Director & Educational Consultant

 

The Hills Learning Centre was established by Mrs Mary Kerba, a highly motivated, experienced and gifted educator and communicator, with a wealth of knowledge and 32 years of combined Special Needs teaching and school leadership experience. Mary has a Diploma in Teaching from the Catholic Teachers College in North Sydney (currently ACU- Australian Catholic University), a Graduate Certificate in Learning Difficulties from University of NSW, certificate in Counselling and Advanced Communication Skills from the University of Western Sydney and has trained in many Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD) and other educational methods, some of which are Lindamood-Auditory Conceptualisation; Visualising /Verbalising for Comprehension and Learning; WRAP/Spalding; Junior Great Books; and Visible Thinking.

 

Her journey in Special Needs began in the early 1980’s teaching children with a wide range of disabilities and sensory impairments. By the early 1990’s Mary moved into adult education where she taught and supported young people with disabilities. In the mid 1990’s, Mary established, and was owner/director of TLC (Telopea Learning Centre) in Sydney.

 

During this time she also hosted and facilitated Professional Development for teachers in the area of early literacy and learning difficulties and also presented at one of SPELD’s Learning Conference at Westmead. Mary returned to mainstream teaching in 2000 until mid-2014. She has taught at infants and primary level, developed and implemented a school learning-support program, and has been Head of Infants and the Head of Junior School of an independent girls’ school in Sydney’s north-west.

 

Mary’s passion for teaching, and especially in the area of Special Needs and Learning Difficulties, has brought her back to this field by establishing The Hills Learning Centre in late July 2014. Mary is a current professional member of Specific Learning Difficulties NSW-SPELD NSW, Learning Difficulties Coalition-LDC, Learning Difficulties Australia- LDA, Associate Member of the Independent Primary School Heads Association NSW- IPSHA NSW and Organisational Associate of National Disability Services-NDS.