Your child's teachers will have a lasting impact on their world. The right person can uncover new interests, and give students the confidence to chase a bright future. Our teachers come from all around the world, but they all share a belief that an inspired student can achieve amazing things.
Meet our SuperHero Science team and find out what makes them special!
Your child's teachers will have a lasting impact on their world. The right person can uncover new interests, and give students the confidence to chase a bright future. Our teachers come from all around the world, but they all share a belief that an inspired student can achieve amazing things.
Meet our SuperHero Science team and find out what makes them special!
Sophie Hidden - Head of Science, Biology
I was one of those kids that always kept asking "Why!?", annoying, I know :). I was clearly meant to be a Scientist. My parents dealt with it by giving me a microscope and Science kits so I could at least have a go at answering some of the many questions I had. The world around us and the organisms that inhabit it fascinate me. There's always something new to learn. As I progressed through University, I also realised that I liked explaining these amazing things to other people and enjoyed how excited they were when they had those 'Eureka' moments of understanding something. That led me into teaching, we have the best job, inspiring people and making this complicated world a little clearer. #Bio4Life
Alveena Naizam - Physics
From an early age I have had a passion for Science and enjoyed growing crystals when I was younger, which at the time amazed me. My love for Physics and experimentation grew as I progressed through school. From building circuits to learning about semiconductors, all the way to being baffled by wave-particle duality and Relativity. This inspired me to follow my passion and go on to study Laser Physics and Optoelectronics. Now that was 4 years of very cool experiments. #PhysicsisPhun
Danny Bucher - Science Teacher
Firstly I consider myself to be a Teacher before a Scientist. I have little experience of scientific research in the workplace, but have worked in education in some way or another since I myself was in school. I used to assist my teachers when teaching middle school classes, and coached sports teams as a post-16 student. I worked in a school for a year as a teaching assistant after graduating High School, and continued this while studying at University.
It was only as a Chemistry undergraduate that I considered teaching the Sciences. I found that the patterns and rules in Science made it easy to understand the complicated concepts, and enjoyed the practical work that went alongside the studying.
The skills I had built up as a sports coach were equally as applicable in the classroom when communicating, organising and motivating students. I found that the behaviours that a teacher relies on are more important than the knowledge they posess, and these transferable skills are as important to teach as the content of any course.
I have enjoyed every day as a teacher and couldn't imagine doing anything else! #ChemistsKnowAllTheSolutions
Grace Wain- Technician
Science is amazing because the potential is unlimited and that is incredibly exciting! You could ever tire of a career in science as there’s so much to learn and explore you really can go as far as your ambition will take you. I love seeing how experiments bring the different sciences to life in innovative and challenging ways. Every day in the lab is different and that is why science is an exciting field to be a part of. #BringingScienceToLife
Jack Bryan - Physics
When I was 6, I had a dream. I wanted to be a pirate, swashbuckling and plundering for doubloons! Trouble was, even then I was a geek, and took it very, very seriously. How did pirates find their way around the open sea without iPhones? Turns out, physics! Pirates were sailing the seas using astronomy, highly engineered spring-pendulums, and Bernoulli fluid-dynamics. Unfortunately, I never got an eyepatch or a parrot, but I never got over loving understanding how things work, and putting science in to practice either.
Pirates show just why science is so important, it gets used for everything, from why you add milk to coffee, to how to bend it like Beckham. I chose to become a teacher because I wanted to help people see just how amazing, awe inspiring, and pervasive it is. Helping you see the science all around you more than makes up for missing out on being Blackbeard. #PhysicsPirate
Katherine Wilson - Biology
The thing that I love about Science is learning about how things work and making sense of things. I love to know how living things function, what makes us similar to other species but also so completely different.
I studied Zoology at university because I particularly enjoy the physiology, genetics and biochemistry associated with that area of the Biological Sciences. I love teaching students to understand what is going on in their bodies and to equip them with knowledge that will enable them to understand how to maintain their health and wellbeing as they leave school and move on in life. Human Biology is so totally relatable, it is something that everyone should learn and understand. Also, although plants are not really my thing, I have learnt to appreciate the sophistication of an organism that, although it does not have a brain, is able to time the production of its flowers to the exact time of the year that the pollinators that help it to reproduce are present in the environment.
Science is awesome! It gives us the opportunity to be creative yet methodical. To come up with crazy ideas and then to experiment to see if they work. To collaborate with others for a common purpose and to constantly strive for a better understanding of the world around us.
Kay McClure - Middle School Science Teacher
My interest in science was sparked at an early age when my dad and I attended the Christmas Faraday lectures.
This spark created a chain reaction where I relished the opportunity to the expand my knowledge of Chemistry and its demand for application of precise experimental techniques. For me, there was nothing better than identifying unknown chemicals using analytical data with supporting practical experimentation.
I am now in my element and work in an atmosphere where I can inspire and nurture the next generation of scientists. #ScienceNextGen
Paula Cooper - Biology
I love Biology. I have always been interested in how ‘we’ work. Why does that happen when I do that? What made that person ill? Why did the other person get it? I am also fascinated by the environment and the interactions that take place there. How have we as humans influenced that? Biology is all around us. It is life. I love sharing my enthusiasm for Biology and love hearing the questions that students think of when they really start to understand about how everything works and everything is linked. #i<3biology
Nicola Beattie - Chemistry Teacher
Science was always a subject I was interested in from a young age, whether it was exploring in the garden looking for creepy crawlies or making magic potions in the kitchen! When I started school, Science quickly became my favourite subject and I loved learning about how our world worked. I was lucky to have had an incredibly inspiring Chemistry teacher at school who encouraged all students to be the best they could. Whilst I was never the top of the class, I worked hard and with the direction from a great leader in the classroom I decided to study Chemistry at St Andrews University (nothing to do with Prince William being there at the same time !!) Never could I have imagined the doors that would open when equipped with a Chemistry degree and with the belief that anything is possible. This has resulted in some amazing opportunities to work all over the world, from Australia to Mexico in fields both directly and indirectly related to Chemistry.
I don’t doubt for a second that the inspiration and encouragement I received from my Chemistry teacher played a huge role in where I am today and why I am a teacher. My goal is to continue to pay if forward and inspire and encourage other students just like me. #payitforward #beyourbest
Anna Guy - Science Teacher
Science has always fascinated me and I knew early on that I wanted to pursue a profession that would allow me to combine my passion for the subject together with working with a diverse array of people so following my Biomedical Science degree, I decided to go into teaching and have never regretted the decision. One reason that I love the subject is that you have to problem solve, to be able to think critically, use evidence to create solutions and make decisions. There is always something new to learn. Trying to convey this passion to students, help them to understand difficult scientific concepts in a fun and enjoyable way and understand the importance of Science in our everyday lives is one of my favorite aspects of teaching! #lovescience#lovelearning
El Dean - Chemistry Teacher
Growing up I had the most patient parents in the world as they had to put up with my ubiquitous elixirs and natural remedies at home. I always had something brewing, such things as moldy dough in play pots and pans hidden in the pantry, orange peel ointment in the kitchen blender or garlic-cucumber healing cream spilt out of the (luckily metal !) mortar and pestle all over the kitchen floor. In high school, I wanted to single handedly save the planet using phytoremediation! My interest has always been, and I think will always be, pharmacognosy and environmental chemistry. Chemistry never ceases to fascinate me! As to being a teacher, well that started early too. As a child, I would sit my younger sister and cousin down in front of my big chalkboard and they weren’t allowed to leave their seats until they learned the lesson I was delivering. My parents always had to come and save them! My teaching strategies have evolved since then. #ChemistryRocks
