What is your role at Blackheath High School?   

I am Head of Junior School Music, which fundamentally means that I have the pleasure of teaching every single girl that comes through Junior School, from Nursery right through to Year 6. My role involves teaching every class for their curriculum music lessons every week. Within this, I am also responsible for coordinating our Visiting Music Teachers (VMTs), of which we currently have 16.   

Whilst I don’t have an official Music role with the wider GDST, the pandemic prompted me to start building connections with other GDST junior music teachers to form a cross-trust team and establish more active subject-led communication. This has ultimately led to me being responsible last year for putting together our inaugural GDST Sing concert with over 330 students from eight different GDST schools, which I am proud to say was an enormous success.   

How long have you been teaching for?    

I have been teaching for over 20 years now; I have been teaching at Blackheath High since 2011. I previously taught at Queen’s College Prep School in Central London, another of the earliest girls' independent schools and I guess being part of the GDST my roots now are firmly in all-girls education!  

Where did you study and what did you study?     

I have a Law degree from Girton College, Cambridge University. Girton was the first college to admit female undergraduates, possibly another driving factor that has shaped my focus on girls-only education.     

By the end of my degree, I decided that I didn’t want to progress in the field of Law. I had attained a really useful degree and loved my time at Cambridge; the critical thinking skills and opportunities gained have been a hugely useful foundation for what I have gone on to do. I had always been a musician (a pianist and cellist) and one of the things that I loved most at university was singing in the Chapel choir.     

How did you know that teaching was the profession for you?    

After putting Law aside, I decided to dip my toe back into Music. When I was growing up there seemed to be only two routes for a musician; teaching or playing. (Nowadays, studying Music can be a foundation for many different careers). I decided I would try teaching; and despite initially being unsure that it was right for me, I knew pretty much in my first week of teaching that it was the right decision. I quickly appreciated the enjoyment of the profession and the joy of teaching and sharing music with our next generation.  

Whilst still actively teaching, I completed my primary teaching qualification in 2010 and became fully qualified. I am now studying for a Master’s degree in Music Education at the Royal College of Music.   

Why Blackheath High School? What sets the school apart from other schools?   

Blackheath High really nurtures its students, to best equip them for the future which is particularly important for young females entering the workplace; developing the independence, confidence and skills that girls today need to achieve their goals. Both my children are at the Junior School and they absolutely love it. The pastoral care here is also paramount to well-being and all-round education at Blackheath High.  

It has always been a really exciting place to teach. I have been involved in lots of different projects over the years and have always been supported in any new initiatives I come up with. In 2014-2017 we teamed up with local schools in our outreach communities to bring children to sing together - I love helping others develop and building networks like that. Being part of the GDST, I was able to enroll on their Aspiring Leaders’ Programme and the GDST has been very supportive in me undertaking my Master’s degree to continue to develop. I am also currently part of the Junior Action Research Collaborative with a team of Junior GDST Teachers. 

What inspires you/ gets you out of bed in the morning?   

A strong coffee! But seriously, it is the girls and the team at Juniors. I look forward to seeing people every day and no day is quite the same. I find new music and cannot wait to teach the girls a new song or piece!   

What kind of teacher/ leader are you?    

I try to be as authentic as possible which I think is very important in creative arts. I hope that I am equal parts fair and fun! I love that working with young people enable you to see things from their perspective and that learning is a shared partnership and journey.  

Who are your role models?   

I am really inspired by lots of different people whether it is friends, colleagues or fellow musicians. I think the main inspiration over the years would be my dad, though. He sadly died 18 years ago but was an amazing human – really hard-working, fair and everyone loved him. He had a great sense of humour and was my ally growing up. A lot of people assume my parents were musicians but neither learned an instrument – they were just very, very supportive and ferried me around endless lessons and rehearsals. 

Can you give us a fun fact about yourself?   

I’m not sure this is a very fun fact but I am slightly ambidextrous! I am left-handed in writing or drawing but I use my right hand for sports and everything else. It comes from many years of building up coordination playing piano and cello.  It’s quite confusing when learning a new sport!    

What are you most passionate about in life?  

I absolutely love my garden and gardening and I am learning more and more each year. Spring is here and it is my favourite time of year, so I love being out in the garden and watching everything bud back into life.  

I also love opportunities to be creative and want everyone to enjoy music in some shape or form. I will live and die by the line that “humans are musicians” - we can all lead musical lives. Many adults say that they can’t sing or that they are ‘tone-deaf’; this is simply not true – only a tiny proportion of the global population are unable to recognise differences in pitch. I would love everyone, most importantly all our girls, to feel like they can be confident musicians or can engage in, or with, music throughout their lives.