I am thrilled to have been appointed as Deputy Head at JCoSS; my two days of interviews, and a recent visit, have instilled me with a sense that it will be a wonderful school to be a part of.  The warmth and liveliness of the students and staff, and the clearly evident purposeful learning atmosphere, mark it as somewhere very special and I am greatly looking forward to making my own contribution to this unique place.

JCoSS will be my fourth school and I have been truly fortunate in loving each of them.  Currently I am Acting Deputy Head at Bushey Meads School in Hertfordshire with a responsibility for developing teaching and learning as well as for Key Stage 5.  I also teach English, Media Studies and the Extended Project.  To me, English teachers have always seemed particularly fortunate – I can’t imagine that there can be anything much better in life than being able to discuss literature and language on a daily basis, and with young people, whose capacity for creative and idiosyncratic takes on texts -which each year I think can yield me no more surprises – seems endless.

Before joining Bushey Meads I worked for ten years at East Barnet School as Head of English.  Indeed, much of my work was in the Upper School, exactly the geographical location of JCoSS.  It was certainly a little strange arriving at the school on the first morning of my interview; the location was the same but the beautiful JCoSS site bears no relation to the rather tired but well- loved buildings that I had last been at.

My moments of leisure are filled with activities which are shamefully lacking in erudition; gardening, walking the dog, reading…and the recent series of The Great British Sewing Bee has inspired me to blow the cobwebs from my trusty sewing machine and get creative with fabric. Well, I’ve made a pair of pyjamas which both my husband and daughter have condemned as ridiculously huge! 

I very much look forward to meeting you all and getting to know you in September.