fully supportive husband, and I couldn't do this
without him. We tag-team a lot.
young people for the world?
will see at the end of the process that the students
are, first of all, happy, comfortable with themselves,
able to feel a sense of pride in their achievements,
and confident to take the next step. A school needs
to have enough of a focus on the needs of individual
students, and I think we do a phenomenal job of
that here at Saltus. If you look at our Year 11s, it's
clear we're focussed on making sure they achieve
the best grades they can to prepare them for the
SGY Programme, and for life.
took a gap year and took a job on La Reunion, an
island in the Indian Ocean. I was doing Teaching
English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), for a year,
then went back to the uK to train as a teacher. I
spent three years in the foreign languages field,
teaching French and Spanish, then was Second in
Department for 18 months, then came here to
Bermuda in 2002 as Head of Modern Languages.
in foreign languages makes you more inclined to
travel, perhaps. I had been abroad and really loved
it, but went back to get my post-graduate certificate
in education (PGCE) and newly-qualified teacher
(NQT) qualifications as well. I think I still really
wanted to see the world. So I applied to jobs in
international schools once I had my three years' ex-
perience under my belt and I saw this as a fantastic
opportunity--and I haven't looked back since.
wouldn't want it to grow too much bigger than 930.
We need to stay above 900 and below 1,000.
economic slump and we're not out of it yet. How do
you feel about the impact of difficult economic times
on the School?
I think you just do the best job you can do. You need
to look at the School as a business; people are buying
a product and it has to be absolutely first-class. If it
is, I think people will want to send their children to
us. In some ways the economic climate makes us
focus more on the quality of what we're doing, which
is a good thing. But the negative side is you really
need to watch it carefully. We're so small here the
ripple effects of anything happening in the business
world affect us tremendously. We are so dependent
on Bermuda's stability for how successful we can be
as a School. Advancement and capital projects are
much more difficult in the current climate.
on students and families?
have been able to afford full tuition are now really
struggling. In those cases, we do absolutely what
we can. One of the toughest things is seeing a
student leave because of financial reasons.
pieces of the puzzle come together. We've replaced
myself [a candidate from overseas will be named
Deputy Head]. I wanted to get someone in place
who had an all-through-school experience back-
ground, which is quite tough to find. For me,
it was very important to get somebody who could
coordinate the efforts in all three departments. That
will be huge. The more plans start to take shape, I
think it's going to be absolutely awesome.
certain actions and decisions I have to take, even
now in my Deputy Head role, that make you realise
the enormity of this role, because you are changing
people's lives. Whether it's students who are applying
and you're making decisions on financial aid or
scholarships, or whether it's a recruitment decision,
or whether it's a programme decision for our existing
students, the decisions you make on a daily basis
have an enormous impact on children's lives and
adults' lives. That sense of responsibility is some-
thing I take very seriously indeed. And I'm very
fortunate to have a very experienced Senior
Management Team and faculty who, with the
combined efforts of everybody, help ensure those
decisions are the right ones.
in being
directly
involved at all
levels of the
School, and
was clearly
passionate
about the
wellbeing of
the School,
staff and
students,
explaining
ambitious
goals and
plans to
extend the
knowledge,
excitement
and skills of
both students
and teachers'