My sixteen-year teaching career has been spent exclusively in secondary schools with higher-than-average proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals. I have had the privilege to work in schools in very different contexts. My subject specialism is geography and humanities.
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to join a team of teaching and learning consultants in a local authority and then a senior school improvement officer across both primary and secondary schools. Much of my work focused on supporting schools in challenging circumstances and those causing concern.
In 2018 I joined a large multi-academy trust within Derby and Derbyshire again working with both primaries and a secondary in the trust as well as focusing on outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, safeguarding, developing an extensive training programme and working closely with governors.
Alongside these roles I continue to be a lead inspector which brings a wealth of experience that helps me support our schools.
My 35 year career in education has been driven by a passionate belief that excellent schooling is the right of every child, and a determination that such a vision is achievable. In order to deliver this, I believe schools must be truly inclusive. That is, they must have high expectations of and for all pupils, an insistence on excellent behaviour and equal access to a rich curriculum taught by highly skilled teachers. We must never accept that family background, socio-economic circumstances or prior attainment will inevitably limit young people’s potential and so the profile of a school’s intake must always be a reason for provision, and never an excuse for outcomes. The importance of investing in quality CPD for the workforce and strong purposeful collaboration is essential so that both staff and in turn the pupils have a sense of belonging and can flourish.