In a previous life I was a professional musician and composer. I started teaching at Cramlington in 2003 and after a hiatus working in the music industry, I returned to the school in 2007. In 2008 I took charge of “Create”, a trans-disciplinary subject in Key Stage 3 which combines Music, Media and Drama, and became Head of Music in 2010. The school became a Musical Futures champion school in 2011.
I have been a frustrated scientist my whole life! Before teaching I came from an engineering background and I have always had a passion for Maths.
During a community module in my degree, I spent some time working with students in the Primary School I had attended on the banks of the Tyne. This experience made it clear that I wanted to become a teacher; the best and most rewarding job in the world.
I love being in the classroom and working with young people. In my previous school, part of my role was to develop the school’s project based learning approach, and so this was the dream job for me. I am delighted to have become one the pioneering teachers at XP school as part of the STEM team, and crew leader for Crew Hillary.
I also have a funny accent and, on most days, funny hair.
The culminating event to our staff induction is an Educator-Led Conference, where staff prepare speeches, critiqued by their peers, which answer the guiding question:
“What kind of person, and what kind of educator do I want to be at XP?”
Below is Mr Said’s speech: