Like many Australians, I soon developed itchy feet, and after teaching for four years I embarked on a 7 month backpacking trip that took my from Singapore through to Nepal, culminating in a trek to Mt Everest Basecamp. Exhausted physically and fiscally, I travelled to London to continue my career in Education. During my time in London I became Deputy Head Academic of Hampton School, and independent school for boys. Leading on curriculum, assessment and learning in a highly academic environment gave me great insight into planning and delivering for children and young people who perform highly across any number of areas, both within traditional academic pursuits and wider achievements.

After 5 years in this position I become Linked Head Teacher of 3 schools in Orkney, Scotland. Perhaps the most rewarding job of my career, I was able to lead on a significant change of culture and standards across all three schools, improving both academic and wellbeing outcomes across the board.

After 3 years in this role, I was promoted to lead on inclusion (including SEN), safeguarding and wellbeing at a local authority level. Here I gained experience leading within a large organisation and supporting 26 settings across the local authority.

I am currently serving as the Corporate Head of Gifted and Talented at GEMS Education, leading an inclusive and growth oriented approach to Gifted and Talented provision across our network. Our focus is on implementing strategies that grow and develop talent and high performance with the ethos that all pupils are capable of demonstrating high performance across the spectrum of human endeavour. We really do see the genius in every child.