Join VOSA and Kodály Vic for our annual Back to School Day!
The morning will include workshops
run by Kodály and Orff experts!
Brush off the cobwebs and kick-start the New Year.
When
Saturday 21 Feburary.
9:00 am – 1:00 pm AEDT
Where
St Patrick’s Primary School
16 Childers Street,
Mentone
Jessica La Mari is a Classroom Music Teacher and Choral Director at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School (Junior Girls Campus). She specialises in Kodály music education and is passionate about fostering joyful, sequential, and student-centred music learning. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Music (Performance) from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, along with a Master of Teaching and a Master of Instructional Leadership from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. With ten years of classroom experience, along with having completed four Kodály levels, she has curated a rich collection of engaging activities, games, and repertoire for upper primary students that she is excited to share.
Jenny Ferris is an experienced Kodály music educator and conductor. She completed the Australian Kodály Certificate in 2017 and has worked for over a decade as a Kodály-informed primary music teacher.
Born and raised in Melbourne, Jenny has spent the past 3 years in Kecskemét, Hungary, studying at the presitgious Kodály Institute. She recently graduated with Honours, completing a Masters of Kodály Music Pedagogy.
Jenny also works as an instrumental music teacher of French horn and loves finding ways to blend these two worlds together.
Jenny is now the Acting Head of Rathfarnham Music at Loreto College, Toorak.
Stephen Heart trained at Drama School in the UK and began his career as a jobbing actor before entering education in 2004 as a Performing Arts teacher — deliberately not a music specialist. That distinction has shaped his work ever since.
As a learner, Stephen was the distracted, humorous, high-energy child who often masked insecurity with disruption. With hindsight (and an ADHD lens), he recognises how profoundly learning environments influence a child’s sense of capability. Discovering VOSA and play-based approaches marked a turning point, reframing learning as something that grows through experience — play first, then learn.
Stephen’s work now sits at the intersection of growth mindset, strengths-based wellbeing, and accessible performing arts experiences. He creates musically safe entry points that encourage participation, persistence, and confidence.
Jennifer is an experienced music specialist with over 20 years experience and is based in the outer Western Suburbs of Melbourne. She holds a degree in Jazz Performance on Guitar and a Bachelor of Teaching in both Primary and Secondary. In 2023 she completed the Teaching and Excellence Program at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership.
In her teaching practice, Jennifer utilises both the Orff and Kodaly approach and has completed Orff Levels 1 through 4. Alongside her full-time role in classroom music, she is an expert mentor for the Music In Schools program (formally Music In Me and the National Music Teacher Mentoring Program). Jennifer has presented at a number of teacher conferences and professional learning days.
