My initial 'Head of' role (looking after our Primary assessment and MIS space) evolved to a cross-divisional position in September 2023 which involves responsibility for all Juniper products and services, including Secondary assessment, HR, Payroll, websites and parental engagement solutions. The challenge of learning more about the range of our offering is an exciting (and slightly daunting) one, made all the more exciting by the current journey we're on to offer schools and trusts a… Show more My initial 'Head of' role (looking after our Primary assessment and MIS space) evolved to a cross-divisional position in September 2023 which involves responsibility for all Juniper products and services, including Secondary assessment, HR, Payroll, websites and parental engagement solutions. The challenge of learning more about the range of our offering is an exciting (and slightly daunting) one, made all the more exciting by the current journey we're on to offer schools and trusts a consolidated, integrated single platform, from which they can manage their entire digital portfolio.My favourite part of the role has been seeing just how well the supportive culture among my colleagues has developed. We all have bad days now and then, we all need advice and we all need to vent. I'm incredibly proud that within our Adoption team at Juniper we have a safe space to do all of that and more. I love our onsite team days where we share a meal as well as ideas. I love the flexibility of some mornings being able to crack on with things from the comfort of my living room, while others start at the crack of dawn for a commute to one of our offices. And I love our WhatsApp group, which is full of photos of pets, memes, jokes and utter nonsense. I have done absolutely no research on this, but I can absolutely guarantee this has improved productivity and hopefully, job satisfaction at the same time. Show less

Customer Success was agreeing with me and I moved into a Team Leader role after about 9 months with Juniper - always a great sign when there are early opportunities to progress! I worked alongside Gareth Taylor, another Juniper stalwart, and together we were accountable for all 5,500 or so schools who used a Juniper assessment tracker or MIS.This was my first true leadership role. I'd been PE lead at school but that was a merry band of one in essence. This was leading a team of five and… Show more Customer Success was agreeing with me and I moved into a Team Leader role after about 9 months with Juniper - always a great sign when there are early opportunities to progress! I worked alongside Gareth Taylor, another Juniper stalwart, and together we were accountable for all 5,500 or so schools who used a Juniper assessment tracker or MIS.This was my first true leadership role. I'd been PE lead at school but that was a merry band of one in essence. This was leading a team of five and having to sound like I knew what I was doing! I soon started to understand more about strategic thinking, about the importance of planning ahead and keeping a number of plates spinning simultaneously instead of focusing solely on the day to day.It was important to me to keep my ear to the ground though, and so I kept a good number of schools and trusts assigned to me. I often think about how managers command respect (at least they do in my eyes) when they are willing to muck in it's busy, how a manager of a department store should jump on a till in the busy weeks leading up to Christmas, that sort of thing. Plus, why would I give up the part of the job that I loved the most - speaking to and helping schools?! Show less

After literally years of looking, I finally found a role outside of teaching that a) was not going to require me to moonlight as a barman again to pay the bills b) drew upon my background in education and c) gave me a genuinely exciting challenge to get my teeth stuck into. I have to be honest, I hadn't even heard of Customer Success when I first learned about the role, but when I did my due diligence, I knew it was the right fit for me.I worked for a great boss and as part of a great… Show more After literally years of looking, I finally found a role outside of teaching that a) was not going to require me to moonlight as a barman again to pay the bills b) drew upon my background in education and c) gave me a genuinely exciting challenge to get my teeth stuck into. I have to be honest, I hadn't even heard of Customer Success when I first learned about the role, but when I did my due diligence, I knew it was the right fit for me.I worked for a great boss and as part of a great team which always helps and I relished the opportunity to speak to schools about assessment and curriculum. It was nerve-racking at first, as many new jobs are, but I soon realised that the person at the other end of the Teams call was only human too and couldn't do any lasting damage.It was absolutely fascinating to understand how there were so many different ways of schools tackling similar challenges and just putting myself in the shoes of the hundreds of headteachers I must have spoken to for just a few minutes gave me an additional appreciation of everything they have to deal with every day.This role also gave me my first opportunities to visit schools in person (once COVID had died down of course). It was surreal visiting these places as an ex-teacher, being able to appreciate the displays, the great work produced by the kids, enjoy the singing in assemblies or hustle and bustle of the corridors without having to worry about getting them lined up in anything approaching a straight line. It felt almost blissful! Show less

Following a successful stint teaching supply at this lovely Catholic school in the centre of Sunderland, I was delighted to join permanently in September 2014. There was a lovely sense of community from the moment I walked through the door at St Mary's and I was fortunate to work with some truly inspirational teachers who would do just about anything for their children.Planning and delivering were my favourite parts of teaching itself - marking and reporting always took a back seat! I… Show more Following a successful stint teaching supply at this lovely Catholic school in the centre of Sunderland, I was delighted to join permanently in September 2014. There was a lovely sense of community from the moment I walked through the door at St Mary's and I was fortunate to work with some truly inspirational teachers who would do just about anything for their children.Planning and delivering were my favourite parts of teaching itself - marking and reporting always took a back seat! I loved being PE lead too, even though it took up so much of my time. We had a great balance between elitism and inclusion where some competitions we really went for it and fielded our most talented boys and girls, while in others, we gave opportunities to those who had never before represented their school in anything. The joy I saw on the faces of some of these kids - just breath-taking!As with so many teachers around the country, perhaps the world, I started to fall out of love. Whether it was the draining hours, endless bureaucracy or 3 hours of RE we had to get through every week, I was ready for a change. I took a sabbatical at the end of 2017, but just couldn't find what I was looking for and ended up returning for a couple more years - if you're reading this as a teacher looking to change profession, I feel your pain! Hopefully it helps to know that persistence pays off. Show less

A real hobby of mine over the years has been writing and whilst this has never developed into a full-time or paid role, I've loved writing in fits and starts for (among others) The Times, Sunday Sun and The Courier (Newcastle University's student paper) as well as a number of websites. Indeed, my time as Sports Editor of The Courier was probably the closest I came to emulating one of my heroes - Henry Winter. I loved those Thursday afternoons/evenings in the office, fuelled by a few pints from… Show more A real hobby of mine over the years has been writing and whilst this has never developed into a full-time or paid role, I've loved writing in fits and starts for (among others) The Times, Sunday Sun and The Courier (Newcastle University's student paper) as well as a number of websites. Indeed, my time as Sports Editor of The Courier was probably the closest I came to emulating one of my heroes - Henry Winter. I loved those Thursday afternoons/evenings in the office, fuelled by a few pints from the SU bar as we rushed, laughed and joked our way towards another deadline. Happy days indeed! Show less

My first full-time teaching role came off the back of a placement at Hilliard towards the end of my Graduate Diploma. I remember thinking on my very first day, 'Am I really allowed to be in charge of these 30 kids?' and I think by the end of it, most of the kids may have thought the same! The staff at Hilliard were so incredibly supportive though and I soon grew in confidence. Leading School Council and spending six hours 'fundraising' by having 600 kids through wet sponges at me was definitely… Show more My first full-time teaching role came off the back of a placement at Hilliard towards the end of my Graduate Diploma. I remember thinking on my very first day, 'Am I really allowed to be in charge of these 30 kids?' and I think by the end of it, most of the kids may have thought the same! The staff at Hilliard were so incredibly supportive though and I soon grew in confidence. Leading School Council and spending six hours 'fundraising' by having 600 kids through wet sponges at me was definitely a turning point!It wasn't until we moved back to England that I really appreciated the differences between teaching in the two countries. There was such a reduced focus on statutory testing in Australia, which is starting to be mirrored in the UK with KS1 assessment being dropped and the same likely to happen with KS2 in years to come. But everything, from the use of technology (Hilliard had a green room and was one of the first iPad schools I was aware of) and curriculum content to the excursions and Sports Days. I am extremely pleased I will never again have to go on Year 7 camp, complete with snakes, spiders and drop toilets... Show less

The start of my gap year in Australia - largely involved me walking around Perth in a permanent heatwave, sweating through every pore of my body persuading residents to switch their broadband and mobile phone provider. 100% commission based pay as well, at a time in my life when budgeting was not a strong suit!