Overview

Passionate about my subject, I believe that we teachers of English deserve to be haunted by the shades of the great authors if we make their work dull. We have a great body of classic work, of course, and we are also living in a 'golden age' of young people's literature. I love to extend students' reading range.

The technical skills of English are often neglected, misunderstood and unloved.  But they are foundational.  Happily, work in this area can also be great fun as we plunder not just books, but advertising copy, journalism, everything in order to master the rules and rhythms of English, develop skills of analysis and criticism, and generally light up the subject!

Qualifications

My early education was at the (sadly defunct) Congleton County Grammar School for Girls, from which I emerged with eleven O and four A grade A levels.

I read English Language and Literature at St Hilda's College, Oxford, receiving my MA in 1990.  My teacher training PGCE (for English and Drama) was earned at the University of Reading.  Most recently I studied for a GCSE in Spanish, and am rather pleased with my A*!

Teaching Experience

I have been most fortunate to have taught at Wycombe Abbey, one of the country's leading academic schools, and at Farnborough Hill, an independent school that is well-known for deliberately taking on a wide ability range and helping its students to achieve strong examination results.

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