I have a confession to make.

Even though I see myself as a songwriter, I low-key avoid teaching others how to write songs.

During the second lockdown, I had the idea to create a school podcast during home learning, that was created with content sourced from our school community. Upon reflection of the first lockdown, I was proud of the music resources I had produced, and felt they were useful for the few already engaged with home learning, however it missed out those who needed that extra support or were not already actively learning through support at home. 

The idea was to create a podcast for our school community by our school community, to support wellbeing and keep a sense of togetherness during home learning. I pitched this to our Headteacher, who was on board for me to go ahead. I then met with some of the keyworker children on-site to design the project and create an advert for their peers at home.

Growing up I knew two things. I never wanted to work in an office job and I never wanted to be a teacher.

So far I have done both those things careerwise.

When I look back, teaching came naturally to me. As the eldest of four siblings, and the daughter of a vicar, my whole life was family, church and community. It was all about serving and working for the greater good. When I was at school the avenue was music and drama, but the role was the same - I came up with the ideas, worked as hard as I knew how and executed them with the help of my friends or support of staff. One of my favourite memories was starting a girl band with my best friends - I even taught my friend how to play the electric bass - I had never played, I just learned that the first four strings were the same as a guitar and took it from there. I gave the best of what I had and literally put my heart and soul into artistic projects that served the communities I was in.