I studied English Literature and History at university in Leicester, graduating in 1996. Unsure what I wanted to do for a career at that point, I qualified to teach English as a foreign language and spent the next four years in Warsaw and Barcelona teaching English.
I loved teaching English as a foreign language and decided after four years that I wanted to make teaching my career and return to the UK. I decided to do my PGCE in teaching History as this was still such a passion in my life and History lessons were the ones I had most enjoyed as a student. I was fortunate to be accepted at Canterbury Christchurch College and spent a wonderful year training and living outside the historic city.
Little did I know when teaching in London that after 12 years the call to teach abroad would come again and my husband, daughter and I left the UK to teach in Dubai for Nord Anglia, where we stayed for four years. We have been fortunate that we have continued to find posts at the same school and this is now our second year in DC.
My 17 years of teaching have seen me take on positions of pastoral responsibility and I have taught several different subjects through the years, especially to Years 12 and 13. My two year ‘break’ from History in teaching in Dubai found me teaching Year 3 and I learned a lot about the needs and progression of Primary school children.
At BISW I am very happy teaching Humanities and am really enjoying the return to a History focus. I have taken the lead with Model United Nations, as I did in Dubai, and the ECA has continued to expand and diversify. I love to watch how even the least confident or politically aware student can learn to articulate themselves and represent the views of a country coherently as a delegate. BISW in a wonderful setting for MUN as students bring their own understanding of the world, self belief and enthusiasm to our debates on world issues.