Ted

I was fortunate to grow up in a grammar school county, attending the super-selective Skinners’ School which was a mere two minutes’ sprint from home (over the back fence when running late). There I gained the usual academic clutch of A-Levels in English Literature, Religious Studies and History, and an AS-Level in French. I won the school prize for Religious Education, and some of my A Level scripts, in which I scored full-marks, were used as teaching aids in subsequent years.

My first degree was a BA (Hons) in Philosophy and Theology from the University of London. My college, Heythrop, was dedicated purely to these two subjects and offered a one-to-one tutorial for every essay. There is nothing like defending your thoughts against a subject expert who seems to be thinking eleven moves ahead!

While leading a large team as Marketing Manager for 18 newspapers across the South East, I studied part-time for the Graduate Diploma in Law at BPP Law School. I later topped it up to a full LLB (Hons) degree by completing further research modules on company and family law.

Adopting education as a profession, I qualified as a teacher at Oxford University. This PGCE was completed while enjoying college life at the graduate-only St Stephen’s House among a wonderful mix of trainee teachers and Church of England ordinands. I was also trained directly by the Oxford admissions team on advising students for Oxbridge applications and for supporting entry to other competitive universities.

While working in school, I later returned to Oxford for an MSc in Learning and Teaching. This achieved Distinction, with the final research dissertation entitled, 'The Virtuous Reader: How Can a Character-Led Intervention Enhance Extended Reading in A-Level Religious Studies?'

Alongside my early work and education I also served for nearly six years as an Army reservist. We learned useful transferable skills such as shaving in icy water without a mirror, driving off-road at night without headlights, and standing perfectly still next to London landmarks.

My professional practice is robustly underpinned by academic research, informed by my MSc in Learning and Teaching from Oxford University. I am committed to effective teaching using well-proven techniques such as interleaving, spaced repetition, modelling in small steps, guiding practice, and maintaining enthusiasm with a high success rate along the way.

I have picked up many tricks to maintain attention and enthusiasm from my time in teaching, and I remain mildly alarmed by how much pupils enjoy my exacting knowledge quizzes! This year I have been formally researching the potential benefits of Socratic dialogue with an action research grant. I look forward to putting this into practice to deepen my tutees' critical thinking faculties.

My passion is painting with oils, mainly buildings and landscapes. I am still learning, but was delighted to start selling a handful of pieces at local exhibitions. This summer I completed an outdoor painting course which has given me the confidence to paint 'en plein air' amidst the London crowds. On my easel I keep CS Lewis’s reminder that my work is just a (very) flawed worship of the real subject matter: “Light itself was your first love: you paint only as a means of telling about light.”

I remain a commissioned officer in the Combined Cadet Force, running intense field exercises that develop young people's leadership and resilience.