Why teaching? I’ve been asked that question a lot. My friends have asked me. My school teachers asked me. My parents’ friends asked me. Interviewers asked me. I even asked me. There are a lot of answers to that question and I guess there’s not just one straight forward answer. It’s all down to experience. My memories of school. How I remember the way teachers treated me and my classmates. Not all experiences were great, but I learned from them.

You know when you go on holiday to somewhere sunny, I think I’d been in Majorca, and you get the braid with the colourful beads and threads put into your hair after begging your Mum and Dad for the entire week? Well, I did that. I must have been about primary six, so probably ten years old. It was the end of the summer holidays, I’d had my ‘back-to-school haircut’ and my hair literally reached about an inch below my chin. So it was short. I’ve always been quite a sporty person, involved in lots of out of school activities, getting a hand at as many sports as I could. I was competitive, and I still am to be honest, so I naturally always looked forward to going to P.E with our specialist teacher that we only got once a week, especially since we hadn’t had gym in about seven weeks. We all rushed into the changing rooms and got changed as fast as we could, and me being competitive I tried to be the first one out every week. Most P.E teachers have a rule of no jewellery and long hair tied back. Which I completely respected, both my Mum and Dad are trained P.E teachers so I always made sure I had my hair tied off my face whenever it was a gym day. But since my hair had been cut short, whenever I tried to pull my hair back into a ponytail, it would just fall out. So I left it down, which I didn’t think would be a problem. Before I knew it, the P.E specialist grabbed my hair and tied it messily into a pineapple hairstyle with an elastic band, embarrassing me in front of my whole class. Everyone laughed, and I fought back the tears. Looking back on it, it makes me sad just thinking about how I must have felt when it happened. I went home for lunch and made my Dad take out the hair braid. I remember thinking ‘If I ever become a teacher, I will never do that’. And that memory of primary six P.E has stuck with me ever since.

I mentioned before that my Mum and Dad are both trained P.E teachers. My mum still is, but my dad now runs two children’s theatre companies. Since about 2011, I’ve helped after school with children ranging from age four to twelve. My job originally consisted of taking kids to the toilet- the joys! But with time, I became more confident, and began leading dance sessions and drama activities. I completely fell in love with my job, to the extent that it didn’t feel like work. I enjoyed seeing the look on a child’s face when they finally mastered a dance move. I wanted to be a teacher. That was the job for me. Still to this day I help at these classes, and it’s amazing to see how much each child has grown in confidence, and I know I have played a role in their development.

At secondary school, I played the role of ‘buddy’ in a lot of my classes, throughout third, fourth and fifth year, meaning I had to use my understanding of the subject to help others who weren’t so sure. It made me feel good about myself when they became confident in what we were learning and I knew I had helped them to get there, being that extra support whenever they needed it, whether it were in maths or biology. I loved my biology teacher. She was so passionate about her subject and our class, and always went above and beyond to help us out with anything. I felt like she was my friend and could trust her with anything. I wanted to be like her.

I want to give every child a chance, no matter what their ability. My Mum and Dad have encouraged me all throughout my life that if I want something, I have to work for it, and I want to share that lesson with as many children as I can. And one thing’s for sure, I will not turn out like that P.E teacher. Hopefully children will look forward to coming to school, and I can inspire pupils the way my biology teacher inspired me. I want to make an impact on their lives and they remember primary school in as many positive ways as possible.