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My
Career in Teaching
I was at the
University of East Anglia in Norwich for four years studying History and
English, from 1971 to 1975. Then I started
a job in Basingstoke, at Harriet Costello School, teaching history,
although I lived in Reading for about two terms. My Head of History lived
in Reading and so I lived there too, although I moved to Basingstoke
because I made friends who had a space in their house. I was there for
two years and then decided I would like to try somewhere very different
and so I transferred to Sweden, first Trollhaten and then Gothenburg. I
taught English to adults in the evening from Monday to Thursday and to
teenagers in school in the day. I was very happy in Sweden but I had to
move on because two years were up and I would then have had to pay Swedish
income tax, including for the two years I had already been there! I was in
contact with a lady called Margaret Pilkington two years previously when I
was first thinking of going overseas. She was a friend of my Head of
Department and had been looking for a teacher to go to Hong Kong. I missed
out then but two years later was lucky enough to get another chance. So I
went to Hong Kong in August 1979 to teach English and History in an all
Chinese, all girls secondary school. I spent four
wonderful years in Hong Kong. I made many new friends, including probably
my best friend Lynn Weir, and others to whom I am still very close. Some
still live in Hong Kong, and it gives me the excuse to go back and visit
every few years. The last time we visited was in October 2001. In 1983 I came
back to the UK and went to live in Hampton where I had a boyfriend. I was
interviewed by the Headmaster of a boys private school in Shepperton and
went to work there as a temporary teacher for two terms. I liked the
school, but I had to find something more permanent, so I then moved to
Raines Foundation School in Bethnal Green. This was a
major culture shock (Shepperton to the East End) but I enjoyed it
immensely. My husband tells me that this is because I met him at the same
time, but I am not so sure! The challenges were enormous, but I really
liked the kids and the teachers I worked with. Again many remain friends
to this day. I left Raines because the travelling became tedious after my husband and I moved to Epping. Also I had a promotion ! My new school was West Hatch in Chigwell. West Hatch was a mixed comprehensive up to 6th form, but I did not really settle there.
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I switched to part time and was
on the point of giving up and trying something new when I found out that I
was pregnant!!!