How I got here
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.
During Uni I lived at home and was designing and implementing projects for local young people at the community centre I grew up next door to. I ran youth clubs and homework clubs where we hired teachers to tutor local children after-school, created a space where children could use computers for their homework and somewhere to print, then I would design and run classes and accredited short courses in music or drama, video editing, t-shirt design, dance… I did this term time and during the Easter and summer holidays.
As a teenager in church I would lead the band and organise events for the young people and day trips and community fun days. I was plugged in 24/7. My dad would take me to board meetings and I would watch how different organisations were run and developed. I grew more and more involved in the leadership of the church and community centre.
After uni I volunteered with the local government, eventually becoming an intern and progressing to project support officer for a new initiative to put the funding for children and young people’s services in the hands of the community. I grew with that exciting new organisation, visiting practically every youth club in Lambeth and a few schools as well, and learning so much about how youth services are provided across the levels of grassroots organisations and local government. The idea was valiant, but I was spending more and more time in an office and less time with the young people I was working for.
I decided to have a change of career - and naively thought about teaching music in primary school; I liked children and I liked music, it seemed simple enough…
I was fortunate to receive an offer to join a large team of primary music teachers for the leading federation in my area at the time. It was such an amazing training ground, and although I was thrown in at the deep end, somehow I floated then swam, and learned to love the process.
Thinking back, I cannot believe I have been teaching for as long as I have - this is my seventh year in seven primary schools (not quite a new school each year as some years I was multi-site). Halfway through I decided to train to be qualified and did Schools Direct PGCE with Goldsmiths. That was the hardest year of my life and a story for another time…
Currently, I lead music at a Church of England primary school in Lambeth and I find that I am utilising all my experience - some of which I began to outline earlier - to make sure I give it my best shot. An aphorism I teach the children is that they need to give themselves the best chance to learn. Maxime conatus is loosely translated to trying your best. I have started this blog to document the ways in which I am trying my best in my role as a teacher, I think for posterity, but also to articulate the philosophies I am developing around teaching, answer questions other teachers ask me, and share what I am learning in the hopes that others would do the same and we can learn from each other.
Would love to connect with you - come say hi maximeconatus@gmail.com