks up its 100th anniversary.
An art show and cocktail party launched proceedings on Tuesday night, while the celebrations will culminate in an ‘Open House’ featuring historic displays, music and a sausage sizzle from 1.30-3.30pm on Sunday, November 20.
Long-serving media teacher Bill Lensky has witnessed countless changes in his 40 years teaching at the school. He says a spirit of support and camaraderie has underpinned his entire journey.
Mr Lensky said that when he arrived in the 1970s to teach filmmaking at what was then Footscray Technical School, there was a high degree of illiteracy among students.
“The camera was a magic way to get them to write,” he said.
The doors of the Footscray Technical School opened in 1916, with about 300 students.
In 1968 it became the Footscray Institute of Technology, which then divided into two separate entities, a school and an institute, on the same Ballarat Road site.
In 1980, the school moved to its current Kinnear Street address and became co-educational, changing to its present name of Footscray City Secondary College in 1989.
Mr Lensky said the technical school beginnings paved the way for today’s open and friendly approach to education, with a lesser degree of hierarchy between staff and students than that found at many schools. “That has given it a strong sense of warmth with a high degree of informality,” Mr Lensky said. “I think that’s a core of the success; it’s a brilliant place to work.”
Now 71, Mr Lensky is still at the college, enjoying introducing a new generation to filmmaking.
While his early years were spent teaching the use of 16mm and Super-8 film to relative novices, he’s now finding students are arriving with enough core skills to create impressive work.
“Twenty years ago, you used to have to teach visual literacy, but these kids have grown up in a soup of visuals,” he said.
“Students don’t take notes any more. If I write anything up, they just come up at the end and take a photo of it.”
