What is your job title?
Lecturer in Early Years Education and Counselling Skills
What is your educational background?
My educational journey started at Manor Park Primary School in Pulrose, where some incredible teachers laid the foundations.
Then came high school. Those years taught me what kind of teacher I wanted to become: the one who saw potential, had high expectations for everyone and ensured everyone felt 'seen'. I passed all my GCSEs and tried my hand at A-Levels, but they weren't for me. Looking back now, I think the college environment would have suited me better.
I left formal education and started working in a nursery, gaining qualifications in early years education.
Then, I became pregnant. Life-changing. I was 18 and single parenthood was inevitable. The stigma was enormous. I could feel the weight of people’s opinions, which lay heavy at times. Irrespective of that though, I knew I could, and would, give my all to raising my baby and providing him with a good life. I was 19 when he was born, still young, still naïve perhaps, but determined to do right by him. I knew deep down I wanted to be a teacher, I always had, so I had to formulate a plan to enable this, to give him the life I wanted for him.
When he was 1, I made the decision to move to England to be able to study. There were no undergraduate routes into primary teaching on the island at the time. The bewilderment in the eyes of many was evident, but I had a plan to complete an Access to Higher Education qualification and then to go to university to train to be a teacher. So, I did.
My son and I moved to England and off to the University of Northampton I went, where I gained a BA degree in Primary Teaching. Over the years, I taught across various schools in Northamptonshire, undertaking qualifications in trauma-informed practice, gaining senior leadership experience and having another son. I also completed a master’s degree with the University of Leicester. This was facilitated by the Pen Green Centre, who are known for being the gold standard for early years education in England – I feel lucky to have undertaken learning there. We then relocated back to the island, where I taught in pre-schools and did some supply teaching in my own primary school, which I enjoyed!
For the past five years, I've been at UCM, which honestly wasn't part of the original plan. My trajectory was always pointing toward primary headship. But sometimes the best paths are the ones you didn't plan for. I love where my career has taken me, providing me with the opportunity to shape the next generation of educators.
Now, I'm helping my eldest with his university applications for next year, whilst supporting my other son through his high school years. My route into teaching was not straightforward and was driven by becoming a young parent. Over the years, I was given chances by teachers and lecturers who believed in me despite the odds, and I now get to spend my career trying to give my students that same opportunity. It's come full circle.
What’s your fondest memory of one of your teachers and how has that inspired you?
That’s tricky, I can't pick just one! The truth is, I've been ridiculously lucky over the years.
For me, the inspiration starts at home. During my first week of initial teacher training, we were taught the principle that ‘parents are a child's first and most enduring educators’, and that’s something I still hold true, not just for those children that I have taught, but for myself. I know how lucky I am to have parents that have always supported me as I attempt to take on all I can in the world, all at once!
Manor Park Primary School was a small school with an enormous heart; Mrs. Christie, Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Githinji, and Mrs. Burrell were all my teachers, under the watchful eye of Mr Caley. What a team! I can still picture Mrs. Wright leading her horses onto the school field as an end-of-term treat.
Fast forward to the University of Northampton, where Professor Jane Murray became my tutor. Her passion for early years education was infectious, the kind that makes you genuinely excited about pedagogical theory at 9 a.m. She invited us to participate in her research, which not only made us feel like actual academics but ignited in me a genuine commitment to evidence-based teaching practice. What Jane didn't know about teaching, wasn't worth knowing!
At the University of Leicester, Dr. Cath Arnold had this magical ability to make you believe anything was possible, usually right before handing you another reading list. Cath is renowned for her work on schemas, and guess what I get to teach about now? Schemas. There's something quite poetic about standing in front of my own students, explaining the links between emotions and schemas, and casually mentioning that I learned this from the Dr. Cath Arnold herself.
Then came Ms. Ellen Wallace, a headteacher whose vision changed everything I thought I knew about education. I was fortunate enough to join her ‘learning community’. She gave me an opportunity that still feels surreal when I think about it… being part of a team to open a school in a former warehouse. It forced us to completely rethink how we taught and to question every assumption we'd ever made about what a classroom should look like. She was visible and led with understanding, exuding an unshakeable calm that made you believe anything could be weathered.
On reflection, they were all leaderful, determined, empathetic and authentic people… with a little dose of feistiness! And they're all still with me, in the way I stand at the front of a classroom, in the risks I take, in the belief I try to instil. Because here's the thing about teaching - the learning never really ends. I carry little pieces of each of them with me, woven into the fabric of who I am as an educator. We're all tapestries, really, made richer and stronger by every person who has shaped us. It is part borrowed wisdom, part hard-won experience, and entirely my own.