Kristil-Rae Mobbs graduated from Forest Hill Public School in 1994 and filled the new assistant principal role 25 years later. 

Mrs Mobbs said it was “absolutely” daunting returning back to her former school, but said it “felt like home”. 

“This is my 14^th year of teaching and I had heard great things about the school and it’s just such a lovely little community,” she said. 

“There’s been a couple of moments where I’ve gone into rooms and I’ve had a bit of a flashback as a student in that room. 

“I was a RAAF student and came to the school in year 2 as my parents were in defence and coming back into that classroom for the first time since, there’s obviously been some changes in that time.” 

While the usual technological advances have transformed the teaching and learning spaces, Mrs Mobbs said some things at the school have remained the same. 

“There’s some more classrooms and I feel like the school has grown and the bell is still here and I love ringing the old school bell,” she said. 

“I guess as a student, the rooms seemed a lot bigger than they really are and there’s also been some additions to the play ground.

“I remember planting trees as a little kid at the back and now the students talk about a tree corridor and I wonder whether that is the tiny trees we planted.

“But the uniforms and school motto haven’t and I love that there are still things that are the same but as all schools, you want to move on,” she said. 

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Mrs Mobbs said there are a couple of teachers still there who remember her as a student as well as family generations who have been through the school. 

“Going through class roles there’s a couple of names and I think, ‘I wonder whether that’s so and so’s little boy or girl’,” she said. 

Coming from a defence family and having been to three different schools prior to starting year 2 at Forest Hill, Mrs Mobbs said she hopes to help these students in their transitions.

“I remember not knowing anyone and each year we get new children, probably a bit more than other schools, so that’s something as a teacher I’m a bit more aware of,” she said. 

“I want to make sure in my new role that I help out these students.”