Upper Primary
History

I have always been interested in how children learn. Indeed, my work experience placement at the age of 15 was spent in a Special School observing the various approaches that were used to ensure individual pupils had the very best provision. This led me to a four-year teacher training degree, graduating in 2001 with a QTS with English qualification.

Since then, I have been teaching mainly across the KS2 age range in Blackpool, Lichfield and Walsall. I played a big part in the development of PE and School Sport in Blackpool between 2002 – 2006, and then led Science, English and Maths in Lichfield, Dr Samuel Johnson’s birthplace. I love connecting with pupils and their education. In every class I have had, there are pupils who love or hate Maths or English or Science.

But there is always a way to spark their interest and to promote enthusiasm for every subject. And I take pride in enabling children to learn in their own way.

When I am not working, I love playing squash and going for a run. My Squash partner beats me regularly, but we somehow manage to have a really good battle on the court each week! I was never a runner growing up and even in my 20s, but I took it upon myself to get a bit fitter as I entered my 30s, and found myself running the London Marathon in 2017! It was the biggest challenge of my life, but the sense of satisfaction was incredible.

I am excited to be working with Wolsey Hall Oxford because of the time I will be able to spend with individual pupils, discussing and guiding their learning. I look forward to welcoming you as your Tutor, and to joining you and your child on your learning journey.

I have been working with children now for around 25 years – starting off as a voluntary leader with Girlguiding UK, progressing to a Specialist Learning Support Assistant and then training as a Primary teacher specialising in History. Over the past 15 years, I have had the opportunity to teach a whole range of ages, from three year-olds up to adults, in both state and private schools. During that time, I have also specialised in working with learners with SEN, particularly dyslexia, ADHD and ASD, including training as an Irlen Visual Stress Screener.

I absolutely love learning and am particularly drawn to History and English – so much so that I continued to study Humanities, Art History and English whilst doing my teacher training. I like to visit museums and historic towns and villages around the UK with my husband and two daughters.

When I was a student, I had the opportunity to volunteer in a museum, interviewing local people for their oral history archives. A few years ago, I also teamed up with a film-maker to record a local history walk. I am fascinated by knowing about the lives people used to lead and how this relates to us now! It is also interesting how our language has evolved and this helps tremendously when teaching English.

When I’m not teaching or visiting interesting places, I like to keep fit. I was always very active as a child and this continued through playing various sports over the years including ladies’ and mixed rugby. I am now running again. I used to run 100m/200m for a club but, this time, longer distances from 5k to training for a marathon.

I have used my expertise to teach PE and the Sports Leaders programme at both Primary and Secondary Level, and most recently qualifying as an England Athletics Run Leader. I think it’s incredibly important to balance studying and working with wellbeing and health. I am qualified as a Mental Health and Mindfulness Coach, something that I have found is essential for all learners in any educational setting.

I am excited to be sharing my skills and experience with the students at Wolsey Hall Oxford.

I did my degree in Accountancy at Exeter University, as I have always felt comfortable with numbers. They were either right or wrong and there was always a process to follow for getting something right.

After a while, that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to do something more purposeful, something which had an impact on people’s lives. I trained to become a Primary School teacher at Oxford Brookes in 2007. It was here that I found my vocation.

During my PGCE, and ever since, I have rekindled my love of learning. I found I enjoyed learning new concepts and new skills. I fell back in love with English: how one sentence can have the power to change someone’s view. I understood Science: how things can be explained while others still need explaining. I became fascinated with Computing: understanding how coding works and how to build a series of simple instructions into something beautifully complex. I fell further in love with Maths: making concrete learning become abstract. I spent hours researching and learning about History and Geography and its impact on the lives we live today. After studying French at school, I began to teach Year 6 groups in my spare time, and became the Modern Foreign Languages Co-ordinator at school.

I have also become fascinated in discovering how people learn. It’s interesting finding out how the same lesson could be received in completely different ways by two different students. I have spent many hours happily reading a variety of books on emotional wellbeing, on Psychology, on growth mindset, all to work out how to have the greatest positive impact on students.

Saying all this, nothing is better than really getting to know the student. It is the main reason I became a freelance Tutor. I enjoy talking with the student about their greatest successes and how they deal with their biggest failures. I enjoy finding out what turns them off learning, and what reignites it. I love teaching meta-cognitively; helping the student to learn about their own learning.

This love of metacognition, linked with an understanding for children to build up confidence outside of the classroom, was the reason I trained to become a Forest School Leader. In my spare time I still work as a Forest School Leader, and if not, I’ll probably still be outdoors, doing gardening or making up games with my children.

Following the award of my degree in Drama and Education, I trained as a Royal Academy of Dance ballet teacher going on to teach ballet for a number of years. The joy, delight and curiosity of my pupils, and of my own children, sparked my desire to become a Primary School teacher. I completed my PGCE in 2006 and have taught in a variety of schools across the Primary age range.

Teaching should ignite a questioning mind and I love to help children make connections to the world around them. I encourage a positive attitude to learning, resilience and confidence in their own abilities in every child I teach.

As a Primary School teacher, I have an interest in many subjects with Reading and Writing the foundation stones for learning in them all. I am an avid reader and love to promote reading through my teaching, making links with authors, illustrators and opening children’s eyes to the wide range of amazing books that are available.

I have further specialised in Computing, which is a fantastic subject to explore as it develops logical thinking with imagination and creativity. I actively link the debugging of code to all other subjects – if you can spot, learn from and improve upon your mistakes you will go far in whatever you set your mind to.

In my free time I enjoy archery, representing my county at regional and national competition. I also love walking in the countryside around my home and taking photographs of the beauty around me. I have recently taken up the banjo, re-igniting my childhood passion for music.

I am looking forward to supporting your family through their learning journey here at Wolsey Hall Oxford.

I had considered teaching as a possible career for as long as I can remember, but it was not until my time as a University student that I seriously thought about it being my vocation. During my second year, I started a voluntary placement at a local Primary school as part of a University initiative to widen its engagement with the local community; from the start, I was hooked! Seeing teachers build their students’ confidence and nurture a love of learning was inspirational and incredibly powerful, and was something that I wanted to be a part of. After leaving University and realising that the teaching bug had not left me, I enrolled on a PGCE course with the University of Cambridge and became a qualified teacher in 2008.

Over twelve years, I worked as a Primary teacher in several urban settings; in that time, I was lucky enough to be offered a wealth of opportunities to develop my practice. I became a Mathematics Specialist Teacher in 2013 after studying with the University of Northampton for two years and this greatly developed my ability to ‘reach out’ to those pupils who struggled with the subject. Seeing that problems can be represented through pictures and that sweets – and even powder paint – can play a role in solving number problems greatly reduced their inhibitions, and gave them practical experiences that enabled them to retain new and forgotten concepts more easily. In 2015, I also became a Local Authority Key Stage Two Writing Moderator. In this role, I work with teachers from a number of schools to support and confirm their writing assessment judgements, and this has not only greatly increased my own subject knowledge but has also allowed me to ‘borrow’ many fantastic teaching ideas from other settings.

Currently, when I am not striving to inspire students in my work in schools and as a private Tutor, I enjoy walking and swimming. I like to see myself as a lifelong learner and have recently taken on the challenge of learning Italian as a beginner. I also love to travel: over the years, my wanderings have taken me to Iceland, where I worked to repair boardwalk trails in the Vatnajökull National Park, to China where I walked (part of) the Great Wall.

Since qualifying for Primary teaching in 1990 I have spent over 30 years working across the whole Primary age range with children from 4-11 years of age – and I love it! There is nothing like the buzz and satisfaction of someone loving learning and finding that they can achieve things they never thought possible, whilst all the time having fun and finding their inner confidence.

I teach the whole curriculum but my particular passion is teaching literacy skills. To establish a love of reading and writing is one of the best gifts you can give, enabling a lifetime of self-expression and the skills needed to do anything a person desires. It is this belief that led me to lead English in school for almost 20 years, spending eight years as Assistant Headteacher whilst developing a program of ‘catch up’ for those disillusioned children who have a belief that they cannot read and write.

It was the most satisfying time of my career to see children blossom into avid learners. They became successful students using the nurturing strategies of gardening, cooking and lots of talking to develop those all-important skills in English, and realised that they can achieve and learn now that they have some self-confidence.

I also enjoyed researching the best strategies for supporting students who are new to English and sharing the results of that research in a town-wide project which led to many of us learning new skills.

When I am not teaching, I enjoy the great outdoors, walking and gardening. I love any number of crafts and can usually be found sewing, silversmithing, trying new workshops – either that or engrossed in a book which I seem to get through far too quickly!

I began my career as a nursery nurse, working with children from birth to five in Foundation Stage settings, including as a pre-school manager. I thrived in creating a stimulating learning environment for children in which they could become active and curious learners. My experience as a nursery nurse highlighted the importance of laying strong foundations in the early years.

Whilst working as a nursery nurse, I studied with the Open University to complete my BA in English Literature and then completed the Graduate Teacher Training Programme with the Shire Foundation in Luton, gaining QTS in 2011.

As a trained teacher, I have taught in a range of Primary schools gaining a wealth of experience teaching in Early Years, Key Stage 1 and 2. I have found teaching such a rewarding career, and I am delighted to be a Tutor at Wolsey Hall. I’m passionate about teaching children to develop a love of learning and help inspire them to become lifelong learners.

I encourage all children to be resilient, independent learners and teach them how they can reflect on their learning in order to improve further.

I enjoy teaching all subjects, in particular, reading and writing. I love how reading can spark children’s imaginations and transport them to different worlds. Enriching children with the power of language and exploring the meanings of new vocabulary, enables their creative ideas to flow.

In my spare time, I enjoy reading a range of novels, experimenting with baking unusual recipes and participating in my Latin dance classes. Most of my time is spent being Mum to my three very energetic children and participating in their fun, imaginative and very messy adventures!

I first became interested in teaching while on work experience in a Primary school when I was 14. I loved the busy atmosphere of school life and the energy of the children. As a teenager, I was fortunate to have some amazing teachers who took the time to make their lessons fun and inspiring. The idea of creating an environment where children are happy, confident and excited to learn has stayed with me and shapes my teaching to this day.

I graduated with a BSc in Psychology from the University of Plymouth after completing my dissertation in Childhood Emotional Development. I continued to volunteer in Primary schools throughout my degree and went on to take a PGCE at Plymouth Marjon University. Over the last eleven years, I have taught across the Primary age range, with most of my experience being in Year 5 and 6 and specialising in Maths.

I have always been curious about the world around me and love learning new things. I love being outdoors, hiking and exploring my local area and further afield. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by History and now volunteer with a local archaeology group. I love to imagine what a landscape was like in the past and how people might have lived there.

Now working from home with my one-year-old daughter, I am seeing my role as a teacher in a whole new light. Watching her experience the world for the first time has made me more aware than ever of how valuable a child’s learning experiences are.

I strive to nurture curiosity and a sense of wonder in my pupils, encouraging them to ask questions and explore. I strongly believe that while we cannot teach our children everything they need to know, we can teach them how to find out.

I am a ‘people’ person who loves facilitating learning. I enjoy working in a team environment with children and adults and building valuable rapport with colleagues, pupils and parents.

I am an experienced teacher from Reception to Year 6, and I believe I do it well. Children enjoy learning with me and my wish is to help them become confident, communicating, creative, choice-making citizens.

I aim to demonstrate an appreciation for diversity and I ensure that each child in my care feels respected and included. I have ambitious but achievable expectations for those I teach.

My teaching practice has been influenced by the Royal Shakespeare Company Ensemble work training, the research of Reggio Emilia, and child-centred approaches. I am enthusiastic and dedicated to the children that I teach, and I look forward to sharing my experience with you.

I enjoy life. Travel, sporting, caring and learning activities fill my time out of work. I support charities through sponsored events such walks, runs and even a skydive. I follow my dreams: I have travelled the UK on a motorbike, travelled around Australia, learnt to ice skate, to fence and stand-up-paddle board.

Enjoyment, confidence and success – these are three of the most important qualities I encourage and celebrate in my classroom! I always promote a ‘working together’ attitude in an environment where children feel safe and secure to make mistakes – we endeavour to use mistakes as additional learning opportunities. Maths has always been my personal passion; I just love the feeling of satisfaction when you eventually solve a challenging problem.

My teaching career didn’t begin until I was in my late twenties. After achieving a Maths degree, I worked in the private sector for a number of years, where I coached adults in their work. I learnt so much about encouraging people to identify their strengths and focus on areas for improvement – such an important aspect of teaching children too!

At the age of 28, I decided to return to university to study for my PGCE in Primary Education – the best decision I ever made. I have been lucky enough to teach children across the whole primary age range, but have spent the majority of my time with 9-11 year olds. Nothing beats seeing a child finally achieve something they have previously been unable to grasp – it is such a privilege and pleasure to witness.

Throughout my time in school, I have had many additional responsibilities including leading Maths, Modern Foreign Languages and Science. In addition to teaching inside of the classroom, I love providing online Maths tutoring to both Primary and Secondary students.

Outside of the classroom, I have a real passion for walking and running in the hills – in particular, the North York Moors and the Lake District. My proudest achievements are completing the London Marathon and completing fell races in the Lake District and Cheviot Hills. The dedication and determination needed for the training and race days, are certainly traits which I bring with me to Wolsey Hall Oxford.

With my BSc in Geography and before gaining my QTS in Primary Education on a Graduate Teacher programme in 2003, I worked with children with physical and learning difficulties. This was in a residential and day school in Kent, and I found it very rewarding. I had known from an early age that I wanted a career in Primary Education.

I have been teaching for 17 years in a mix of EYFS and Years 1 – 6 classes. The two things that remain constant in my career are my love of teaching and the importance of health, nutrition and fitness. Buddha said, “To keep the body in good health is a duty otherwise we shall not be able to keep the mind strong and clear.” This perfectly sums up what I believe most about teaching and the importance of keeping children fit and healthy so as to become great learners.

I’m excited by the new challenges I face. I love teaching in school, online and one to one. I thrive on figuring out a child’s strengths and weaknesses, modifying my teaching style to suit them, and then seeing them inspired. I look forward to doing so with your child! As your child’s Tutor I’m here to support you and answer any questions you may have.

Following a move to Penzance in West Cornwall, I am in a county surrounded by beautiful beaches and views of St. Michaels Mount. I enjoy spending time as a mum with my three-year-old boy who loves being outdoors, and spending time walking with my friends along the coastline.

I enjoy playing tennis, cycling, baking gluten free bread and cakes and gardening.

My career as an educator spans 29 years, and has enabled me to teach in an extensive range of schools and cultural environments. I began my career as a Secondary Specialist Teacher of Art and Design and transitioned into becoming a Primary Teacher, Online Tutor and Course Writer. I left the UK in 2001 and have lived in seven countries since then, including France, Italy and Malaysia.

As a child, I had a huge passion towards anything creative. Scraps of fabric, cardboard boxes or other found materials, anything that was discarded in my home was never safe. Cardboard, fabrics, beads, paper, anything that I could create with. I was always excited by these simple things and as a Primary teacher I recognise the thrill that children experience when they make and create their own inventions.

I am an avid reader of children’s literature, especially authors such as Philip Pullman and Michael Morpurgo, and have collected many traditional stories and tales on my travels and enjoy sharing my enthusiasm for reading with my pupils. I enjoy teaching all of the Primary subjects, especially now that there is so much information and resourcing available online to enhance the learning.

Today, children can explore space in three dimensions, research ancient cultures, view microscopic images and read any source of information instantly! My teaching career has allowed me to work with children and young people from very diverse cultures and environments.

I continue to be inspired by these children, and I hope I have helped to show them that the world is a wonderful place that needs young curious minds and innovators. I endeavour to make each learning interaction exciting and interesting for children, and often bring many of my own experiences into that learning environment. For example, my time in Borneo gave me a great insight into living in a tropical climate, and experiencing Jungles and Mangroves first hand.

As an online Tutor, it is possible to focus the learning towards individual needs and interests of the pupil. I really enjoy my ‘one to one’ contact with children and they continue to be my greatest source of inspiration to be a better and more relevant educator.

I live in a small town in Catalonia, Spain, called La Garriga, just 40 minutes from Barcelona, with my husband and our 16 year daughter. My husband, Spencer Byles, is a Wild Forest Artist and works on artistic residencies in various parts of the world.

I gained my first degree from Sheffield Hallam University, and straight after that, I moved abroad to Spain, where I taught English in a Pre-Preparatory School for several years. It was here that I discovered that children teach you just as much as you teach them because I came away fluent in Spanish, having not taken one lesson and not knowing a word before working there!

Fast forward a few years and living back in England, I married and started working for the Open University as an IT Project Manager. I took advantage of being able to study for free with them and gained a BSc (Hons) in Psychology. I am therefore fully aware of the challenges presented when you are learning from home, the pressures associated with submitting assignments and the wait for that precious feedback. It is why I always try to return assignments promptly!

Becoming a foster carer was a turning point in my life and pointed me back to my passion for teaching children. Supporting children who have had trauma in their lives to regain the joys that learning can give makes everything worthwhile. I, therefore, gained my PGCE and have now taught in a variety of Primary School settings. I particularly love how technology can bring lessons to life, and it is here again that I frequently learn just as much as I teach. I love being amazed by the combinations that a child’s imagination mixed with technology can bring; a geographical biome being created and described in Minecraft being my favourite!

I am also the literacy lead in my current school and enjoy using different texts to promote the joy of reading, and I love encouraging those budding young authors amongst us. Science is also a passion of mine; I thrive on encouraging children to ask questions on how the world works and find joy in watching them discover the answers.

As well as being a Primary School teacher and foster carer, I also keep myself busy through learning new languages; endeavouring to make my morning shuffles more into a morning jog, and writing fiction stories.

Growing up in a home that placed education as the utmost priority, I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a teacher. After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Education, I began teaching. A few years later, with experience under my belt, I went on to earn a Masters in Teaching with a focus in Literacy.

During my time as an educator, I have taught a variety of subjects in the Primary curriculum to a wide range of learners, tutored for the 11+ and marked English exams. The two things that remain constant in my career are my love for teaching, and for reading and writing. Reading and writing are both fundamental in understanding all subjects across the primary curriculum. They are also essential in understanding others and expressing yourself so that others will understand you. Writing also enables me to learn so much about my students, not just as authors but who they are as people.

Ignacio Estrada said, “If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” This quote perfectly sums up what I have enjoyed most about teaching over the last 14 years and what continues to motivate me. Every child is different. I love the challenge of figuring out their strengths and weaknesses, and then tweaking lessons to suit those strengths and seeing them inspired. I look forward to doing so with your child!

When I’m not teaching, I love reading, playing football, doing yoga and running outdoors! I also continue to learn by taking online courses. At the moment I am taking ‘Introduction to Family Engagement in Education’ which explores the research linking family engagement to better educational outcomes. I have also recently obtained a certificate as a Dyslexia Therapist.