Greta Psaila Savona writes:

The first I heard of Paul Harty was when my son started school at St  Edward’s College. At the time, he was the Year 4 teacher that parents dreaded or hoped for. He had a reputation for being strict and detailed.

I remember that when the class lists came out I was very pleased that Seth was in his class.  I longed for some old-fashioned discipline, which was one of the reasons I had chosen St Edward’s for my son.

I remember wondering how Seth would take it.

He came home on his first day of school wide-eyed and excited and so happy with his new class. Harty this and Harty that and as the year went on Seth became increasingly excited about his teacher’s lessons especially history sessions – he loved the subject and although very detailed, he even enjoyed studying it.

His favourite was definitely a section called Friday’s Famous Faces – an hour when Harty would choose a historical personality and the class would find out more about him/her and discuss them at length.

The way in which Harty taught his boys was original, disciplined but full of fun. From Seth’s recounting, he reminded me of the Robin Williams character in the film Dead Poets’ Society – he instilled the same excitement in his students.

His sudden death has caused untold sorrow to his family, I am sure, but also to his colleagues and his students and, indeed, their parents who think of the lessons their sons would have had.