We talk to Montmorency South Primary School’s Jenny Hutchinson about juggling two roles, building a trusted relief pool, and why a familiar face matters most for the students who need it.
Motmorency South Primary School Overview
- Location: Montmorency, VIC
- Established: 1972
- Students: 650
- Staff: 57
- Using ClassCover since: 2020
About the school
Montmorency South Primary School sits in Melbourne’s leafy north-east, but ask anyone who works there and they’ll describe something that feels much smaller than its suburban setting. With a student body approaching 650 students, “Monty South” is known for a genuine, small-town community feel, the kind of place where staff get to know the families and the kids behind them.
“It’s a real community,” says Jenny Hutchinson, who balances two roles at the school. “Despite being in the suburbs, you get that close-knit feeling. You know the families, you know the kids.”
If a parent were to describe the school, Jenny believes they’d talk about an enriching, engaging environment where the teachers are “100% for the kids” — dedicated, hardworking, and focused on getting the best out of every student in a way that’s still fun. It’s a culture that shows up in the details, from the way classes are run to the events that bring everyone together, like a recent student sleepover that had the whole community buzzing.
That same philosophy runs through the school’s approach to technology. As the school’s go-to for digital learning, Jenny has watched Monty South evolve from the limited resources of 2012 to a fully integrated iPad program. Even as device policies have shifted, her focus has stayed the same: helping students use technology safely and sensibly, with cyber safety woven through the curriculum.
Meet Jenny Hutchinson: Two Roles, One School
Jenny wears two hats at Montmorency South, and she’s built a rhythm that lets her do both well. As Daily Organiser — a role she’s held for more than two and a half years — she manages relief teacher bookings. As the school’s Digital Technology Specialist, she runs a full class load and acts as the school’s technology support, complementing a part-time technician.
She stepped into the Daily Org role during a period of staffing change, and quickly found a way to make the workload manageable. Mondays are her work-from-home day, dedicated to scheduling and confirming bookings. From Tuesday to Friday, she’s at school teaching. The ongoing Daily Org tasks don’t stop, though — they spread across the week, into early mornings and evenings, wherever they need to fit.
“The hybrid approach lets me balance both without compromising either,” Jenny explains. It also keeps her close to the teachers and the students, which is exactly where she wants to be. That connection is what lets her tailor the school’s digital technology program to what students actually need.
The Challenge: Keeping Classrooms Consistent
At a school like Monty South, continuity isn’t a nice-to-have. For anxious students and those with additional needs, a familiar face at the classroom door makes a real difference to how settled and safe they feel through the day.
That makes the quality and consistency of relief teachers a genuine priority — and it’s why a stable, trusted pool matters so much. The challenge for any Daily Organiser is doing that without spending hours chasing teachers one by one, texting and calling and waiting on replies that may never come.
It’s a balancing act Jenny knows well: leaning on trusted regulars who already know the school, while still giving new relief teachers a chance to get a foot in the door.
How “Monty South” Uses ClassCover
Monty South has used ClassCover since 2020, and for Jenny the app has become the backbone of how relief gets booked. She works mostly from the mobile app, drawn to the convenience of being able to manage bookings wherever she is.
Her favourite part is how easy it makes record keeping. Every absence and replacement is captured in one place, which she turns into a clean payroll report for the business manager — an Excel spreadsheet built straight from the app’s data. That accuracy keeps payroll on track and everyone accountable.
“Having a comprehensive record of every absence and replacement in one place saves so much time. I’m not texting and calling around — I can prepare everything the business manager needs straight from the app.”
Planning ahead is where the system really comes together. Jenny uses ClassCover’s pre-confirmed bookings to lock in regular relief teachers in advance, cross-checking them against her own diary before sending jobs out. She watches the app calendar for upcoming absences, confirms availability with teachers in person, then finalises everything through the app so there’s always a record. For sensitive classes — like Grade 6 in Term 4 — she deliberately chooses known relief teachers to keep disruption to a minimum.
The Impact: Stability for Students, Savings for the School
By building a strong internal pool through ClassCover, Monty South has largely avoided relying on external agencies — and the costs and inconsistency that can come with them. Aside from a brief period during COVID in 2021, the school has managed its staffing internally, with the app doing the heavy lifting.
The payoff shows up in the classroom. A stable group of relief teachers who know the school and the students means fewer disruptions and more consistency, which matters most for the kids who depend on routine and familiar faces.
It also means Jenny can centralise her communication in one place rather than juggling multiple messaging channels — a simplicity she’s quick to recommend to other schools.
"We've built our relief pool through ClassCover, and it's saved us relying on agencies. It's easy to use, it keeps everything in one place, and it means the teachers coming in already know our school and our kids. For the students who need that stability, it makes all the difference."
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