Staff spotlight: Dominic Halliday, Head of Academic Scholarship

The next in our staff spotlight series is Dominic Halliday, who joined Trinity in 2023 as a Teacher of Economics and Business. He has since been appointed as Head of Academic Scholarship and Head of the Extended Project Qualification, two key elements of Trinity’s programme of academic extension. In an interesting and varied career to date, Mr Halliday has worked in industry – on the prestigious Tesco management graduate scheme – completed teacher training through Teach First, and taught at a leading grammar school, Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, as well as serving as Head of Economics at Merchant Taylors’ Northwood and as an Assistant Principal in the Republic of Ireland. We sat down with him to discuss his professional journey and academic extension at Trinity. 

1.You’re now in your third year at Trinity. What first attracted you to the school, and what have you discovered since you joined? 

I was recommended Trinity by a friend who spoke about the freedom and trust staff are given here. I loved the idea of working somewhere where I could drive things forward and feel empowered to do so. Since joining, that’s absolutely been true. We have grown the scholars’ programme significantly and it’s fabulous to work at a school that is willing to push boundaries. 

2. What drew you to teaching as a career? 

I always thought I wanted to go into business and did so for a while after university, but I realised I wasn’t intrinsically motivated. Both my parents worked in the public sector – my father was a headteacher and my mother an A&E nurse – and I wanted to do something that felt meaningful. Teach First gave me that chance, and I haven’t looked back. 

3. What’s your best memory as a teacher?  

There are lots of amazing memories, so it is difficult to pick just one. The nice thing about teaching is that you have meaningful moments every day. The Trinity Extension Award submissions are an annual highlight, especially the artefacts that students create. One painting still makes me quite emotional. It was created for the alternative perspectives theme and depicted life through the eyes of an autistic sibling. It showed nuance, courage and real intellectual risk-taking – everything the scholars’ programme is about. 

4. In your dual role as Head of Academic Scholarship and Head of EPQ, you oversee the academic extension experience of over a fifth of our school community. How do the two programmes complement each other, and how do they help to prepare Trinity students for life after school? 

In my opinion, a Sixth Form student who can complete an outstanding Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), or Sixth Form Project, is exhibiting all the intellectual capabilities necessary to excel when leaving school. Students research and write a 5,000-word dissertation on a title they have come up with and independently complete it over the course of an academic year. The skills they are gaining are those I gained at university or even once I had started working full-time.  

We brought in the Trinity Extension Award (TEA) to support students throughout the school to start developing those skills earlier, and to give them a chance to rigorously explore an intellectual area of interest. There’s now an intentional thread running from the Junior Year right through to Sixth Form. Older students mentor younger ones at Scholars’ Breakfasts and help lead discussions; they inspire them in their different interests and how these can lead to potential careers. We also run trips to broaden our scholars’ thinking. For example, we’re taking students to the National Maritime Museum for an enslavement inquiry day to explore big historical questions and their relevance today. These experiences help prepare them for independent research, whether that’s the TEA, external essay competitions or the EPQ. 

In addition, the new series of Mitre Lectures also give students authentic intellectual challenge by hearing from external speakers at the top of their game. Our Sixth Formers chair the Q&A sessions and are getting increasingly confident. At the recent Jeremy Hunt lecture, students came armed with evidence, statistics and some brilliantly probing questions. One of the best questions actually came from a Third Year, which shows how the programme builds curiosity from a young age. 

5. What advice would you give to an academic scholar who’s just joined Trinity? 

Give everything a try and be inquisitive; there are so many opportunities to grow and lead. There is space at Trinity for you to find your niche and run with it. It is also important to understand you are not pigeonholed by being a scholar, we have academic scholars who are some of the best musicians or athletes in the school. Be yourself and great involved. 

6. Having made the move into teaching from industry, what advice would you give to someone considering the same transition? 

You use all the same problem-solving skills in teaching as you do in industry, but the impact is very different. You’re doing something fundamentally beneficial for society. You get daily moments of joy and those small human interactions that remind you why it’s worth it. 

Quick fire questions: 

1. What’s your go-to Friday night meal? Lamb dhansak with a peshwari naan and pilau ric

2. What’s your all-time favourite holiday? Our honeymoon in the Aeolian Islands off the coast of Sicily

3. If you could work for any listed company, which would you choose, and why? Google, I love technology and problem-solving

4. What would you be doing if you hadn’t become a teacher? Working for a FinTech start up

5. Can you describe yourself in three words? My Upper Sixth business class said energetic, organised and passionate