Hello, I’m Heather and I am the Admissions Manager at The Queen’s School. I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you why I wanted to work for The Queen’s School and how I came to be here.
In 2015, I left a career in Banking and moved to Bahrain with my husband, my then six-year-old daughter and my three-year-old son. I worked at the international school, and we all had a wonderful experience for the next five years. Fast forward to May 2020 and we decided to return to the UK, so our daughter could attend senior school here.
My children chose the schools they wanted to go to, and I happily allowed them to make that decision. My daughter attended the local comprehensive, but after only two weeks, I made the decision to move her, and she joined my son at his school. I believed being an independent school I was giving my daughter the best possible chance at a great education and being both together made my life easier. Unfortunately, by Feb 2021 I had to accept that neither of my children were happy. We started a search for new schools, and we cast our net far and wide. We almost had too much choice, but I was not rushing this decision and I wanted to do everything we could to make sure that this time we got it right.
My daughter Holly was certain she did not want an all-girl’s education and so Queen’s was never on our radar. It was a friend who asked if we had been, and strongly recommended we take a look. We met Jane and had a wonderful tour, but Holly was still undecided. My son was due to attend a taster day at a school down the road and I begged Holly to go to Queen’s and then at least we would know for sure.
This is where Holly’s story really begins. I came to get her at 3.30 on that day and she stood a foot taller. One look at her face and I knew. When we got into the car, she turned to me and said “That’s my school, I never want to go back to my old one”. I jumped back out of the car, asked Jane to come back down and we agreed Holly would start the very next day.
My daughter is now a different person and I’ve learned a great deal through this process. In truth I was searching for a school like the one she had in Bahrain. All the things I believed she needed were not what was important. What was, was a place where teachers believed in her, where they saw her for the unique individual she is and celebrated her for it. A place where she is comfortable and confident to stand up and be brave.
In the first six months at Queen’s Holly had done so much, she won a prize for the Merseyside Math’s Challenge, she trialed for the English Secondary Schools Swim competition with her relay team, she joined every school sport team possible, she joined the school orchestra, had a huge circle of friends and brought home a report full of A* and A’s. But mostly importantly – she was happier that she’d ever been.
I never believed in ‘Magic’ before, but I do now. And that’s how - when I saw the Admissions Manager’s job advertised - I knew it was the job for me. 😊
