I come from a humble family full of nurses, social workers, charity organisers and care workers; for me teaching was always something that I wanted to do from a very young age. I graduated from Bangor University and leapt straight into teaching a mixed class of year 1 and 2 students and was the music coordinator for the school. I have fond memories of working in that school of less than 200 students. One of my favourites being, taking our year 6 students to perform in the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC School Proms. It was while I was working at this school that I developed an interest in additional needs and completed my SENCo training. I followed my passion and became a SENCo in a larger primary school teaching year 3 and 4 students. The school had a centre for speech and language and another for children with autism. This experience led on to my first international teaching post in Bahrain where I was part of a team opening the first special needs school in the country. It is a beautiful country and I feel privileged to have worked there and my first daughter was born there.
Working in Bahrain was my first insight into teaching students whose first language was not English, and it was a steep learning curve but thoroughly rewarding, nevertheless. After Bahrain we moved to Dubai where I set up an EAL department in a large primary school. We then moved to Abu Dhabi where my second daughter was born, and at BIS I was the Head of EAL, and now am the Head of Secondary Inclusion.
I am very passionate about my work, training, coordinating, and supporting students. When I am not working or playing with my daughters, I try to keep up with my music interests, I play my flute and a little piano (which is a bit rusty) whenever I can. I am also a keen crafter; I love to crochet making gifts for family and friends and more recently I have taught myself to knit, which I find is a great way to relax. I believe it’s important to challenge ourselves, whether it’s a personal or professional goal or something for your family but most importantly we need to take care of ourselves so that we can support those around us who need us the most.