Having previously worked in a boarding school, I wanted to try a different setting and a busy day school appealed. I studied in London and always wanted to move back, so after a stint by the seaside, the bright lights of Croydon (and handy train routes into Central) brought me back!
I always loved Classics (Latin, Greek and Classical Civilisation) and knew I wanted to keep a toe dipped into this academic world. Few careers offer the freedom of continual learning and study, so teaching drew me in with the promise of more time spent reading about, and sharing, a subject that I love. I wanted to share it with the next generation of Classicists, in the way that my own teachers inspired me.
The opportunities open to me. I have travelled to Iceland, Morocco and Rome (amongst others) and seen amazing cultures and landscapes. So I get to travel, share it with people I like, and get paid for it. What’s not to love?!
One gap in my academic repertoire was an A Level in Classical Greek. A few years ago I chose to sit the A Level alongside my students; I took lessons with a colleague, revised for vocabulary tests and walked into the exam hall with my own class. It is the absolute best training I have done as teacher, and a reminder of the stresses and strains our students are under on a regular basis.
We are in constant discussions with both staff and students, and there are so many plans underway. Student voice is key and in my role I run the Sixth Form Council. They are regularly sharing their views and making changes for the better, all of which is working towards a fully co-educational setting. For example, students from the Council are meeting with sports staff to review samples of the new sports kit. We want all students to feel happy, comfortable and confident, so we really value these feedback sessions.
Don’t believe what you read on the internet! The ‘soft skills’ that Classics offers students are wide-ranging and are exactly what universities and employers are looking for: flexible thinking, critical thinking, the ability to synthesise information, learning a new language, and retaining a huge amount of knowledge in the process…I could go on!
Furthermore, Classics is the study of what it means to be human. Read Oedipus the King, arguably one of the most tragic of all Greek tragedies, and you recognise the pain of being human, all from the comfort of your armchair. You only need to check out The Tecmessa Project, which discusses the fate of Ajax (who died by suicide after the Trojan War) with modern day war veterans and their spouses to see what I mean when I say the issues raised are still just as relevant and poignant today.
Similarly, take Virgil’s Aeneid, arguably (again) the greatest work of Western literature about the mythical founding of Rome. Our societies and cultures are built on this ancestry, so what’s not relevant about it?
And finally, a recent debate I had with some Upper Sixth students centred around whether Cassandra was more (or less) tragic than Phaedra or Medea. If you don’t know who I am talking about, go and read some inspiring (and upsetting, sorry) works of literature which have survived through the ages because the emotional elements and very fibre of their nature makes them as relevant today as they were 2,500 years ago. Okay, I’ll stop now…
1. What’s your go-to Friday night meal? A Sri Lankan curry, with rice and dhal. And a good helping of naan bread.
2. What’s your all-time favourite holiday? The Christmas I spent in Cambodia; we saw a huge bat cave on Christmas day, explored deserted beaches (with no gift wrap or awkward family gatherings in sight) and New Years Eve on the beach.
3. Latin or Greek? Impossible to choose. Both!
4. What would you be doing if you hadn’t become a teacher? Midwifery. But I am rubbish at science so would never make it through the course!
5. Can you describe yourself in three words? Genuine, passionate, a-bit-mad.
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