15 Winter 2010 - Greenhead College
15 Winter 2010 - Greenhead College
15 Winter 2010 - Greenhead College
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<strong>Greenhead</strong><br />
news<br />
New Faces<br />
A Friendly Face:<br />
Welcome to Anita<br />
Matthews, who<br />
joins <strong>Greenhead</strong>’s<br />
community as<br />
Transition Mentor.<br />
Anita’s role is “to<br />
provide support for<br />
students who may<br />
find difficulties in coming to college. It<br />
can be anything from being a friendly<br />
face, to helping to organise work, to<br />
keeping a friendly eye on a student<br />
to making sure that they attend their<br />
study support sessions.” Prior to joining<br />
<strong>Greenhead</strong>, Anita worked “in a local High<br />
School, first in the ICT department, then<br />
the school office and finally as the Aim<br />
Higher organiser.....I have also been a<br />
foster carer since 1992, and generally<br />
work with children with behavioural<br />
problems who have a specific and<br />
special need.” Anita’s initial impressions<br />
of <strong>Greenhead</strong> are that “...it’s very friendly<br />
and welcoming which is great.” Outside<br />
of work, Anita loves “to read, travel<br />
and bake cakes (but I don’t really like<br />
cooking.) I enjoy gardening...and am<br />
particularly proud of the veg I grow. I<br />
also quilt, knit and crochet when I get<br />
the time. The things I make are usually<br />
sent off for gifts or donated.”<br />
Dramatic Magic:<br />
As a new member of<br />
<strong>Greenhead</strong>’s Theatre<br />
Studies department,<br />
Will Osmond has a<br />
long history in theatre<br />
and teaching. Will’s<br />
performance career<br />
began at age six,<br />
when he started learning the violin.<br />
Subsequent academic and professional<br />
drama experiences included reading<br />
for a degree in Drama and Visual Arts<br />
at Manchester Metropolitan University<br />
where he spent a year on a cultural<br />
exchange to Bridgewater State <strong>College</strong><br />
in Massachusetts, America.<br />
Will has been a member of multiple<br />
theatre groups, founding a community<br />
theatre society in Somerset, where he<br />
grew up. A commitment to Community<br />
Theatre projects was furthered by the<br />
establishment of Will’s company, JuJu,<br />
a West African word for ‘magic.’ Will<br />
proceeded to write and direct with this<br />
group, including working with a branch<br />
of the company aimed at assisting young<br />
NEWSLETTER ISSUE <strong>15</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />
people from a socially disadvantaged<br />
background. Additionally, Will joined the<br />
Whirlwind Theatre Company in Lancaster<br />
and worked backstage at the Lowry<br />
centre.<br />
Will has lectured at Manchester<br />
Metropolitan University, an experience<br />
which encouraged him to undertake a<br />
PGCE and teach. He wants to provide<br />
<strong>Greenhead</strong> students the opportunity<br />
to push themselves and experience<br />
something new in preparation for their<br />
own degrees.<br />
Will is a passionate theatre goer and<br />
enjoys reading many plays, particularly<br />
American drama. However, he also likes<br />
to play on his PS3, as well as cycle,<br />
climb and kayak in the Cornwall seas<br />
when he can. By Matthew McGoldrick<br />
Biology’s Team Player:<br />
Biology teacher<br />
Charlotte Twigger joins<br />
<strong>Greenhead</strong> <strong>College</strong><br />
after previous work<br />
in pharmaceutical<br />
research and teaching.<br />
Charlotte is an avid<br />
football fan who<br />
supports Leeds United and used to<br />
be Captain of Tadcaster Albion team<br />
until she suffered a dislocated knee<br />
injury. She says she briefly taught<br />
English footballer James Milner whilst<br />
he was studying. A real animal lover,<br />
Charlotte studied Zoology at Sheffield<br />
University and always wanted to be a<br />
vet. Nowadays she just loves spending<br />
time with her two children and the family<br />
pets. Having lived in Canada, California,<br />
Sheffield and Cambridge Charlotte has<br />
settled in well claiming “it’s nice not<br />
having Year 7s”and complimenting<br />
Yorkshire folk as being friendlier than<br />
most! By Laura Drysdale<br />
English Strikes Gold:<br />
It’s obvious that you’ve<br />
struck gold with<br />
an English teacher<br />
when they say they<br />
would like to have<br />
afternoon tea with<br />
Chaucer! Ruth Baker<br />
recently moved up<br />
from Hampshire with her husband and<br />
family. Before teaching, she used to<br />
work in software. “It turned my brain<br />
into a marshmallow!” she says. Ruth<br />
has been amazed not just by the warm<br />
and friendly welcome of the college, but<br />
also by the eagerness to learn of her<br />
new students which fits well with her<br />
own ideas of English being “a vibrant<br />
subject, even outside the classroom”.<br />
With reading being one of her favourite<br />
things , other than cake and spending<br />
time with her family and dog, Ruth is<br />
excited to be able to study as she is<br />
teaching at the college, and is looking<br />
forward to participating in English-based<br />
enrichment activities. By Liz Moore<br />
Study of a Soul:<br />
Mark Higgins is<br />
a Lancashire lad,<br />
having been born<br />
in Oldham. After a<br />
change of course at<br />
Leeds University from<br />
Civil Engineering to<br />
Psychology, or as<br />
Mark put it “from buildings to people,”<br />
he found a passion in his subject, which<br />
is his favourite part of teaching. “I really<br />
do love my subject” he said. Teaching<br />
was not his first career, having worked<br />
first in Human Resources, as a social<br />
science researcher and in a hospital.<br />
He enjoys collecting films and has a<br />
membership of Love Film, his top films<br />
being The Godfather 2 and Raging Bull.<br />
Mark likes playing a five-a-side match of<br />
football with colleagues and reads The<br />
Guardian.<br />
By Elizabeth Gregory<br />
A Gap Year to Greatness:<br />
Natasha Yates is<br />
currently undertaking<br />
a gap year as<br />
a paid Student<br />
Support Assistant at<br />
<strong>Greenhead</strong> <strong>College</strong>.<br />
After studying at<br />
<strong>Greenhead</strong> for two<br />
years, Natasha decided to utilise a year<br />
out to consolidate her team working<br />
experiences before applying to study<br />
Veterinary Science. Natasha is enjoying<br />
the opportunity to experience <strong>Greenhead</strong><br />
from “the other side of the fence,”<br />
supporting the teaching and learning<br />
student experience. This involves<br />
forming new and different relationships<br />
with staff and students. In her free time,<br />
Natasha works at her second job which<br />
is based at a Cattery.<br />
By Thomas Walpole<br />
4<br />
www.greenhead.ac.uk