I became passionate about history after hearing my year 6 teacher teach about the Victorians. I fell in love with the clothes the opportunities and adventures. I then knew I wanted to be a teacher when I met my secondary school history teacher. Her knowledge and love for history was infectious. She was the kind of teacher that made you feel like all of her lessons were only for you as everyone else in the room faded away and you were enraptured by the subject and taken away into foreign places. I knew I wanted to inspire the way she did. I have taught in two schools and my career has taken me from a teacher of history to Head of History and then Deputy Head of Humanities. I have completed my NPQML and D.ED.

Holocaust education is a passion that came to me later in my 12-year career. I was always interested in anything to do with oppression and resistance and loved teaching about how people overcame adversity. My passion for German history led me to the Holocaust and then to the ‘Aladdin’s cave’ that is Holocaust education. The more I read, the more I needed to learn.

As a Deputy Head of Humanities with responsibility for History I wanted to expand my own knowledge of the Holocaust and found that working in partnership with UCL’s Beacon Schools project was a fantastic way of improving my own CPD. I have used the experience to deliver CPD to whole school. This year I undertook my NPQML and chose to base it on my experience with UCL and the development of my new SOW. My departments confidence in delivering Holocaust education has rocketed and I feel that the history department’s profile in the school has been raised. UCL’s Beacon course providers are extremely helpful in ensuring that your work meets your needs as well as fitting in with the school and students that you teach. It has been invaluable.

I would like to become a member of SLT as I have already been down the pastoral route and am currently in curriculum development. My work with UCL has already made me stand out to my current employers and I hope that in the future I can complete a MA in History and become a Chartered teacher.