Born in Cambridge, raised in Buckinghamshire, Somerset and Norfolk, I returned to Cambridge to study for my undergraduate degree, then moved back to Buckinghamshire in 1999 after time spent living and working in Paris. French has been a lifelong passion, and my Belgian exchange partner whom I first met at the age of 12 is godmother to my now 30-year-old son – a great advertisement for the benefits of school exchanges!
After completing my degree at Cambridge University, where I studied French and Spanish, I qualified as a professional translator with the Institute of Linguists, and worked freelance for 11 years, specialising in the fields of medical and legal translation. This fitted in well with having young children, but it was also a fairly solitary career, so I qualified as a teacher, gaining my PGCE with the Open University in 2004. Since then, I have worked as a French Teacher and as Head of French in two grammar schools, a boys' boarding school (Radley College), and I am currently Head of MFL at Wycombe Abbey, a girls' boarding school. I was also Head of PSHE for several years at Radley. Tutoring has always been a part of my life, and putting together a bespoke, personalised programme for each of my tutees is something that I find particularly rewarding. I love teaching both individuals and classes, and I am also deeply interested in the craft of teaching all kinds of learners, so continuing professional development has been hugely important to me, as I learn more about how to teach different types of learners.
I have three adult children, all of whom are fluent French speakers, and one of whom is a Deputy Head Academic in a top Prep School in London. Although still currently head of the Modern Languages department in my current school, my plan is to increase the tutoring and examining that I do, in favour of the increased flexibility of tutoring and examining (I have been a GCSE and A level examiner for many years), with a view to eventually making this my full-time employment.
