School Advisor

What is your current role?

I'm the Secondary and Post-16 Education Advisor for Southwark Council. I work with secondary schools in Southwark. My role has gradually evolved over time. I really enjoy the growth and development aspects of what I do.

Who is your biggest influence?

The single most important influence to me as a child was my mum. I am one of seven children, including my mentally disabled brother. We grew up in a very crowded council flat, but we were happy and healthy.

Tell us about your career journey

My first role was in BHS in their flagship store in Oxford Circus. As soon as I could get a job, I did, at 15 years old. It meant that I could bring in my own money, I could help my family and it gave me independence and some confidence. At 18 years old, I was responsible for the biggest turnover department in that store; we took over £330,000 a day (a lot of money in those days). I became the senior supervisor and managed 24 staff. I loved the job so much that even when I was studying for my Science degree and when I started teaching, I stuck with it. For me, responsibility is a key part of my career. I've always sought and enjoyed responsibility and leadership roles.

My first teaching job was in a Southwark school, Walworth, now called Ark Walworth. I worked there for two and a half, happy years.

I then decided to leave teaching and took up a job in the City as a head-hunter. In those days, pre-mobile phones, the coolest thing in the world was an alphanumeric pager and a flash company car. I was blown away by a recruiter who used the money and all the perks to persuade me. I joined the recruitment firm and placed people in top international IT companies. I did that for two years, but then the city and employment crashed. I was not entirely sad when it ended because despite being successful at recruitment, it didn’t fulfil my personal and professional aspirations the way education did.

I went back to teaching and had a fantastic time, even picking up a couple of teaching awards. I was at one school, Archbishop Tenison’s School for a total of 13 years in two spells. The school rapidly and continually improved and the journey was professionally amazing. Even today I come across former students from my time there, who it’s always a pleasure to see.

However, the most memorable aspect of my time there was when I won BBC Talent. This was the first talent search in the country (before X-Factor or Britain's Got Talent). The prize was a three-month job as a presenter on a programme called Tomorrow's World. Ironically, my master’s degree in education was one of the reasons I beat 11,000 people to win the competition.

I took a sabbatical and worked for three months on Tomorrow's World, meeting personal heroes, doing fantastic things and having amazing experiences. When it ended, I went back to teaching but I'd kind of caught the bug and I wanted to do TV. I decided to contact the editor of the six o'clock news and I created an audition for myself. As a teacher, I presented a live news item (that I’d planned and written) from my school in the Oval. This went out live on the six o'clock news, and that was effectively my audition. They offered me a job in newsgathering and so I joined BBC Radio 5 Live and I became a national education correspondent.

Later I asked for an in-vision role and luckily for me, a job on a programme called The Morning Show opened up. It was an ‘edutainment’ show and I was the third presenter, live on BBC 1, five days a week. I then went to work for BBC London.

I wanted to go back into education and become a headteacher, so I did the headship qualification. It proved much harder getting that first role than I expected and there were many rejections, despite all I’d achieved in my career. When I did eventually get my first headship in Manchester, my mum was very proud. I later had successful headships in rural West Berkshire, coastal Bournemouth and I became an Ofsted Inspector.

After years of working away from my family (during the week), I began looking for a new role in London that aligned with my skill set and meant I was home all of the time. A role at the council came up and I have been here now for four years.

Did you always want to work in education?

Not exactly. Mum was a dinner lady and a school cleaner. I'd help her to clean the school because kids had to help with those things – that was just part of the culture that I grew up in. The job I enjoyed doing the most was polishing the head teacher's desk. I'd polish the leather chair and spin around, imagining it was my office.

The friendship between my mum and the head teacher was really interesting. Bear in mind I was a child in the 1960s. (In the US at that time Muhammad Ali couldn’t have a meal in a restaurant because of segregation laws that existed then). However, this head teacher, a white woman, was best friends with my mum! It was not just the fact that she was the most important person in the school, but that she embraced my mum – an uneducated woman who just had something about her – on every level. She treated her as an equal, supported her and engaged with me, no matter how busy and trying her day was. She always had a smile and a kind word for my mum and me. This experience had a huge influence on me, especially when I became a school leader.

What do you think are the secrets behind getting to where you are today?

The biggest thing that has led to my successes is persistence. I could have easily given up on particular targets, but I see failure as a pause on the path to success. My story shows that far more is possible than we sometimes realise if we just keep trying.

If you could give one piece of advice to younger people, what would it be?

I think one of the key messages I want to warn people of is how quickly things change. Skills, knowledge and experience are great but the pace of change in modern society means you need to constantly work on developing yourself personally and professionally. The world moves on, you have to move with it.

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