I am Head of Mathematics at Hunter Hall and enjoy teaching the subject, among others, to all of the children in the Upper School. I have always loved teaching Mathematics and primarily do so by providing children with rich, open-ended problems to solve which encourage deep and creative thinking.
I qualified as a Primary Teacher with Mathematics Specialism at the University of Gloucestershire after studying Physics at the University of Warwick. I began my career working in a variety of schools in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Wiltshire before moving with my wife to Cumbria to be closer to her family. I hold a National Professional Qualification for Leading Primary Mathematics and have led the subject in three schools.
Mathematics is not the only subject that I enjoy teaching at Hunter Hall. Each fortnight I look forward to supporting children in Outdoor Education. I love the chance to get outdoors, particularly in our part of the world, and feel that the skills and traits children develop climbing mountains are just as important as the lessons they learn in the classroom. I also teach Computing across the whole school and have recently introduced Programming as a standalone enrichment activity for budding computer scientists. Engineering is another of my favourite subjects to teach, as it presents a great opportunity for children to creatively apply their learning from lots of subjects in a hands-on, meaningful way. I have also recently introduced Philosophy as another enrichment activity, and in our sessions I probably learn as much from the children as they do from me about some of life’s biggest questions!
Beyond the classroom, I recently became a UK Parliament Teacher Ambassador, a role which has involved several trips down to Westminster to work with other educators on projects to encourage young people to become active members of our democracy by helping them to understand the complexities of our parliamentary system and to appreciate the importance of their own role as citizens.
In my spare time, I enjoy taking my dog, Stan, for long walks in the countryside, reading historical fiction and mystery stories and playing board games with my friends and my wife, Harriet.