Mrs Louise Parker BSc PGCE
French & Spanish Teacher, Year 6 Tutor
Career History:
My first job after leaving university was teaching English at the University of Dijon in France. This convinced me both that I wanted to make teaching my career and also that I also needed to learn how to do it properly! I completed my PGCE at Goldsmiths College in London which was a fantastic place to study. I then took at teaching post in a secondary school in Kent where I stayed for three years and became Head of Languages after 18 months. From there I went on to lead the MFL department in a school in Guernsey for five happy years.
Having spent five years on a very small island, I was ready for a change and decided to take a break from the classroom. I moved to London and worked for two years in a big law firm in the city using my language skills liaising with foreign insurance companies and lawyers. Although I enjoyed many aspects of being a city worker, I soon found that I desperately missed being in the classroom. However, it was during this time that I met Mr Parker and we decided to get married and move to live in France.
In France I taught business English 1:1 to adults for six years when we decided it was time to move back to England. By this time our son was five years old. I applied for the post at Pennthorpe and had my first interview sitting in our kitchen in rural France using Skype which was relatively new in 2013. I have not looked back since.
Best Pennthorpe Moment:
I have loved every minute of the last seven years at Pennthorpe and now have a lot of ‘best moments’ to choose from. There are many things which mark milestones on the Pennthorpe journey; performances, carol services and citizenships as well, of course, as exams. My favourite milestone has to be the annual trip to France and Belgium which is a mélange of French culture and World War I history. In just four days, it is wonderful to see the pupils’ eyes being opened to another culture and their heads starting to understand the enormity and significance of the events of 1914-1918.