I trained as an English teacher via the Teach First route and worked for three years in an inner-city Coventry state school. During this time, I was promoted to oversee English at KS3. I knew that I didn’t want to remain living and working in a city and wanted to relocate to Devon. When I began researching options for work, it quickly became apparent that there was a desire in the South West to make rapid, enduring change to the educational experiences that children had. This was hugely appealing; I knew that I wanted to work within a school and Trust which had, at its core, a commitment to supporting all children to reach their potential and overcome barriers which they face.
The support is fantastic, both within my school immediately and within the wider MAT. From the beginning, I’ve been incredibly well looked after in terms of continuous professional development opportunities. I’ve been able to identify areas of potential progression and been offered the chance to explore this, resulting in my current position as Head of School. There’s also a really fantastic network established in Devon between the major Trusts and their schools. This results in meaningful collaboration, which has a significantly positive impact both on practitioners and on the children they work for.
And, amazingly, I live a five minute walk from the beach; in terms of well-being, it doesn’t get much better than that for taking a few moments to reflect on a day.
If you want to make a real difference to some of the 90,000 children in our education system, take a good look at our current teaching vacancies and start inspiring our children and living the Devon dream.