Helping and enabling young people to succeed has always been incredibly important to me in my 18 years working in education. In the early part of my career, I spent 7 years as a Teaching Assistant, supporting students with SEND to access the curriculum. During this time, I completed a BA (hons) degree in Literature with the Open University before completing my teacher training in 2011. Since then, I taught English, Media and Drama in three schools across Teesside and Darlington before joining UTC South Durham when we opened our doors for the first time in 2016 as the sole English Teacher.
As we grew as an organisation, I became Head of English in 2017 before taking up the role of Vice Principal in 2021. The UTC model offers an opportunity to have a multi-dimensional impact on the success of young people and I continue to be an advocate of the importance of that in education. I believe passionately in our Student Leaver Profile and see our role as a college, to enable students to become Career and Life ready by achieving excellent academic outcomes; developing the skills that employers and the community require of them and experiencing as much as they can of the career and professional world to equip them with everything they need to make good decisions about their future.
One of my roles as Vice Principal has been to lead the team in implementing our Crew programme which is designed to support students to develop all three aspects of our Student Leaver Profile (SLP). It is a real privilege to witness and be involved in the success stories of students as they have become career and life ready and I often hear from our fabulous alumni of students about how their time at UTC has helped them begin their careers. My main responsibility is the quality of Teaching and Learning across the college and I am passionate about not only ensuring our students get a first class experience in the classroom but that their experience goes beyond teaching them to pass their exams, it must also provide them with the skills and experiences that they need to be Career and Life ready.
