EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST
EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH PRINCIPAL
Miss. Amy Wallace FROM QUEEN’S GATE SCHOOL, KENSINGTON Miss. Amy Wallace speaks about the benefits of attending an all girls’ school in Kensington, her new role as Principal, their ethos of ‘kindness and courtesy’, spirit of individuality and her vision for the school going forwards. To begin, we understand that you took over as Principal in September, but you have had a variety of different roles and responsibilities in schools prior to this post. Would you like to tell us a little bit about them?
I have spent my whole career in girls’ education. I started as a fresh-faced NQT at Wycombe Abbey, having already done a year there as a resident tutor. I’ve just been committed to girls’ education ever since. I think we offer the girls in our care a real step up and some real specialist support, and I think we’re a very important part of the sector. I have spent the last ten years in through schools from ages 4 to 18, and when I was starting to think about headship, I was really committed to following that theme. I think working in a through school is really special: one minute, you’re over in the Junior School doing an assembly - with 4 year olds hugging your legs at the end - and then the next thing you know, you’re talking to an 18 year old about her university applications and what she’s thinking about for the next stages of her life. So, you get such a rich, diverse experience as an educator - it’s a very special thing. We also get the opportunity to think about themes that go all the way up, themes that can be relevant to a 4 year old and an 18 year old. But, also, we can consider how we can ensure our learning, and particularly our personal development, is really coherent. So, we’ll talk to our parents in Year 5 about device use and mobile phones using our experiences of Year 9 and Year 10. I think that offers something really special and really unique to those parents, 32 | EDUCATION CHOICES MAGAZINE | W I N T E R 2 02 2
