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filler@godaddy.com
About
Achieving Fulfilment
I am a single dad to Alvin (6), who is the kindest and most talented person I know. I run a business from home where I am privileged to help forge the futures of lovely young people. I tend to focus on 1-to-1 which is especially rewarding and am happy to say that, in our quiet life, I now have the one thing I believe people strive for: I have enough. :)
Challenging Beginnings
Growing up, I was a child carer for a terminally ill mother. I lived in the Whitehawk Estate. This was one which, according to national data, was placed within the top 10 per cent of England’s most deprived areas. I attended one of the toughest schools in the country where, as a middle-class boy, I miraculously avoided being been bullied. In some ways my education was stress-free because I had all the excuses and no competition. But I hated school. In the Guardian article, "Education: The Great Divide" * Stanley Deason High School was compared to Roedean. Thirty years on and having attended Oxford University and King's College, London, I have taught in both types of institution and have learned, en route, an awful lot about the opportunities a good education gives and know first-hand how difficult school life can be in both environments.
*
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2000/mar/06/educationincrisis.uk
King's College and Wadham
Following the death of my mother, I was educated in Norwich and this gave me a platform to study at university. At King's College, London, I studied for a combined honours but switched to Biophysics and was able therefore to work under the tutelage of Nobel prize winner Maurice Wilkins (Watson & Crick, DNA). Following this, I attended Oxford University, where I was mentored by internationally renowned educationist Professor Richard Pring. I then went to work at North Westminster Community School. My first full-time teaching position, my headteacher was the author of our teacher training text, "The Craft of the Classroom". Michael Marland CBE. It was the largest secondary school in the country.
City life.
Influenced by a friend who said: "Those who can, do, those who can't teach"! I sought an M.Sc. in Computing Science. I achieved this and worked as a software developer and ultimately project manager for software that managed pan-global retail offerings. Based in the City of London, but travelling business class around Europe with company card and unlimited expenses, I nevertheless felt tremendously unfulfilled. Having been a teacher, it simply did not feel like a "proper" job. After a brief foray in the fitness industry, I returned to teaching with a fresh intent and an affirmation of my sense of purpose.
International experience
I taught in many types of schools (including the Hasmonean: voted by The Times newspaper as the best non-selective school in the country) and was shortlisted twice to be a Future Leader by the UK government. I became the Head of both Maths and Science departments and was paid to deliver In-Service Training to teachers via the London Flexible Learning network. Using the achievements of outstanding examination success in both the inner city and private schools, I was able then to take positions in some of the most exclusive schools in the world; including The English College (Dubai), The British School of Alexandria (Egypt) and The Edron Academy (Mexico City). The latter, where I was Head of Faculty, is one of the best schools in south America and is an IB world school. Returning to the UK, my most recent position has been at a local academy where I was responsible for online learning; taking lessons of up to 90 students! II now work a full-time, online, tutor.