It's the end of book week dress-up day at Sts Peter and Paul Primary School and Sarah Walsh's year 2 students are burning off their boundless energy in a few rounds of octopus and duck-duck-goose.
Miss Walsh, dressed as the 11th Doctor from Dr Who, didn't expect her first year as a full-time teacher to be as effortless or enjoyable as it has been.
"I knew I'd enjoy [teaching] but I really enjoy it. So that was a nice surprise to know that this is not just my job but it's a fun job," she said.
Miss Walsh's own experience at school wasn't always a smooth one.
The 23-year-old was born with Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy, a rare condition which causes muscles to weaken over time. The diagnosis was confirmed at the age of seven and when she reached the age of 10 she stopped walking after an operation that was supposed to help her walk longer.
The transition to a wheelchair was somewhat of a culture shock for her schoolmates at St John Vianney's Primary School in Waramanga.
She remembers as an 11-year-old overhearing her classmates complaining about how much space the accessible toilet was taking up in the girls' bathroom. Her teacher at the time saw how upset she was by the unkind remarks and sent her home.
That afternoon some of the students were challenged to get from one side of the room to the other on an office chair without using their leg muscles.
"Some of the kids were in tears by the end of it, I think because they realised just how hard it actually is to do those things that comes second nature just by getting up and walking across," Miss Walsh recalled.
Transitioning from her studies at Australian Catholic University to her first full-time classroom, she quickly overcame her nerves and began enjoying getting to know the personalities of the students in her class.
"It's daunting that first day ... I remember sort of being on the verge of a mini panic attack thinking, 'I'm about to be in charge of 19 children who I've met for about 30 minutes last year. What am I doing'?" she said.
After an honest question-and-answer session about her wheelchair, the students quickly adapted. They now know to tuck in their chairs and keep their limbs out of the way when their teacher is moving about.
"One student the other day, she said that she couldn't get up, she couldn't walk. I said, 'yes you can you've got legs that walk'. She just sort of started laughing," Miss Walsh said.
"They have sense of humour and it's nice to be able to let them see that disability is not a bad thing. It's not something that only happens when you're really ill or really old."
The school made a few modifications, including improving access to the ovals, adding a lift to get onto the stage in the school hall and installing a lowered bench in the staff room so she could have access to "the most sacred of all items", the coffee machine.
But outside the workplace, Miss Walsh comes across many barriers. For instance, having access to a car she could drive would cost at least $200,000, leaving taxis and buses as her best mode of transport.
Going to a mate's place or going out to the shops takes an extra element of planning, while finding a place to live on her own is proving extremely difficult.
But she's clearly found her place in the world. Inspired by her own teachers, Miss Walsh aims to nurture her class and teach them empathy.
"A lot of the time I found that these kids just need you to advocate for them and believe in them and that only comes through knowing them well," she said.
