A Life with children

As a teenager I participated in long term voluntary support for Down’s Syndrome children, for which I won an award from Bucks CC, visiting the USSR (Soviet Union) 1981. Volunteered in a residential setting with children in Israel, 1982,Worked in a children’s residential camp in New York, USA, 1983,After my B.A. (Hons) degree in 1986 I worked as a nanny in Australia. Taught English to children and adults in Japan in 1988/89,Taught English to adults, London, UK, 1991,Attended Goldsmiths (University of London) gaining my PGCE, 1993-4

As a Primary School Teacher since 1994 I initially taught Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11). for the first 10 years up to management level.  For the next 15 years of my career I taught across all ages from Foundation Stage (ages 4/5), Nursery, Key Stage 1 (ages 5-7), and further with KS2.

I expanded professionally to also teach across London in
Private preparatory schools, 
Specialist intervention at Secondary School level for Literacy,
Schools for MLD and SLD (mild and severe learning difficulties) pupils,
Private educational work supporting a child who was not managing school, to regain confidence and re examine foundation skills.
And further work with children at;
Festival workshops in; storytelling, mindfulness, poetry,
Private work in schools in SE England for yoga and storytelling,
Grant funded community workshops to support children and families with nutrition and craft skills.

I co founded Peace Button - The Mindful Movement for Children and in 2014 -2017 delivered workshops to thousands of children, teachers & parents. I worked in some of South London’s most challenging educational environments.  As ‘Miss Rainbow’ I was in demand as I was able to mange the energy in the classrooms and deliver fun, well paced lessons and the pupils resonated with my expansive teaching approach, introducing mindfulness and creating a classroom as a place where they felt they were honoured and ‘seen’.  On receiving the top Ofsted Grade in one school, a point of praise was my ‘meta cognitive’ approach to managing behaviour and how my integration of drama in to the writing sessions greatly enhanced the children’s learning experience.

I was an unusual teacher. I took risks, integrating calming practices such as Qi Gong, plus lots of singing, movement, theatre, mindfulness, sacred geometry - and much more.
I went beyond the confines of the National Curriculum shore line - somehow integrating themes such the cosmology of indigenous tribes, science lessons where we studied our Solar System but where we also explored how Earths moon affects our emotions as well as sea tides, seed planting etc (definitely not in the National Curriculum!)
I used the tools of modern literacy norms such as rap to encourage the children to express themselves. And, because the children were happy: they made progress.
I regularly employed Circle Time as a way to support emotional changes

I wrote and directed 3 plays for children:
Satyagraha - The life of Mahatma Gandhi
The Colour of Illusion - A cast of characters discover the true value of  ‘things’.
A Life for A… - The story of a group of children who had to utilise conflict resolution in a real life scenario.  

Having majored in Theatre Studies in my degree, it was natural that I used this medium to explore themes.

Other international and national work with children:
Voluntary classroom teaching, North West India, 2007,
Voluntary training of teachers from Sierra Leone, in The Gambia, West Africa, 2010,
Co Founded Peace Button - The Mindful Movement for Children
2019 I was employed to set up a new ‘free school’ in East Sussex, UK,
Delivered creative education workshops at the Yogi Art School, Arambol, Goa, India, 2020,
Appointed Well Being Director for the Academy of Hope an education initiative educating Indian children.
Delivered creative workshops to the Academy of Hope children, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan, India, 2020,
Voluntary teaching, Sanskar International Academy, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan, India, 2020,
2022 Nursery educator with 3/4 year olds, East Sussex, UK, sharing singing, dancing and facilitating Circle Time, and preparing the children for school.