Meet The Teachers: New Upper School Teachers
18th October 21
We’ve got new staff in the Upper School so if you see them around, say ‘hi’. Here’s a bit about them:
Name: Hannah Sheath
Role at KAS: Mathematics teacher, 6-8 Physical World (STEM) Teacher, Year 13 Tutor.
Teaching career: I have been teaching for Mathematics and Further Mathematics for three years. My previous school was Wetherby Senior in Marylebone.
What is the thing you love most about your subject?: I love the way connections can made between mathematical ideas.
What are you enjoying about the KAS experience so far?: I really like the connections the students have with the teachers and the progressive nature of the school.
What do you hope students will get out of studying your subject?: I hope to nurture a passion for mathematics in my students and would like them to develop the ability to apply the maths they have learnt outside the classroom.
Name: Athena Coddington-Wiratunga
Role at KAS: Geography teacher and Year 7 Form Tutor
Teaching career: I began my PGCE last year in September 2020 at the Institute of Education and haven’t looked back since!
What is the thing you love most about your subject?: I love teaching about climate change and using real world case studies to bring these ideas to life.
What are you enjoying about the KAS experience so far?: I am particularly enjoying working with Year 7’s as part of the 6-8 curriculum.
What do you hope students will get out of studying your subject?: I hope that through learning geography, students with develop curiosity about the world that they live in and their individual place within it.
Name: Lucy Wiser
Role at KAS: English teacher
Teaching career: I have been teaching for six years now, previously in two schools in West and South London.
What is the thing you love most about your subject?: I have so much freedom in terms of how I approach English as a subject; I love the fact that we can explore a range of people, events and concepts in the space of a single lesson.
What are you enjoying about the KAS experience so far?: It is such a privilege to work alongside so many bright, enthusiastic and interesting students; I enjoy the fact that I do not always anticipate where the lesson will take us!
What do you hope students will get out of studying your subject?: A love of good books and interesting ideas.
Name: Nabihah Ahmed
Role at KAS: Sociology teacher (with History and Politics)
Teaching career: I completed my PGCE in Social Sciences in 2016-17 and have therefore been teaching for 5 years. I have taught in three inner-London state schools before joining KAS and thus also have experience teaching Psychology, Citizenship and Religious Studies. Prior to completing my teacher training at UCL, I volunteered with an educational charity to reduce the attainment gap. I’m also an examiner for AQA and have produced Sociology resources for companies such as Tutor2u and Curriculum Press. This year, I am pursuing an MSc in Teaching and Learning at Oxford University.
What is the thing you love most about your subject?: One thing I love the most about Sociology is that everyone has at some point made a sociological observation – you have probably noticed a pattern or trend in your own social context or tried to understand the reason behind this. This makes the subject accessible to everyone and provides the opportunity to dig deeper into surface level, everyday observations. So, no matter how long I’ve taught the subject for, I will always be a student of Sociology as I discover new research or as pupils share their own observations.
What are you enjoying about the KAS experience so far?: I am enjoying the thought-provoking and riveting observations that my students make! For instance, my Year 13 student said the other day, “Isn’t it mad that the brain named itself”. Since then, my brain has certainly not been the same.
What do you hope students will get out of studying your subject? From my own schooling experience, I found that whether I was watching Netflix or having a conversation with my parents, I was looking at things through a sociological lense. I hope students will similarly find themselves making observations of their social world but also critically reflecting on the status quo.
