Z. Fox – Subject leader of Citizenship and teacher of RE
Originally, I started out as a School Chaplain, so I was already familiar with the life and ethos of a Catholic School. The schools that are part of WWLCSD, throughout the training process, explore teaching as a vocation and put the teachings of Jesus at the centre of life and learning. WWLCSD considers this further through the CCRS element of training for its teachers. When deciding upon a training provider, it was this distinctive Catholic nature, which made it feel like the best choice for me. I was placed in Our Lady Queen of Peace as my home school and St John Rigby Sixth Form College as my away school. Both placements offered fantastic support throughout the training year. You are welcomed from day one as part of the staff and are encouraged to take part in aspects of school life both inside and outside the classroom. It was a privilege to work and train with RE departments in both schools, which their students hold in such high esteem and have highly skilled practitioners to observe and learn from. Both schools provided me with outstanding subject mentors, who were a key day-to-day support and a listening ear. All department staff offered help and advice as well as fully understanding the training process and provided useful feedback for me. Additionally to be able to develop skills and subject knowledge across three key stages was a highlight as it allowed me to experience Religious Education at KS5.
I successfully interviewed for a position teaching RE and Citizenship at my home school Our Lady’s. It was great feeling knowing I was joining this community on a permanent basis along with three other colleagues from our WWLCSD cohort that year. Our Lady’s has helped me go from strength to strength and when the opportunity came up to lead and coordinate Citizenship… I jumped at the chance! For the past three years I have been subject leader of Citizenship, a role that is my absolute passion within teaching and I am constantly amazed in the development of our young people into active citizens through our GCSE Citizenship option. Additionally I have had the opportunity to help plan, with our Senior Leadership Team, our whole school Curriculum for Life programme and I lead the Citizenship strand of teaching.
Undoubtedly, training with WWLCSD was a fantastic choice; it gave me the tools to develop and grow into the role of classroom teacher and from that, I have been able to develop further my skills into leadership roles within teaching. WWLCSD embeds teaching as a passion and vocation which its course leaders and professional mentors fully embrace and model.
