I grew up on a family farm and commercial plant nursery in Ireland, where decisions about soil, pests, disease and cultivation had immediate consequences. Botany gave me the concepts and methods to explain what I had observed. Teaching appealed to me because it involves making complex ideas clear, useful and open to examination. What I find most rewarding is seeing the point at which a student moves from repeating an explanation to understanding why it is true.

I hold a 2:1 BSc in Botany from University College Dublin. I also hold Qualified Teacher Status, a PGCE in Secondary Biology and a CELTA qualification. My degree provided broad training across the biological sciences, alongside chemistry and mathematics, with areas of study including genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, plant physiology, microbiology, ecology and bioinformatics. My final-year research project examined genes involved in sphingolipid biosynthesis in moss.

I teach Biology at Avenor across Middle School, IGCSE and A Level. My professional background combines scientific research, secondary science teaching and more than six years of teaching international learners. As a research technician at the University of Nottingham, I worked in molecular laboratories and glasshouses, using DNA extraction, PCR, GISH, embryo rescue and plant propagation. I have taught in Ethiopia, Japan, Ireland and England, which has made me attentive to the role of language, prior knowledge and cultural context in learning. 

In the classroom, I explain new material in clear stages, model the reasoning involved and check understanding before students work independently. I use questioning and mini whiteboards to locate the precise point at which a student’s understanding has broken down. I plan around common misconceptions and return to the missing step when students can state an answer but cannot explain the mechanism behind it. I want lessons to be demanding, orderly and enjoyable, with students doing the intellectual work rather than merely receiving information.

My interests include botany, synthetic biology, permaculture, languages, travel and metaphysics. I previously attended field excursions with the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. While living in Japan, I was a member of the Botanical Society of Japan and attended its national conference in Niigata. I am particularly interested in the assumptions about what exists and how things relate that underpin scientific hypotheses. Evidence can test a hypothesis, but interpreting the result requires those assumptions to be understood. Permaculture interests me because it applies close observation and systems thinking to the design and management of living systems.

Avenor’s combination of academic ambition, international perspective and learning beyond examinations matches the way I teach. I aim to develop field and laboratory projects in local ecology and molecular biology. I also want to work with colleagues and external organisations so that students can engage with authentic methods and real problems. I want students to be able to ask precise questions, investigate them carefully and explain what the evidence establishes. I also look forward to contributing to a school community in which teachers learn from one another and students are encouraged to become increasingly independent.